The French Quarter, New Orleans

     I can remember being in grade school and each student was supposed to create a big poster for a city.  My city was New Orleans; so I drew a balcony with fancy ironwork, lots of flowers, and a door with colorful shutters.  I always wanted to see the real thing; today I did.  The French Quarter is both amazing and awful.
    It was a good day to visit because the weather was cool and this is not a busy time for New Orleans tourism.  We found a spot for our car near Jackson Park and walked the narrow sidewalks.  Around the park we saw dozens of art vendors and street musicians.  We walked down Royal Street which has lots of nice shops and restaurants.  The shops all had apartments above which had nice balconies, lots of flowers and doors with shutters.  I loved it.
    We found a casual seafood cafe for lunch.  Rick had some great shrimp.  I have shellfish allergies so I had blackened chicken and stole most of Rick's hush puppies.  We left lunch and walked down the incredibly tacky row of bars and junky shops that is Bourbon Street.  We are probably too old to appreciate it.
    We wanted more history about the area so we took a carriage ride with John and his mule, Moon.  We left the busier parts of the French Quarter and drove through the more residential areas.  We saw blocks of wonderful, historic homes.  The carriage took us past Tom Cruise and Angelina Jole's home which is for sale, and Nicolas Cage's haunted, 11,000 sq. ft. home.  We peeked down the alleys between the buildings to see some beautiful courtyards with fountains and gardens.
     We topped off our New Orleans experience with
cafe' au lait and some fresh beignets.  This is usually a breakfast treat, but we were lucky to find an outdoor cafe that was still serving the wonderful, flaky, sweet pastries.  The sun had finally come out so we sat on top of the levee and said goodbye to "The Big Easy."  Tomorrow we start our long drive home.