Nouvelle-Orléans

After a very strange camping site along the express way because the State Park that we had in mind was FULL, we finally made our way to New Orleans.  Due to the forecasted rainy and cold weather , we looked for a hotel room instead of a camp site.  Susan from the New Orleans Tourist office found us a pearl of a hotel, l'hotel Provincial on Chartres street, in the French Quarter of course. http://www.hotelprovincial.com/

On that weekend there was a football game and all rooms were booked except this wonderful 2 story suite ..where we were happy to "nest" for a while. As soon as we put our luggage in the room, we went in one of the several courtyards to enjoy cold beers and plan our New Orleans stay.

It was Susanne's first visit to Louisiana and New Orleans.  Our first evening in town was wonderful because the weather was balmy and there was still enough of a crowd to enliven the atmosphere!

Our hotel was very close to Jackson Square with the St Louis cathedrale and the lively square animated by locals playing Louis Armstrong's tunes or fortune teller and tarot card readers.

 We enjoyed visiting the mansions of the Garden District, the "American district" of the city...a totally different experience from the French Quarter.  We took the Charles street trolley from Canal street stop and, once in the district, walked on, following the Travel guide.  http://www.tourneworleans.com/garden_set.html











There are truths about New Orleans and one of them is that in that city, people don't eat to live but live to eat! We had to taste their delicious beignets with cafe au lait, and taste their jambalaya and gumbo as well as their boudin. It did not matter where we ate, the food was always delicious. Le Cafe Beignets made these great pastries on demand and the trio filled the stomach for the day. There are several locations of this Cafe  in New Orleans: we particularly enjoyed the one in the courtyard at the Musical Legends Park of the French Quarter. http://www.cafebeignet.com/whatsnew2/mlp.html

We ended our very nice holiday with Susanne at the Gumbo Shop an St.Peter street! Susanne was very curious to try a blackened fish! She loved it! Heiner had a jambalaya and Marleyne enjoyed a combo of jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and creole shrimps! Thanks Susanne for the food and the nice evening and your enjoyable company!