Tuesday, December 12, 2017

New Orleans (cont.)

The walk from the hotel to the convention center takes me through the French Quarter, one of New Orleans’ biggest tourist areas. Lots of huge hotels surrounding the area as well as at least one casino. I’ve always heard of all of the great food in the area but so far, I haven’t found any. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough and not many opportunities to try any. The examples of things like red beans and rice, jambalaya, and gumbo aren’t any better (in some cases, worse) than what I’ve made at home.

For dinner, I met up with UIC Science and CPS personnel for dinner at The Maison. Live jazz (too loud), good company and better food (finally). I left them at 8:00 to start walking back to the hotel about 1½ miles away. On the way back, I passed Cafe du Monde, someplace I had heard about. I had their cafe au lait and beignets for dessert. Their coffee is brewed with chicory which is supposed to remove bitterness or something like that. Pretty tasty. The walk down Decauter and St. Charles was the New Orleans that I had remembered the last time I was here. The sewer smell was still prevalent though not as strong as it was the last time. People sleeping in doorways and every other shop was a bar or a voodoo place. IMHO, not a very pleasant place.



6 comments:

  1. I only have alcohol-tainted memories of the French Quarter of New Orleans. My NG unit at nearby Camp Shelby, MS had allowed weekend pass into NO and we ended up drinking Hurricanes at a two piano bar....can't really recall much else.

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    1. From my first two visits I would've said no loss. This visit is considerably nicer probably due to the weather. 100°F and 95% humidity made this place seem miserable. This time, highs in the 60s (°F) seem just about perfect.

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  2. Better stay there. Scientists are reporting Barrow is so hot it no longer registers on monitors because it looks like an anomaly. Luckily Dear Leader has annulled climate change for us.

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    1. Google flagged your comment as “spam”. Maybe too much political commentary for them. It’s been above freezing in interior Alaska for several days. I’m wondering if it’s going to be a mess when I get back...

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  3. The beignets look good. I am glad you finally found something tasty to eat.

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    1. For a city that promotes itself as a “foodie destination”, there sure is a lot of mediocre food. Maybe I’m expecting too much...

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