Carl's Blog

As I’m sitting here this morning, drinking some coffee and watching the local news, I thought would give anyone visiting New Orleans an option to prepare most of your meals in your own room so you can maximize at one meal eating out. For me I’m opting to do breakfast, Quaker Oat’s microwave oatmeal in a cup, I could do more since my room here at the Holiday Inn Club Vacation Resort has a full kitchen. As I mentioned I stopped at a Walmart before checking into the hotel; however, I knew check-in can sometimes take a bit of time, so I limited my shopping to items that didn’t need refrigeration.

So what if you don’t have a vehicle because you took a train, bus or airplane to NOLA? Here in the French Quarter you have a few options. One is the chain grocery store, Rouses Market. It is located at the corner of St. Peter and Royal street, just 1 block off of Bourbon street. If you read my previous post, I was thinking of walking to the river last night via St. Peter, that is wait reminded me of this option of grabbing groceries.

Let’s say you don’t want to get eggs, milk, etc. well, you could grab snacks and drinks at either Walgreens or CVS on Canal Street. CVS is located on the corner of the Carondelet and Canal, (Carondelet turns into Bourbon St.) and Walgreens is just one block north at Baronne and Canal.

It’s now 8 AM and I’m waiting until the rain stops. It’s down to drizzles but I really don’t want to get wet, plus none of the shops will be open until 10 AM. I need to restock some hot sauces, and visit a few book stores. My plan to go visit the Irish Channel changed when I realized this is just a residential area portion of the Garden District where Irish immigrants settle in the 1800s. Hence the shopping and I’m considering visiting the aquarium.

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I took a walk down to the river and then along its river walk toward Jackson Square. I watched that ship navigate up the Mississippi, in my mind feel they are going down river, but zooming out on Google maps, the river does turn down but it turns back up heading to Baton Rouge. This means the Gulf of Mexico is the other direction.

Finally Cafe Du Monte wasn’t busy and I was able to get a table. Be sure to have cash since table service is cash only. I enjoyed an iced coffee with my benigns.

Next I walked up Royal Street, looking in on shops and art galleries before heading back to the hotel via Bourbon Street. I walked far enough that I was in the residential area. Some of the streets have no cars parked because the street gets cleaned on Tuesday while other streets get cleaned on Thursday.

I’ve been relaxing in my room since I got back. I thought about getting a to-go meal but opted for a bag of popcorn

I’m now watching the French vs Spain World Cup game before heading out to today for an early dinner before my jazz show

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Dinner was at Oceana on Conti, just off of Bourbon Street. I had the Po’boy fried fish sandwich but switched out the French fries for jambalaya. The fish was very good, but the sauce is what made the sandwich. Cost $42 for meal, a beer and tip.

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When planning this trip a month ago, I bought front row seated tickets to the Tuesday 8:45 PM jazz show at Preservation Hall. It’s located across the street from The Vampire Apothecary, so an easy 15 minute walk. The Preservation Hall has been a jazz music venue since 1961, and one thing they didn’t have in 1961 was cell phones (no pictures or video of the band while performing) They were very entertaining and the venue was very small. With my front row seat I felt like I was in the band. They have different shows during the week, and it seems Tuesday night this is a smaller portion of the band and are a bit more loose in their playing. I tried to find some YouTube videos but it seems they only posted the full band’s Christmas songs recently and then the videos are 3 or more years older. So this is differently and experience worth having because its one of a kind. It was a good evening.

After the show I was tempted to grab more food, but I’m not really hungry. Maybe it was all the second hand pot I inhaled walking down Bourbon Street. I’d risk one of the side streets, but they are dark at night and all the homeless people make me nervous enough with them on Bourbon Street. So I went straight back to my room.

I’m going to read a bit from the book I bought the other day and rest for tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’m getting smarter with my travel and moderating how much I do and see or if I’ve just been here in New Orleans enough that I don’t feel a need “to see it all”.

Until tomorrow