A long, long day of travel on Thursday with a side note about the airport in New Orleans – the roads and access in and out of the airport are so poorly planned. The backups were endless with no room for cars to exit and enter and we sat in that mess for at least an hour. I was sharing a cab with four other gentlemen and we couldn’t believe it! It was like that carnival game where you sit in a little car and try to hit the other cars, can’t remember what it’s called. Our cab driver was endlessly patient and we applauded him.
Anyway, I was exhausted when I got here but when Don came in the door after his rehearsal, all was well. Yesterday, we ate some breakfast and then trotted on over to Café du Monde for beignets and coffee. There was a line, but it moved very quickly.
Here we are in line.
Oh, lordy. I had never had a beignet before, so this was a totally new experience for me. They are incredible; light and airy. I could only finish two of them because they’re so sweet. The combination of the beignets and the chickory coffee was perfect – in fact, I bought a couple of cans of the coffee to take home. This Peet’s drinker loved it.
We walked around the French Quarter until Don had to leave for rehearsal and then I continued walking around and taking pictures of the architecture.
Every house and building has such a distinctive style. Shutters are everywhere; practical in the heat and during hurricanes. This blue is so vivid.
I swear my neck was sore from constantly aiming the camera up to shoot all the balconies and wrought iron and hanging plants on every building. So beautiful.
I can’t stand it, this is so charming.
Halloween decorations are everywhere. Clearly, this is a big holiday in New Orleans.
Jackson Square, with the cathedral in the center of the photograph.
The Petit Theatre is run by a friend of mine. I stopped in, but had just missed him. It’s so lovely inside.
My favorite little discovery yesterday was this little house or maybe it’s a shop, I’m not sure. It was absolutely fascinating and I couldn’t get enough of it.
So many details: the lights hanging from the ceiling of the porch, the haint blue ceiling color, the handpainted bench, the shutters, the trim, the plants and this sign:
I love it.
Door details.
Just above the gate you will see colorful flowers. They’re made of glass.
Everything about this little gem was so individual, so quirky and wonderful and charming. Give me this sort of free-spirited artistic expression any day of the week.
I have to take Don back there so he can see it.
I have tons of pictures, which I’ll share with you this week. Don has two shows today and two shows tomorrow. I’ll be going to tonight’s performance.
More later.
Happy Saturday.
Your first beignet! They are truly amazing!! New Orleans is such a unique little city and the French Quarter is a treasure. If you get a chance to go to the Garden District you should as it’s lovely there also. I have a blog friend that lives there and has an amazing home. Love your photos and I’m so excited for you and Don to have this adventure!
I’ll be going there – just not until next week. It’s going to be raining all weekend.
You can take the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden Dustrict even in the rain, get a sense of it and then go back later to walk around.
I want to take it there, get off and start walking! I’m here until Friday, so I have plenty of time!
I have not been there in YEARS,…DECADES, and yet somehow it all looks just the same to me. The balconies, the beignets, the drinks in a very large Hurricane glass, the people. It is such a great place. Enjoy it while you are there!
I am really enjoying it, Diane!
Sounds like you were describing bumper cars perhaps? I’ve never been to New Orleans…so I’m soaking in your pics and descriptions. Love those glass flowers! Enjoy…and keep snapping pics! ;)
Yes, that’s it – Bumper cars.
The glass flowers are so incredible. I want some!
One of my absolute favorite cities! Now I am craving beignets to go with my morning coffee. LOL! Those glass flowers are amazing!
I know you will have a wonderful time!
I am. It’s unbelievably humid, however, so I have to stop halfway through the afternoon to take a break!
Thanks for the mini-trip to New Orleans. It’s been about three years since my last visit, but I’ll always be ready for another. I just knew you’d love it! Enjoy!
I am!
You had beignets for myself. I’m having Cheerios. Sigh. Oh well, at least my coffee is awesome [Starbucks Italian roast]. Enjoy your New Orleans weekend – even rain can’t dampen the beauty of that city – it might even enhance it a bit. And what a great time to be there – Halloween. Very “Interview with the Vampire” I imagine. I think Anne Rice actually lives there – in the Garden District maybe? Oh well. Keep on having a wonderful time. Peace.
#Resist
She does live here. She also has a place in Los Angeles, I think. Not absolutely sure about that.
She did live there when we visited about fifteen years ago. We stood outside and admired her beautiful lavender house. Not sure if she keeps a place there, now. Last interview I saw she had moved to New York.
I buy beignets at a French-inspired cafe. I always ask them not to sugar the beignets, because it’s too sweet for me. However, the cafe gives customers a tub of chocolate ganache I to which you can dip the beignets….yum! I’m glad you found a coffee you like other than Peet’s. It makes for a nice change. Love your architecture photos. Continue to have fun….I can hear the happiness in your written voice now that you’re with Don.
We’re having a great time – more of our ‘road trip.’ Don has four shows this weekend, so my time with him is limited, but we try to do some exploring before he has to get to the theater. Monday is his day off.
I just knew you would love New Orleans. I loved the Mardi Gras museum. It was fun to see photos of the Mardi Gras in the rural areas.
It’s a place like no other, Kay. I’m really having a good time.
I was in New Orleans for a short vacation back in the 70’s, Claudia. It is SUCH an awesome place to visit! I hope you and Don have a wonderful time during your stay :)
We are! So blessed to be able to join him here and get the opportunity to see and explore New Orleans.
I went to New Orleans last year and it was just magical to me. I didn’t want to leave. I echo the recommendations to walk through the Garden District. Each garden is prettier than the next.
You can wander through the Lafayette Cemetery while you are there.
Enjoy your time with Don!
I will. That is definitely on my list, but I’m going to do it next week when it’s a bit cooler.
It is so pretty! All of the colours, the wrought iron, the buildings themselves…just breathtaking. The glass flowers are so life like. You are going to have so many pictures!
Have a blast tonight!
The glass flowers are extraordinary, Debbie!
This is SO surreal to me! The picture you included (of the wrought-iron balcony house on the corner of Urselines) is the house of a friend of mine (the second floor, that is). So funny to think of all the times we sat on that balcony and listened to the chatter on the street below. And La Petite is like an old family friend, as my mother was very involved with it back in the old days and would talk about it like it was the 4th sibling in our family. My brother is a photographer, and I have a framed photo of the door you included hanging in our guest bathroom (the one with the two knockers.) It is flanked by a photo of the cornstalk fence and the lighted entrance gate of Armstrong Park.
I am glad you purchased the coffee and chickory, but give the beignet mix a pass. I have never known someone to return home with that mix who was not disappointed. (can’t figure out if it is old or what, but it seems to be universally disappointing. ) Instead, there is a recipe for beignets in “Talk About Good” , the quintessential Louisiana cookbook.
Also, for those of us who have great love, and great nostalgia, for The Saenger, it is always inspiring to see it welcoming new shows and new audiences. Its rise and fall and rise again is heartening!
Enjoy !
Leslie P.
I would love a photo of that door. A better photo than the one I took, I mean! Now I have to find the house again so I can show it to Don. My friend Max is the newish Artistic Director of Le Petit and he just got married about a week ago (during the hurricane!) He was Darko’s Associate Artistic Director when I first started working at Hartford Stage.
I have no desire to try to make beignets. I think what makes them magical and memorable is their fluffiness inside and I know I can’t duplicate what the experts do so well. The Saenger is huge and Don says it’s an adjustment for them because they were used to the relative intimacy of the playhouse in La Jolla. Great audience response last night, apparently. There are a lot of Buffett fans here!
Saw on Insta that you went to the incomparable Faulkner Books! Hope you also got to Arcadian Books (around the corner on Orleans) which is the Harry Potter bookshop cousin to the Faulkner (think teetering towers of used books with an extremely knowledgeable shop owner).
I saw it, but I haven’t been in there yet! There are at least three used bookstores I want to visit!
I love the iron details on the door, the Green Man and the iron owl nearby. We need more of that on our houses. New Orleans is beautiful.
They make a house so personal and expressive. I agree.
What beautiful sights and places to see in New Orleans. Everything is so colorful and alive. Glad that you are having a good time. You and Don make a handsome couple. Enjoy the show.
Marilyn
I will, Marilyn. I’m looking forward to seeing it with the changes in the script and the new songs that have been added.
So glad you arrived safely, Claudia!! Theres so much to see and enjoy there!! I will be there next month for an early Thanksgiving with my son! He lives there and its always a treat to visit!! Enjoy Don’s show this evening!! I’m loving your pictures!!
Thank you, Francine! Lucky you, that your son lives here!
I lived in New Orleans in the early 60s for 2 years as a 10 year old – my parents took me to the French Quarter a few times for dinner – loved to see your pictures – a memory from along time ago – thanks.
You’re welcome, Susan.
I’m so glad to see you’re enjoying New Orleans. Do try to have dinner at the Court of 2 Sisters and a hurricane at Pat O’Briens.. and maybe a dinner cruise on the Natchez. My 2 sisters and my daughter spent a week there last April and thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband and I got married in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1970 and spent quite a bit of time in NoLa. So.. I’m totally enjoying your photos.. can’t wait to see more. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
We’re vegetarians, so many of the restaurants recommended to us don’t have enough options. I looked at the menu for that restaurant and it would be hard for us to find anything to eat there. Don works every night but Monday night, so a dinner cruise probably won’t happen. Vegetarians and working at night!
Oh Claudia!..isn’t it all so wonderful?…and you and Don together again for another great picture!…The two of you are making such great memories together this year…New Orleans looks as beautiful as all of your readers said it would be!…That gorgeous brick building with the wrought iron and huge ferns I have seen many times in TV and in movies…I am also enjoying that colorful shotgun house with the door knockers and glass flowers!…You could take a thousand pictures and I would love seeing every one of them…Thank you once again for sharing your happiness and adventures with us!
You’re very welcome, Nancy!
so glad you are having fun in new orleans (minus the humidity), that you found that sweet house with the glass flowers and faulkner’s …
your list will grow!
agree about the difficulty in getting the beignet mix to taste as good at home as those you get at cdm … but it’s worth a try with stella!
i recommend finding the fed-ex store in the quarter so you can ship home the coffee, books, etc. instead of lugging them home in a suitcase.
glad you and don can spend time together, especially in that great city!
sounds like you are enjoying “escape to margaritaville” right now! am looking forward to seeing it with my sister in chicago on november 17!
have a great week!
kathy in iowa
I don’t really want to try beignets. They’re something that should remain ‘special’ and New Orleans-related. I’m happy just having them while I’m here. Two cans of the coffee are going along in Don’s truck so he can make it on the road. I’m taking one can and the books and I think – we’ll see – I can manage them. If not, I’ll ship them home.
Wonderful to see you arrived safely …
Lovely photos, especially the one beautiful little residence with my ‘magical’ numbers. Looking forward to more of your photo filled posts. It’s only too bad your post didn’t come with ‘scratch n’ sniff’ capabilities.
Thank-you for sharing …
You’re most welcome!
Hope you are having the time of your life.
We are having fun. But I wish you were here.
Me too! I have been sulking a bit all weekend.
xoxox Love you, sister.
One of my favorite breakfast places nearby makes beignets. And they also serve Intelligentsia coffee – ones of my faves. I haven’t had their beignets in ages, because I’m still working hard at not consuming sugar! But yes, they are delicious. Especially with a cup of coffee. I am loving your photos and am arm chair traveling along with you.
Thank you, Melanie!