Good evening, friends: I'm writing from the French Quarter of New Orleans. In the morning, I'm hopping on the Crescent towards Charlottesville, so there's a bit of a time crunch. If I wanted to do something in NOLA, it had to be today. (As you'll see below, "do something" is really "eat something." I was doing a little bit of a NOLA food speedrun.)
After a much-needed shower and shave, I wandered around the French Quarter for a few hours. I stopped at the famed Cafe Du Monde for an order of beignets outside Jackson Square. Man, they're phenomenal. Well worth the peak-time line.
I walked off the beignets for a while, enjoying the music and architecture, and found a spot to pick up lunch: A po-boy and seafood gumbo, both delicious.
After lunch, I bought an unlimited one-day NORTA pass, called a "JazzyPass," and took the streetcar out of the French Quarter towards uptown/Tulane. It was crowded—people kept getting on and nobody was getting off (and the bus driver's eyes were...)—so I hopped off early in the Garden District and wandered around for a while. The neighborhood’s theme makes it feel like a suburb designed by Disney. Or maybe just a neighborhood with a powerful HOA.
Before dinner, I tried the NORTA ferry. It takes you about 1/3 of a mile across the Mississippi River in ten minutes. I rode it both ways, formally rounding out my transit bingo card for this trip: subway (Chicago), light rail (LA), bus (LA), bike (LA), streetcar (NOLA), ferry (NOLA), train. Tada!
For dinner, I had a muffaletta sandwich, also delicious. I walked around a bit more and came back to pack up for my train tomorrow. All in all, a great day and great stop. Oppressively muggy, though.
Tomorrow will be another train day (and, hopefully, my last night sleeping on the train). Don’t know if I’ll have much else to share going forward. I’ll be on some relatively uneventful train rides and will be traveling between my three homes (Charlottesville, NOVA, and NYC) so it’s becoming less of a vacation and more a part of finalizing my move. So the posts may be infrequent in the closing few days. Don’t worry—just a function of some less exciting travel.
–JBG
Sounds like you hit the high points in NOLA! By that, of course, I mean you chose all the important things to eat😉. Your photos brought back such lovely memories of the times I have been there. I hope you get back sometime (when you are earning a good salary as a sought after attorney) and try a meal at the Inn of the Two Sisters - or Commander’s Palace, the Acme Oyster House, or Brennan’s- but always Cafe Du Monde! Enjoy your trip back to C-Ville (not 48 hours, I hope) and stay safe❤️