Our Travels
We returned to Sacred Grounds Coffee House so Mary could try a Moon Chai and Jana could get a Dirty Zombie (frozen malted hot chocolate with espresso shots). Sadly, they were brewing more chai, so Mary and I shared the Dirty Zombie. It was very good.
This is the coffee shop located in the middle of cemeteries and next to a “Herb” shop. Interesting merchandise and customers.
Sacred Grinds
5055 Canal St
New Orleans 70119
Since Mary was here, we revisited the botanical garden. We got in free using our Fort Worth Botanical Garden pass. It looked very different this time. The first time was the Fall Garden Festival and it was packed with visitors and booths of vendors. Today Mary and I had the garden to ourselves. This garden felt strange because you do not always have a path and get to walk on the grass….a big no no at most gardens.
Finally found some camellias in bloom. There are still a lot of flowering plants for mid October. The butterfly and humming bird gardens were full of bees and butterflies. They were putting up Christmas decorations…it looks to be a magical place during the holidays.
New Orleans Botanical Gardens
5 Victory Ave
New Orleans, LA 70124
We hit the highlights from the first part of the sculpture garden we toured. Then finished the second half. Some of the art is beautiful and the other very bizarre. Not sure we fully understand what they were trying to express. We came across a swan that hissed at me. It has very large black webbed feet.
After some quiet time reading and resting, we decided to head to dinner. Mary is not much of a seafood eater and the neighborhood places that have bars would be busy with the Saints’ Thursday night football crowd, we stayed in Mid City and tried a local pizza chain.
It was really good. It started in 2004. They make stone hearth pizzas that take 30 minutes to cook. The crust is thin and crisp. Mike had The Meathead (tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, Italian sausage, Canadian bacon and hamburger. Mary and I ordered the West Bank Special (tomato sauce, mozzarella, crumbled bacon, chicken, jalapenos, pineapple and roasted red peppers.
Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza.
4024 Canal St
New Orleans, L a 70119
One of the things that Mary wanted to do was try different beignets. Some of the beignets are almost like sopapillas and have a light, airy center. Some we tried are square donuts. Some are like a funnel cake. After we left Jackson Square and began heading towards Canal and the streetcar stop, we stopped at Cafe Beignet. It is a chain of restaurants around the French Quarter that has coffee, traditional New Orleans food and beignets. You can eat inside or in an outdoor courtyard. This was the original location.
It was warm, so we ate inside where there were fans. Mike got a root beer and Mary and I shared an iced cafe au lait. We split and order on beignets. I thought they were a bit under cooked and doughy. They were a little cold, too.
Cafe Beignet
334 Royal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
The tour guide dropped us off at the French Market. We strolled through the stalls and got some t-shirts and beads. Mike found a ring. It was busy. Great place to people watch. Not really our kind of shopping.
We also visited shops in the area and picked-up some Aunt Sally’s pralines….salted caramel pralines are amazing. Mike got more socks. The fact that we had to carry stuff makes us want to limit what we buy. The streets are packed and we were going to have to ride home on the bus or streetcar.
French Market Corporation Administrative Office
1008 N. Peters Street
New Orleans, LA 70116
Glen took us here on our tour. Jana got the bayou sampler (red beans and rice, jambalaya and crawfish etouffee). Mike got a fried shrimp po boy with red beans and rice. Mary got a caesar salad and gumbo.
We sat on the 2nd floor patio looking out over the marina on Lake Pontchartrain.
Felix’s on the Lake Restaurant & Oyster Bar
7400 Lakeshore Blvd
New Orleans 70124
With Mary joining us, we decided to take a city tour. She has never been to NOLA and we were running out of places to visit. We wanted to get a highlight of places besides the French Quarter and normal tourist attractions. We plan to spend some time revisiting places we found interesting.
After watching the hoards of people getting off tour buses, we decided to splurge and hire a private tour guide to show us the city. We told him what we had already visited and that we were interested in history and architecture.
The guide picked us up from our Airbnb and gave us a very interesting tour including the history of New Orleans and it’s people, showing us the architecture in different neighborhoods, and facts about life in New Orleans.
We started with a great view from the Westin Hotel
We next went to St Louis Cemetary
We went to Lake Ponchartrain
When we were done, Glen dropped us off at the French Quarter so we could walk around and shop with Mary.
After leaving the Garden District bakery, we went straight to Parkway to beat the rush by being here at opening. We’ve driven by a couple of times and it is always packed. The restaurant has been featured on lots of food shows and Youtube videos. It is voted as the top po boy spot in NOLA. It opened in 1911 and has been a vital part of the neighborhood with the food and bar. They have a covered patio area in addition to inside dining.
Jana got a classic shrimp po boy not dressed. Mike got the barbecue shrimp po boy dressed. We also got fried pickles. For dessert we got bread pudding and rum cake to go.
To be honest, we were not that impressed. It was not bad, but it was like all the other po boys we tried.
Parkway Bakery & Tavern
538 Hagen Ave.
New Orleans LA 70119
We invited the girls to join us this month. Kid 1 and Kid 3 have work and college, so Kid 2 is coming solo. We pick her up at the airport at 11:30 tonight to visit for a couple of day.s We headed back to the french bakery La Boulangerie for some goodies for tomorrow. We ordered ahead so we could score some chocolate croissant bread pudding. We also got key lime pie, carrot cake, apple cheesecake, croissants, breakfast sandwiches and a walnut churro.
LaBoulangerie
4600 Magazine St #1518
New Orleans, LA 70115