French Quarter

We’re here! Yes, one of our favorite spots is New Orleans, so much to see and do. First, we went into the French Quarter and did the touristy-thing mostly walking around and taking in the sights. We stopped into Café Fleur De Lis for breakfast and I tried the seafood eggs benedict. They used a crab/shrimp cake instead of an english muffin and topped it with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce and it was delicious. Joel had banana praline pancakes with caramelized bacon and a shot of Kentucky bourbon – boy that will wake you up! New Orleans has the best food😘.

There was a street band playing in Jackson Square that had such a fun vibe, you couldn’t help but shake that booty! Video below…

It was super hot and muggy (sorry to weather-complain) we expected this going to the South in the summer, but you don’t realize how HOT and how HUMID it is until you step outside of air-conditioning into 95 degrees with 85% humidity. Ugghhh….

Mid-City Park and Sculpture Garden

The beauty of the ancient live oaks and large greenspace is stunning to find just north of downtown New Orleans. This park is HUGE (1,300 acres, 50% bigger than Central Park in NY) and there is so much to do and see. The park features museums, a sculpture garden, Story Book Land which has life size renditions of all our favorite classic fairy tales, and an amazing collection of fauna and flora. It also serves as home to the world’s largest collection of mature live oak trees, some of which are more than 600 years old. Originally in the 1800s, the area was used as a location for dueling, men would defend their pride and honor by dueling each other under the live oak trees. There is also carousel (known as the “flying horses” to locals), originally it was mule-driven when it opened in 1897, and was updated to a mechanical carousel in 1906. The animals are still hand painted and so beautiful. So yes, there is some history here. Also, there’s a Cafe du Monde location for beignets, what could be more perfect?