French Quarter

After lunch in the cafe, Tim and I headed South towards the river. Every building in the French quarter looks old fashioned. They all have balconies and if you've ever seen footage of Mardi Gras, you have  a good idea of what it looks like. We found an antique gun store with old rifes and very old looking money. Right before the river there was a section of the street blocked off for vendors. I t was mostly just psychic readings. We walked through a small park with a statue of Andrew Jackson. Looking back toward the French Quarter there was a beautiful church. We had attempted to see the inside but church was actually in session. Some man asked us to take his picture and I agreed on the condition that he in turn take ours. We crossed the street to a bluff overlooking the river. The street was lined with stage coaches pulled by horses. At the bluff overlooking the river, there were a lot of shady looking people asking to shine our shoes. We kept our heads low and immediately crossed back into the French Quarter.

Speaking of shady looking people. There were a lot of crunchy people that we felt were so strange that we couldn't come up with a good adjective to describe them. We eventually decided that these people were to referred to as Junkadoons. No other word did it justice. They had tattoos on they're faces, overalls, dirty faces, scary vibes, almost like hippies. Crunchy, but on a whole different level....you know Junkadoons. Its the only word that fits.

We traversed the outskirts of the French Quarter and were confronted by a man claiming to be part of an organization called the "party patrol." He said he was pulling us over for being too good looking, handed us hats, and went on to say that he would have to fine us $10. We knew where it was heading, and didn't wanted to be rude. We waited out his jokes, and kindly told him no and walked away.

We wanted to see New Orleans specific sights while we were there, so stopping in Urban Outfitters seemed appropriate. (sarcasm) Tim bought a sweet shirt, and I was very tempted to buy a leather hoodie. Yes hoodie. I've been contemplating leather and didn't know if I could pull it off. Tim said I looked good but it was $100 and I just couldn't spend the money.

Then we walked down Burbon Street. It was fairly terrible. Strip clubs everywhere, a junkadoon on every corner, etc. But it was cool to see, definitely a party atmosphere. I was tempted to drink a bloody mary because I've always wanted to and you're allowed to walk around with rinks but I didn't. We walked around the outer edge of French Quarter and the houses there has really neat architecture.

We got back to the car, exhausted from walking and looked up Cafe Du Monde, a restaurant Kate told us we had to visit. Unfortunately the GPS told us it was back by the river. So we walked through the city again and ate delicious Beignets, fried goodness topped with powdered sugar. It was totally worth the walk back. We enjoyed the pleasant sounds of three kids playing trumpets/trombone. They were mostly in key.

On the way back to the car we saw a giant swarm of birds flying overhead. They moved like they had a hive mind. They all landed in a large tree and I said we shouldn't walk under it lest we get pooped on, but the tree was where we needed to go so we risked it. I got pooped on.

New Orleans is definitely a good place to visit.