Poppies and Paperbacks: NOLA

So here it is! The second installment of our trip to New Orleans! If you've never been, GO!

Day 3, Thursday: It was a big day for us! We woke up and immediately ventured to Cafe du Monde. I can't actually believe that we had been in New Orleans for a day and half and had not had a Beignet! Once many years ago, Amy sent me a photo of Beignets at Cafe du Monde with a caption that said, "Where am I?" I had no idea! I had never been. Honestly my life is complete now; Bulent and I got a dozen Beignets. They were magnificent and a perfect start to the day. A beignet is a sort of donut, literally swimming in powdered sugar -SWIMMING! (They're also reminiscent of a Turkish treat called 'Pisi.')

After filling our bellies with some of the world's greatest creations, we headed back to the French Market Inn to ready ourselves for our swamp tour. One of the big things on our lost was to see gators. We booked our tour through Swamp Adventures at the suggestion of Randy Orzalli - a seasoned outdoorsman.

It was, quite literally an amazing adventure. The television will tell us that the folks who live amongst the marshes of the Mississippi River are something that they are not. These folks are actually hard core conservationists who are very knowledgable about wildlife, marsh safety and requisite hospitality. We saw snapping turtles, myriad water fowl, beautiful scenery that is found nowhere else on earth and of course alligators. And the fan boat? Oh my word! The fan boat! It was fast and fun and loud and so powerful that it can go on dry land.

Beautiful. We saw tiny baby alligators here. They were about 4 inches long and if they survive they can get up to 10 feet long and weight about 1000 pounds.

The great Southern Live Oak with plenty of Spanish Moss.

We got back to our hotel. The Swamp Adventures people picked us up and dropped us off. It was a nice treat since we had no car of our own. You really don't need one when you visit New Orleans. The door to door service was great but the hunger in our tummies was not great. We were edging again dangerously close to hangry. Thats no good for anyone. I told you one of the great things about The French Market Inn was their helpful staff. So we asked them where we should go for real Cajun Seafood. And...they sent us to a place in a borough called Treme. Know what it was called? "New Orleans Original Cajun Cooking" It was one of my favorite meals in New Orleans but it's hard not to have excellent food there.

All the fixin's

This guy was in food heaven!

Treme: Mother in Law Lounge

We took an Uber to Marigny and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. I love the weather in Louisiana. Some people hate the humidity but I like it. And walking in that weather was nice! By the time we made it back to the hotel, we had to rest. NOLA is a busy place. The energy is all a buzz and some napping was in order.

We woke up again, hungry! We had been told to go to a place called Bacchanal by a local woman we had met at an art gallery. We dressed up a little and headed to the Bywater district.

The most commonly visited neighborhoods. Bywater is right on the Mississippi.

This little place was a gem. Here's the jam: You walk in, you grab a bottle of wine. You go to the cheese fridge and choose a couple cheeses. You go to the meat fridge and you choose a couple meats. Then you pay for the whole shebang but they cart off your food selections while you try your darnedest to get a decent table or any table for that matter. We were lucky! We got a table right away and listened to Gypsy Jazz - a great band - The Courtyard Kings. And bam! They set down a magnificent plate of meats and cheeses and a tower of bread with house made remoulade and pickled veg. It was a feast. It's the one thing I didn't take a picture of - hangry. It was a magical evening.