NAWLINS

Saturday 29/11/14

We were up early and finished the last few items to pack. We had a nice buffet breakfast and left the The American Queen Steamboat for the last time. We had planned to explore New Orleans for a few days before flying home. We got a taxi to the Sweet Olive B&B and we were lucky that Nancy, the host, was happy to have us book in early. She was having a tree trimming party that night so I guess she was glad not to have us come late. Nancy gave us a map and a list of places to see and places to eat. We were a bit surprised when we asked if we could have a cup of tea/coffee because she said, "I don't do tea and coffee except for breakfast but there is a coffee shop two blocks away." This was the first B&B we had ever stayed in, that didn't provide tea and coffee at any time.

 So our travel friends, Kathy and Rob, and Bill and I set off with map in hand to find the coffee shop and then the town. It was a cute little coffee shop and we were intrigued with the New Orleans accent. 'Nawlins' and 'y'all' were heard often. Sometimes it was hard to understand the locals. They too had a few problems understanding us.

 We walked and walked for about 30 minutes until we reached the French Quarter and Markets. We weren't too impressed with how far away the B&B was from the action, when it had said in the description, "a short walk from the French Quarter". 

The French Quarter is packed with interesting people and shops. Kathy and Rob were interested in this amazing sauce shop. We immediately thought of our sons in law as they both love cooking with hot and spicy sauces.

We continued walking and found Jackson's square, with the beautiful cathedral in the centre of the French Quarter. There was a street performance of acrobats, which we watched for a while before moving on for a walk along the river side.

We decided to take a ferry ride over to Algiers, where we saw the statue of Louis Armstrong. There wasn't a lot to do in Algiers except walk. Kathy and Rob were keen to continue exploring by foot but I could see Bill wilting. So we agreed to go our own ways. Bill and I took the ferry back and found a restaurant for lunch.

We could see the "Nawlins" skyline while we waited for the ferry.

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 We knew New Orleans was famous for its music and food, We found out about the food with our first meal. We thought we would just have a light sandwich for lunch but this is what arrived. Bill had a shrimp Poboy and 

 I had a crab cake Poboy, (pronounced 'poorboy') which is the name given to this traditional  New Orleans sandwich. It originated during the depression when a generous family who owned a cafe used to make sandwiches for the poor boys who had lost their jobs.

 With full tummies we started to make our way back to the B&B when we came across a young group of musicians having a jam session in the street, just like we had hoped to see in this town famous for jazz and blues music.

Another experience we were looking forward to was a ride on a New Orleans street car so we caught one heading in our direction.  You have to have the exact right money to pay the fare. It drops into a sealed box. The last stop nearest to the B&B was at the markets so we had another wander through the markets, they were huge. Then we walked home. We nearly got lost but finally made it. People had started arriving for the party. Kathy and Rob arrived home not long after us. Rob was a bit upset because there were  no TVs in the rooms. Lucky for us we had good Wifi. 

We were invited to the tree trimming party so we joined in as best we could. It also meant that we didn't have to walk the walk into town to have dinner.