Best thing done in New orleans:
Barbecue shrimp (twice) (not traditional barbecue sauce however)
Hurricane katrina tour
A dozen crabs and one pound of shrimp in one dinner
New orleans is very unique.
Booked hotel in bourbon & orleans. Half block to the cathedral at Jackson square.
Beignet at Cafe de monde is great, had that every Morning.
Sunday brunch at the court of two sisters with live jazz was so-so. Not recommended. They do have shrimp omelets.
First night when we got there, (thanksgiving night), had dinner at gumbo shop, very average place. Had to go to oyster bar afterwards to get two dozens of raw oysters to fill up my stomach.
When we took taxi to come to New orleans, the taxi driver recommended deanie's seafood in French quarter. It was good. Taxi drivers really know where to go eat. HIghly recommend barbecue shrimp. Very yummy. I ordered half of mixed fried seafood, when it was served, I thought the waiter misunderstood and brought up a full plate! I could only finish half of the half order - very rare.
Bourbon street was full of young african americans. holding either hand grenades or hurricane in hand, they were enjoying their after-thanksgiving time. I came across some film students filming on bourbon street, with at least 10 diffferent fancy lights for a small short scene. We went to few bars and clubs on bourbon, quite nice.
The streetcar going to garden district from french quarter was very nice. We went to see the lafayette cemetery and a few historical houses around that area. On the way back, we stopped at the World war II museum. Not too impressed, we didn't take the tour.
One of the highlights of the trip is buying crabs and shrimps from a local store near Lake pontchartrain. I don't recall its name now but it was on Lake ave, almost to the end of the roads towards the lake. First we took street car to Metarie cemeteries. Without knowing how to get there, we asked a lady where to take the bus to the lake area. She pointed to a van stopping on the side of the road. and that was it. We took that van (bus) to the lake area, and a guy in the van kindly showed us how to get to the lake ave. I bought a dozen crabs and two pounds of shrimp, george finished more than one pound of shrimp and i finished the rest, with only one crab left. One of best crabs eating ever, all crabs are full of eggs, yummy!
The katrina tour was great - george's idea. This lady, by herself, was driving and talking on the speaker, without stopping for the whole three hours! Born in New orleans, she was so knowledgable about what happened before and after the katrina, five stars! We had an aligator sausage and a hurricane during the break. There were still so many houses that are not recovered and probably will never be recovered after Katrina. Nowadays the population is 2/3 of that before the hurricane.
We also took a boat ride (free) crossing mississippi river to Algiers, a very quiet neighborhood. We also visited Jean lafitte NHP and Jazz NHP headquarter that is in French quarter.
One thing to memorize is the gay bar around uptown area call the phoenix/eagle - interesting place, esp. 2nd floor.
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