After spending the night at my brother's house, we took a taxi into Faubourg Marigny in New Orleans and settled into our house for the next 8 days. It is an 1830's Creole cottage with a front room and porch added in the early 1900's.
Then we walked into the Bywater neighborhood for lunch at Booty's Street Food.
I had a tasty Latin Banh Mi from Argentina and Chrissy had Moros Y Cerdo from Cuba with a Bywater Bomber daiquiri.
As we wandered further down Dauphine Street, I noticed a bridge like structure down Piety St....off we go. But wait just a moment...what is this....a New York style pizzeria...too bad I just ate...and what is next door...a real record store...Euclid Records...I walked in and saw the bins full of 33-1/3 Vinyl Records...suddenly I am 15 years old again.
It was great to be inside a real record store. Between my searching, Chrissy finding a great box set and the clerk who offered up some amazing local music for me...
...we spent about an hour in this store...
...and left with tons of great music for our week in New Orleans. The rain started falling as we headed over the bridge to Crescent Park along the Mississippi River.
The thunder and storm clouds moved in quickly as we headed toward a wall that protected us from the strong winds....
...then the hail began to fall. Eventually it lightened up and we headed back over the bridge...
...to the very colorful Bywater neighborhood...
...and stopped at Pizza Delicious for a couple of slices and fresh garlic knots. Hey, I couldn't pass this place twice in one day without having a slice.
The following pictures were taken while walking back to our rental house.
A beautiful Catholic Church in Bywater.
After a quick stop at the local co-op for some groceries to stock our kitchen. We headed out for dinner in the French Quarter at Drago's.
I enjoyed two local favorites here, an Abita Amber with a dozen char-grilled oysters. Chrissy actually broke down and had a couple. I was pretty proud of her. We each had some kind of shrimp dishes for dinner. The food was OK, nothing special. Then it was off to Frenchmen Street to see the Treme Brass Band at d.b.a..
Now this was a great way to kick off a week of live music. This was a loose show with goofing around on stage, some serious musical talent, guest performers and a good time had by all. The stage banter and showmanship was very entertaining but once they started playing...they were serious about the quality of the music and their performance. The crowd danced and sang along. I even knew most of the songs thanks to the HBO show "Treme" and the Shout Factory box set "Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans". Every music fan should own this great introduction to the wonderful music of this city.
So I will end this blog by telling you that I love this city and this is only my third time here. If you love music. food and drinking...you must visit this city. New Orleans does all three right.
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