We arrived in New Orleans on a Monday morning in gloomy weather. It stayed gloomy for three days. Just heavy cloud, no sun, a little chilly and on and off drizzle, not enough to hamper us getting around to get a look at things.

We stayed in a Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street which is the main drag through town and on the up river edge of the French Quarter. The FQ is the main touristy district of The Big Easy. New Orleans is known as ‘The Big Easy’ because it is considered to be a ‘laid back’ place. Allthego suspects this ‘laid back’ approach to things might come from the fusion of cultures that exist here. French, Spanish, African, Native American, Italian even a bit of English had seeped in. Food is a great example of this, the food New Orleans is known for is relatively inexpensive and mirrors the ‘peasant foods’ of provincial France, West Africa and Italy.

Beignets are a classic breakfast item. Donut like but with a hollowish interior, heavily dusted with icing sugar (most of which we brushed off!). We had these again at Cafe du Monde in the French Markets, listening to a sax player playing ‘Old Man River’ among others. Calas is a slave era rice based ‘dumpling’, flavoured with nutmeg. Eaten at breakfast, hard to get these days. We found it a bit dry.

The gumbo is a southern classic, originated during the Slave period as a staple. Stew like and quite heavily spiced. Comes with varied ingredients, meat, sausage, shrimp, fish etc.

We had pre booked a 3 hour food tour of the FQ, turned up for it in the drizzle and finally found the red headed Irish descended (plus some French) young lady guide. As the only starters we effectively had a private tour, really interesting chats with her along the way as we sampled the iconic foods in local establishments.

Poboy is a contraction of ‘Poor Boy’, a soft bun with a crisp thin crust stuffed with almost anything on hand. Plus lettuce, tomato and mayo. Originated from old times when the poor were given stale French bread and left over meats, hence Poboy. If you leave off the lettuce etc they are said to be ‘undressed’, as opposed to being ‘dressed’.

Muffaletta shows the Italian influence, salami, ham and cheese in a seed topped bun. In the middle is a chopped green olive salad. Rather tasty, if you like olives.

Gator balls are self explanatory, the gator is supposed to taste like chicken. We found these didn’t have quite enough bite for our tastes.

The tour finished in the early evening and it was a slow walk back along Bourbon Street in the drizzle. Being the start of the week things are a little slow and the live music only starts up in earnest around 8pm. It is apparently livelier earlier towards the end of the week.

We headed back to the hotel, felt more comfortable back there. Starting to be a little wary as the years roll on.

The next couple of days were spent getting around on the Hop on Hop off bus. We particularly enjoyed the Garden District with the old pre and post Civil War mansions, many having been restored.

The bus ticket included a guided walk up and around the Washington St block. The guide noted that iron work on a property was a symbol of wealth, the more elaborate the greater the wealth!

Interesting bits of historic urban memorabilia remain on some of the footpaths; hitching posts, iron posts on street corners and iron plates with street names over gutters. Strolled past Sandra Bullock’s local digs. Impressive property.

Also had some time along a section of Magazine St, a local shopping and food precinct. Some unusual little establishments to look through.

We also took the opportunity to hop off and have a look at the city’s Catholic Cathedral off Jackson Square, near the spot where the United States purchased Louisiana from the French in 1803.

Also near here is a museum with a Mardi Gras display and the Cyclone Katrina story. Mardi Gras is quite an event here, reflecting its French and African roots. All of society seems to take part with floats and parades. A bit of a contrast with Sydney’s Mardi Gras which seems to be mostly an event popularised by the LGBTQ+ community.

The Cyclone Katrina display was also revealing. A lot more than what we saw on the TV in Australia went on during this disaster and in the months long recovery period. Makes our flood clean ups look like Sunday school picnics, to use an old expression!

Allthego has focussed a bit on food in this blog, but hey y’all that’s one of his weaknesses, the stomach. Y’all is a ‘new’ word he has learnt. A plural second person pronoun, in Aus we say ‘you lot’ and some have been heard to say ‘youse all’. This little book might help me inflict some Southern cooking on y’all. Howzat!

We enjoyed the short stopover in New Orleans, despite the weather, and now head off to Houston to visit Mitchell and Piper for Thanksgiving Week and her birthday.