Tuesday, August 21st
We started out our day in the Crescent City by exploring the French Quarter. A bit of aimless wandering and we found ourselves at Jackson Square, anchored by Saint Louis Cathedral, and also the location of the Louisiana State Museum. There were two main exhibits in the museum; the first floor was a poignant remembrance of Hurricane Katrina from the tropical depression forming over the Bahamas all the way through landfall, flood control failure, personal struggles, recovery, urban replanning, forecasting science, and the engineering of present and potentially future flood control systems, while the second floor held a much more upbeat exhibit about the history of Mardi Gras and carnivals in New Orleans, including turn-of-the-century dance cards and invitations to the krewes’ formal balls.
Leaving the museum we realized that we were getting a bit hungry for a late lunch, so our wandering began to include looking for a place to eat. After seeing more of the French Quarter, and even walking the famous Bourbon Street, we ended up at Johnny’s Po-Boys, consistently named one of the best po-boy restaurants in the city. The reviews did not lie, and our po-boys were delicious. After this mid-afternoon meal we wanted to rest for a bit, and headed back to the hotel to take advantage of the pool/hot tub/sauna and again watched the sun set over the Mississippi River from our room.
Refreshed and ready for a night out, we went downstairs, where we enjoyed bar food and cocktails at the Café Adelaide and Swizzle Stick Bar. The shrimp and tasso corndogs, shrimp and okra gumbo, and bacon encrusted oysters paired with an Adelaide Swizzle and a Sazerac made for a perfect last dinner in New Orleans (this time around).
From the hotel, we walked through the French Quarter, where many bars and shops were already closed, for some reason we have yet to figure out. So, we headed for the music of Frenchmen Street, where we first went to the Spotted Cat Music Club. The Smokin' Time Jazz Club was playing in the window of the intimate club while swing dancers showed off their best moves on the floor. At the Spotted Cat, we met up with Charla’s classmate Paul, who is at the end of his forty-five-day journey around America on Amtrak, and his friends Kunal and Erin. While the band took a break, we stepped across the street to Café Negril, where we caught their funk band’s last song as they closed shop for the evening. Walking back towards the River, we found the Balcony Music Club, where a fantastic band was still rocking the house. Their set mixed some classic jazz tunes you would expect to hear in NOLA with some funky brass/rock hiphop tunes, like a cover of “Get Low,” that surprised and delighted the crowd. Our night started winding down, as we hung out at Molly’s to swap travel stories and then made our way to Café du Monde for a late night bag of beignets, which we ate as we walked back to the Loews.
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