Barely sane....: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
~Dr. Seuss

Tuesday was a day for sleeping in and going with the flow--no tours and no schedules. We had a blast. Our Hard Rock Cafe waiter from Sunday night had recommended a couple of his favorite NOLA hangouts.

The first was Magazine Street. A 6 mile long stretch of road full of clothing shops, antique stores, restaurants, home interiors stores, vintage stores and just about anything you could think of.

We started at a diner called Slim Goodies... running New Orleans theme: the food was fantastic. We were there between meal times on a weekday, so the place was quiet. Michael got the banana pancakes and he was in heaven.

We sauntered slowly down Magazine Street appreciating the architecture of the homes that are in and about the shops and restaurants. This area is like Portland's 23rd, Hawthorne, Belmont and Division all along one long street with amazing New Orleans homes scattered about.

Norman, the HRC waiter, had mentioned a store named Aidan Gill. A fancy Men's Barber Shop with hot towel shaves in the back and great smelling men's after shave, old fashioned razors, brushes and shave lotions, ties, etc... in the front. Joey got some almond scented shave cream and Bay Rum After Shave (with a nice clove scent). We had them shipped directly to his dorm at Oberlin.

We stopped into Juan's Flying Burrito, another of Norman's recommendations. We like Norman. He has great recommendations.

Above: Magazine Street

Below: Chips and Guacamole at Juan's Flying Burrito

Below: Homemade Cherry Lemonade Popsicles at Juan's

After leaving Magazine Street, we had to make a stop back at the French Quarter for Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. It is a New Orleans landmark since 1862.

We were there on a very warm weekday afternoon and business was slow. There were servers taking breaks everywhere. But as soon as we sat down, our dutiful waiter, Jeffrey, was at our service.

Above: Jeffrey the colorful waiter. He has served movie stars (had good things to say about Dustin Hoffman and Michael J. Fox and not so good things to say about Sean Penn and Jim Belushi... well, and not so good things to say about celebrities in general).

Fresh, warm beignets are SOOOO delicious!

We figure people from New Orleans never have to buy powdered sugar. Just bring a little bag with you, pour the powdered sugar from your left over beignets into the bag, and take home.

Below: St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square. Andrew Jackson statue in the middle.

On our way back home from the French Quarter (our hotel was one block from the Canal St. boundary of the French Quarter), the most wonderful band was playing on the edge of Bourbon Street. We emptied our pockets into their tip box.

Later that evening we took another of Norman's recommendations and headed over to Frenchmen Street for some dinner and Jazz. We ended up at Snug Harbor and listened to the Godwin Lewis trio. I decided for me, Jazz is like baseball... in order to truly enjoy it, I need to be there watching it live. Godwin is a saxophonist and graduate of Berklee Music School. He was inviting friends up right and left to play bass, drums, piano, etc... it was wonderful, really good.