Day 2 in New Orleans - Walking Tours

May 13, 2010
New Orleans, LA

Our second day in New Orleans started with coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde (it's a tourist-y thing but, hey, what the heck), followed by a stroll around Jackson Square. We didn't get far along the square before we were accosted by a carriage vendor looking to fill up a tour, so we hopped on. It was a short loop around the French Quarter, with historical narration (heavy on references to "Storytown", the bordello district just outside the Quarter) and some name dropping about current NO residents (Brangelina, Nicholas Cage) and people who grew up in the area (Ellen, Richard Simmons, Jimmy Buffet).

After the ride and some additional walking around, Geri headed home and I met up with a group of folks for a "Haunted Cemetery Tour". This walking tour was almost three hours long and quite interesting, even if it was long on the cemetery part and light on haunting (fine with me). We started in the heart of the Quarter and walked past several interesting sites on the way to Saint Louis Cemetery. I enjoyed the tour, and it was an easy walk back to the coach late in the afternoon.

Click here for pictures from today...

We decided to have dinner out, and I used OpenTable.com to make reservations at Emeril's New Orleans for an early seating. We took advantage of their free valet parking and had a very nice meal. Geri had a nice salad and Andouille-crusted Redfish, which was excellent (I'm still trying to figure out how to recreate a "crust" with sausage). I started with a Rabbit Remoulade and moved on to Panéed Veal with Crispy Sweetbreads. Paired with a great Melville Pinot Noir from our favorite California wine region (Sta Rite Hills), we had a great meal. Topped off with dessert (Geri's cheese plate and Port and my bread pudding and Cognac), we were filled to the brim. A great way to cap off a short visit to New Orleans...