Day 1, January 3rd

Day 1, January 3rd: continued...

After we all got to the hotel, checked-in, and found our rooms we washed off the travel dust, dressed up and went for a night on the town! We walked to the streetcar station, took it a few blocks down, the walked a little further to Pierre Maspero’s! Now, I am not very adventurous as far as trying new foods goes… but man did everything on this menu full of new foods look amazing! I had the Midwest version of Jambalaya but trying foods in the place they originated usually makes it a “new food.” The experience was a good one though, the food was absolutely amazing. There were 7 people at our table and only 2 people ordered the same thing so we passed bits and pieces of this real


, authentic New Orleans food; everything was amazing except the crawfish. Now, don’t get me wrong, the flavor was amazing but the meaty crunch of the fish was less than amazing. I guess I am not going to be a shrimp or crawfish eater!

Originally, after dinner, we were going to go on a haunted history tour, but it was raining so hard that the tour was rescheduled for Sunday night. Instead, we ventured out to see what the great City or New Orleans held! We headed for Fritzels, a European jazz club that we heard was one of the best. When we arrived, we were told they didn’t start playing music til 9 – after realizing it was only 7:30 we decided to make Fritzels an adventure for another night. They recommended another club a block down, so we decided to check it out. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we are not on Bourbon street. I do not know what rumors you have heard about the infamous Bourbon Street, but it was loud, crowded, and there was an unmistakable stench in the air that I will spare you the description of. We didn’t stay long as we were jet-lagged and wanted to try the famous beignets (pronounced ben-yays).

Apple Galette

On our way to Café Du Monde, home to these delicious pastries, we found a cute little gift shop and decided to check it out! After looking at all of their souvenirs and any purchases were made, the store employee recommended that we stop at the Palace Café and try their Bread Pudding. Because she was local, we assumed she knew where the best spots were, so we took her advice, rerouted our adventure, and headed off for some overpriced bread pudding. When we arrived, we were soaking wet because of all the rain and this Café looked like a higher end place so we debated whether to enter or come back. As we are standing there, a slightly intoxicated couple exits and informs us that the food is amazing, and we should go in – we all wanted to try this bread pudding, so we entered, some of us dripped wet. They asked if we were there for dinner or just dessert and when we said just dessert we were seated at the dessert bar. I have never been to a restaurant where they have their own bar for desserts, but they did. We were seated at the window viewing in where the young man was putting together the scrumptious desserts – he put on quite the show. Anyway, the bread pudding was amazing                                                                            and so was everything else we tried! We then headed back to the                                                                          hotel to update al of you on our adventures and get a good                                                                                     nights' sleep.