New Orleans Weekend

New Orleans makes a great weekend sojourn from Houston.  This time we decided to make the 6-hour drive in order to take in new sites along the way.

Our first stop was in Vinton where we had traveled in the 1970s to a horsetrack in the middle of nowhere.  A casino has been built next to the track and Bill wanted to check it out.  We stayed for 10 minutes and left.  Somehow, casinos in rural Louisiana don't have much allure.

This was our second trip back to New Orleans post Katrina, and we were pleased to note that things are continuing to improve.  We stayed at the Hilton Riverside and were assigned a room overlooking the Mississippi.  After our trip down the Yangtze, we enjoyed watching the more modern river traffic on America's largest river.

Dinner the first night at a Bourbon Street fish restaurant was not so good, but we made up for the second night when we joined friends at Irene's Cuisine on St. Phillips in the French Quarter.  The small Italian restaurant has a wonderful menu and everything we tasted was wonderful.  Our friends ordered the roast chicken--an Irene's specialty--which was outstanding, and we both enjoyed the cannelloni.  The cheesecake with Gran Marnier and strawberries was to die for.

On Thursday, we lunched at Mother's Po-boys, another New Orleans institution.  By the time we left, there was a line stretching down the street. 

We paid a return visit to the World War II museum.  This is truly an outstanding museum and should not be missed. We also walked the Harrah's casino a couple of times.  No one was winning much--somehow I don't think Louisiana's casinos have enough traffic to generate large wins.

Of course, breakfast at the Cafe du Monde was terrific and we found a group of high schoolers playing jazz nearby with a couple of great professional performers.  The French market and a walk through the French quarter followed.

On Friday, we used our Fodor's guidebook to take the Katrina tour.  We drove down Canal and to the 17th street levee to see the site of the major break there.  The neighborhood surrounding is has a long way to go in rebuilding.  Then we drove along Lake Pontchartrain and back through the 9th Ward.  This is a scary area still and we didn't linger long.  Bottom line:  the devastation was even more wide spread that we had expected and New Orleans still has a long way to go in rebuilding. But the scars ARE healing and new homes are springing up every where.

Our last evening was Bill's birthday, so we dined at Arnaud's.  Bill had the filet mignon and fried oysters and I enjoyed the trout amandine.  The pertiforoles and creme brulee for dessert were outstanding.  A good restaurant but a bit expensive.

Saturday morning, we started the drive home, only to encounter three traffic jams before leaving the city.  We had planned to take the famous River Road and tour several of the southern plantations along the way.  Due to the delay, we only visited Oak Alley.  The magnificent plantation with its alley of 300-year old oaks is a beautiful reminder of this bygone era.  Highly recommended.