Tag Archives: New Orleans vacation

French Quarter after the rain

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I loved taking photos at night in the French Quarter – it’s just as pretty and colourful at night as it is during the day.  The restaurant in the picture, the Italian Barrel, was one of my favourites of the trip, and I’d highly recommend it if you find yourself in New Orleans. A block or two down the street on Decatur is a really cool store that I can’t remember the name of (I’ve spent the last hour on Google and Google Maps trying to figure out exactly which store it was on Decatur)… it’s full of all sorts of weird, wonderful, bizarre, and beautiful treasures, oddities and works of art. I want to go back to New Orleans just to visit the store (discovered it on the last night of the trip) again!

Barracks Street-2

Italian Barrel restaurant on the corner of Barracks and Decatur

the sun shines in New Orleans

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Now that I’m home from New Orleans and have some new photos to share, I’ll be back to posting more regularly. For the foreseeable future, it will likely be very heavy on New Orleans pics.

We arrived on a Tuesday evening, after the sun had set, checked in to the apartment I found on Airbnb, and then set out to find some food and music.  It ended up being only a five minute walk to Frenchmen Street (where all the clubs are that feature local musicians), and despite some of the travel tips I read beforehand, it was perfectly safe to walk there.  During 12 days of walking around the French Quarter and the Marigny (where Frenchmen Street is) we never ran into any issues. Just like anywhere, be aware of your surroundings and trust your instincts, and you’ll be fine.  In fact, the only place that felt remotely dangerous was Bourbon Street!  Just too much craziness there, it became a thoroughfare to get to places in other areas in the French Quarter, not a destination (of course, I did take a few pics, though).

Woke to a bright, sunshiny morning for the first morning of the trip…the apartment I found on Airbnb was one side of the ground floor of an 1830s mansion.

morning coffee

kitchen had great morning light

swinging my cares away

a lot of time was spent swinging my cares away… (and people watching)

1830s New Orleans Mansion

the upstairs – we were lucky enough to get a tour of the main house, but didn’t take any pictures inside

kumquats

a daily dose of kumquats, practically in reaching distance of the swing

Got to know the pets of the property quite well after 12 days…

Cletus the cat

Cletus, she owns the place – everyone else is just visiting

Maggie the poodle

Maggie the poodle would never look at me for a pic

Of course, a first day in New Orleans has to include a trip to Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait…with walking everywhere and the right amount of insulin, beignets ended up not being bad for my blood sugar! yay! (I just couldn’t eat all three!)

Cafe du Monde

 

New Orleans is a fascinating place…  It made me happy (just being surrounded by beautiful and historic buildings, music everywhere, lots of different kinds of art, and colourful characters). It made me both sad and mad (there are a lot of homeless people and many who are in their young 20s). It grossed me out (every once in awhile there are odd smells in the French Quarter). It made me full (the food was delicious, thank goodness for all the walking).  It intrigued me (ghost stories of the French Quarter and some of the dark/twisted art I saw).  It’s a place that is alive, vibrant, colourful, and really, the most interesting place I’ve ever been.  I would visit again in a heartbeat.