#1808 NOLA day 4 in pics

Back to New Orleans...

Lizzie and I had planned the first three days in the Big Easy pretty meticulously, planning everything from what we would see and do to where we would eat. We left Sunday open so if anything got left out  or if we wanted to go back to a particular place, we would have the option to do that. We thought it was a good idea, but we were a little overwhelmed with the openness of the day when we woke up on Sunday morning. We pored over the guidebook to look for anything we had missed, but we had been pretty thorough, so we decided the best way to start the day would be at the Carousel Bar.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the Carousel Bar is located in the hotel where we stayed, the Hotel Monteleone. The bar is an actual carousel, but instead of horses, there are 24 bar stools. The stools do circle around the bar which takes about 15 minutes. Every time we walked past the bar on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, there was no room at the carousel, so on Sunday we decided to be there when the place opened at 11 AM. We were not the only people with that idea, but we were one of the first 24, so we got our seats and ordered some breakfast cocktails. I had a milk punch (which I will describe in the food post) and Lizzie had a Bloody Mary. We chatted with people and took silly photos and ordered another round (another milk punch for me, Baileys and coffee for Lizzie.) It was fun!

YIKES! Scary clown behind me!

The bartender told us to take this photo.

After a couple of pre-brunch cocktails, we were ready for food. The first place we went to was packed and we weren't in the mood to wait, so we kept walking. Lizzie suggested we turn down a street and we happened upon Salon by Sucre. Actually, I'm not convinced we happened upon it because Lizzie had mentioned it earlier in the morning so she probably knew right where it was. Anyway, we had brunch (food post will have details!) and a couple of mimosas and it was damn delightful.

After brunch we realized that we had not made it over to the river. How can you go to New Orleans without looking out over the mighty Mississippi River? The answer is you can't and from where we were, the river was very easy to find.

A steam paddle boat and the Point Algiers ferry

One of the options we considered was taking the ferry over to Point Algiers. It's a free five minute ride across the river, but in the end, we decided not to do that. Instead, we strolled through the French Market.

French Market

The French Market is an open air shopping space that has pretty much any type of souvenir you can imagine. There are also food places. It's pretty interesting. There is a LOT of stuff in there. We enjoyed walking through the place and we did buy a couple of things.

From there we just kept walking up the road and found ourselves on Frenchmen Street, my favorite street, I think, in the city. We had been there on Friday night and it was THE place to hear live music. It was the same on Sunday afternoon. As we wandered down the road, we came upon a bar, Maison, that had a five-piece jazz ensemble playing. We went in, got a seat at the bar and spent a happy hour or so drinking beer and listening to music. I was in total heaven. The beer was good, the bartender was handsome, there was football on the TV and the music was excellent. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

This dude on the clarinet was fantastic

The next band wasn't as good, so we left Maison and went on down the street to the Spotted Cat Music Club. The Spotted Cat had been on our list for Friday, but it was so packed that we passed on it then. On Sunday afternoon, a band was having a CD release party, so we went in, got a beer and a couple of seats and proceeded to enjoy the hell out of the musical stylings of The Asylum Chorus.

The stage of The Spotted Cat

Asylum Chorus on stage!

Not only is there good music and a pleasant vibe at this bar, it is animal friendly. This dude brought in his dog and we were all amused.

That's a dog with a bone in the bar

Also, there is a piano in the ladies room because inspiration can strike at any time, I guess.

Ladies room

When The Asylum Chorus show was over, a new band set up and began to play. Lizzie and I decided to go across the street to Marigny Brasserie, the same place we ate on Friday night, to have appetizers. I have to admit that I don't have totally clear memories of this part of the evening, but I do have photos of the food, so I know it happened. The Asylum Chorus was also at the restaurant having a post-gig meal. I fist bumped them all on the way out of the place.

After eating, Lizzie and I walked back to the French Quarter and to the hotel. We stopped at a couple of places along the way to take some photos:

Lights on the bridge over the river

touchdown Jesus on the back of St. Louis Cathedral

Back at the hotel, I was mesmerized by the pretty ceiling:

We went to our room, ordered room service, watched TV and went to sleep. It had been another fantastic day!