NEW ORLEANS DAY 2

We made our first destination Café du Monde. Thanks to my friend Rie who told us about the side entrance, we were able to move past about 50 people in line and get seated right away! We ordered beignets and café au lait for me and a milk for Trish (she doesn’t like coffee). The coffee in New Orleans is a blend of coffee and chicory and made into a café au lait and when sugared up nicely is OMG so good.

The lineups and continuous orders are something else. The wait staff will take an order and then get in line to pick it up – it is never ending – and so worth waiting for. Didn’t take long to scarf those puppies down and then be on our way.

We walked through the French Market, which is a combination fruit and vegetable market, food stalls, junky souvenir stuff and some different artisans. We bought a few things and then at the end of it all, we then walked down to the levy and got on the streetcar.

We were one stop away from the end of the line.

We bought a 1 day pass for $3 each and then rode back that one stop. We figured we would start there and then go all the way to the other end. When we went back the one stop, we were made to get off at the rear door….wait while the driver changed the trolley, flipped all the seats the other way, take the controls at what was the back (and is now the front – are you confused yet?) and then wait for her to open the door to let us back on again. Unfortunately for the family of 4 that rode the one stop to the end with us – who really wanted to go all the way to the other end – but only bought a ticket instead of a day pass. They were told by the driver they could not get back on without paying their fare again. She was a nasty-a**. So now the family was a stop further away from their destination and out $6.00 for the experience. Although it seemed so funny to us at the time – in hindsight it really wasn’t and it was too late to do anything about it.

So we rode the streetcar all the way to the other end to the cemeteries. There were so many up there and we were able to get off the streetcar for about 30 minutes and I took some more pictures. We didn’t feel unsafe in the cemeteries up there. I think they say not to go to the St. Louis #1 without going on a tour because it isn’t safe. These cemeteries, although quite large, are not as old and in a different part of New Orleans and we felt very safe walking around. We didn’t see all of it – just enough to get some more pics for the album. Then hopped back on the streetcar and it was time to look for somewhere for lunch. We got off at the Decatur Street stop. We were told that the Central City Grocery Store where you can get the BEST Muffeletta was just 2 blocks up on the left – we walked for about 4 blocks and asked again. This person said that oh yes it was on Decatur and about 5 blocks up on the left. So we walked for about 8 blocks and stopped and had a

muffeletta at The River’s Edge Restaurant cause we were told that the Central City Grocery was just 2 blocks up on the left and we weren’t taking any more chances! What we had was delicious and the best as far as we know!

Well, that takes you up until about 3:00 and there is still more but I think this is enough for now!

Last day of adventure is tomorrow