New Orleans – Day 2

We woke up early on Day 2 and had our delicious room service breakfast. One of the best meals ever invented is cheese grits. I could live on them. Here is our room service brekky –

We got out of the hotel and ready for a long walk through New Orleans. We had no definitely plans… just wanted to go for a walk around. Little did we know it ended up feeling like a little bit of a pilgrimage. I had no idea whatsoever that the churches in New Orleans would be so beautiful. It was a wonderful surprise!

We stumbled upon the Immaculate Conception church which was right next to our hotel. It was beautiful and so peaceful. It is a Jesuit chuch that has been going through a lot of restoration. Please excuse our iPhone photos –

The pews were wood and iron!

We then took a long, long walk through the French Quarter. This was mid-morning and it was so quiet. Also – while we were there it was quite cold so the party spirit was still sleeping –

The street car tracks on Canal Street reminded me of Melbourne trams –

I love checking out the public transport ticketing machines in different cities. Here is one for the street cars –

Check out this.. the ticket machines are not at all stops. So they have a guy that drives around in a cart with a ticket machine on it and he stops at various stops to see if anyone needs to buy a ticket!

Some views of Bourbon St during the day –

I love these tiled street signs –

We wandered and wandered and ended up at St Louis Cathedral. It is quite a focal point of the city and seems like a bit of a meeting place. It was absolutely beautiful inside!

The Clamshell pulpits are a feature in all churches in New Orleans –

The stark white exterior really stands out in this part of the town –

After visiting the Cathedral we wandered through some more streets when we came across a little sign for a museum – it ends up it is for the Old Ursuline Convent which has been restored into a museum and opened to the public. It is the oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley It was gorgeous! You can now see why this all felt like a pilgrimage!

This is the oldest staircase in the United States –

The Church within the grounds was absolutely amazing. It was basically in perfect condition which is amazing considering all of the hurricanes and weather extremes –

The staircase for the organist –

The ceiling was absolutely amazing –

Confession booth in perfect condition –

Closer look at the Altar –

You can just see the library through the upper window –

The church exterior –

We got a quick bite to eat for lunch and then hopped on the streetcar to see what that was like and they were just like the Melbourne W Class trams!

The chair backs move back and forth so you can face the way the streetcar is traveling –

We went for another wander at the end of the streetcar line and came across the casino. So we went in to play some slot machines and came out $70 ahead within about 30 minutes. We were so excited so we took the money and ran!

We had dinner booked at Dante’s Kitchen – which has become one of the best restaurants in New Orleans.

It was one of the best meals I have ever had. Absolutely amazing. There is no glitz or glamor here – it is in a converted house and out of the city. But it was absolutely amazing and the reviews say it all. I got shrimp and grits with red eye gravy – oh my gosh I could’ve eaten an never ending bowl of it. The best was yet to come with their chicken roasted under a brick. I have NEVER EVER eaten chicken like it. I can’t describe it but it was amazing!
Bill got the Trois Mignons and also enjoyed them thoroughly. It was one of those meals where we hardly talked as we were so busy savoring every bit of the meal. It was THAT good.

We got the streetcar back to the city and decided to go back and check out Bourbon Street at night. It was FREEZING but we were still very ohmigosh-I-didn’t-expect-it-to-be-like-this! We were really out of place! The streets we not packed at all but the bars were.