Naw'lens Part 2 - Cruising the French Quarter

Monday, February 14th - New Orleans 

After our typical morning fare of oatmeal, yogurt and honey, and a spirited math lesson courtesy of the Spirit of Math program, we set off to explore N’awlins once more. 

A small shout out to Spirit of Math, a competitive math program that will allow you to purchase the books they use for the program. Our math lessons feature drills, one of which requires Charlotte and Aisling, when given a number, to identify the other number that will add to ten. We time 30 seconds and plot the results. 

Our destination was the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans. As you walk through the French Quarter, you notice the two storey buildings with second storey wrought iron metal balconies above the side walk, the narrow one way streets, the street names tiled into the corner of each street and the variety of street performers competing for your favour; playing jazz, some as young as 4 or 5 are banging on plastic buckets, tarot card readers and psychics, and dancers. 

We went to the waterfront to walk along the mighty Mississippi. The paddleboat S.S. Natchez was blaring its horn as we passed. From there we went into Jackson square where the kids played on some palm trees and around a fountain. The challenge of the day was a public restroom. We meandered through an open air street market to find one. 

We stopped at Alberto’s, google informed us that it served the best Muffuletta in town. I have been telling Gen about the Muffuletta ever since my first experience in New Orleans. The rather large sandwich is served on a sesame bun that originated in Sicily a hundred years ago, add ham, salami, cheese and an olive salad and you have one hell of a sandwich. At least in my opinion, Gen was less than impressed which was okay because I ate the rest of her sandwich. The Muffuletta is on my list of things to make at home. We also had a variety of leftovers we ate while listening to a pair of guitarists play an intertwined melody. Our next destination was Bourbon street. The highlights were the voodoo shops, restaurants and bars that line the street and the neon signs pulling you in. 

A few months ago, I painstakingly listed all the away games that the Raptors played by month and location. I then left the list languishing in the back of my briefcase. On the road trip I noticed that the Raptors played in New Orleans at the exact same we were there. Incredible luck. Gen and the kids picked up $6 tickets for the game in the upper bowl. She was a bit heart broken that she missed out on the $3 tickets. Mary and I purchased lower bowl, 14 row tickets for $48 American each. The experience was great. Gen and the kids were in a mostly empty upper bowl but soon made their way down to our seats. We were seated behind the Raptors bench and had a great experience even though the Raptors got smacked around on their way to a 30 points loss. 

Special bonus points for anyone who can recognize who I saw when I was walking to my seat!

Another walk along Bourbon street at night to our parking lot saw some of the night life that it is famous for.