Coffee
First thing was first for the day…coffee! We got down to the French Quarter on the bus, where there was almost a fight between two men!
We walked for a short time and came to a coffee shop that our host had recommended. When we were just a couple of minutes away from the coffee shop, we saw 2 people rent scooters.
Unfortunately, the lady didn’t know how to ride one and, upon leaving the shop, crashed into the curb and flipped up onto the grass. It didn’t seem like she was hurt, but it had already been a dramatic and eventful day for us!
We got to the coffee shop and it looked great in there. No snacks for us with our coffee today as we had already had breakfast just before.
Curtis got a cappucino and Kim got a caramel iced coffee. Kim’s coffee was good, but Curtis’ wasn’t too great.
Backatown Coffee Parlour | New Orleans,LA
Rating:- 7.5/10
St. Louis Cemetery #2
We walked for a little bit to find the two St. Louis cemeteries.
The #1 cemetery is only accessible with a guide as it has been defaced too much, but the second is open to the public.
We entered the 2nd and it was much more interesting than the cemetery we went to previously.
There were a lot of older plots there, some people died in the early/mid 1800s. We even saw an open tomb, presumably this could no longer be used as it was falling apart.
We left here and continued on with our day, walking back towards the French Quarter.
Frenchman Street & French Market
We had read that Frenchman street was a street to visit, so we popped into there.
There wasn’t a huge amount going on and it didn’t seem to interesting, so we left and walked further down the road.
As we did so, we stumbled across the French market, which is in its own little quaint building.
We walked around here looking at the wares for sale and then continued on.
Jackson Square & Cathedral
We stopped briefly, next to the Mississippi river, to overlook Jackson square and St. Louis Cathedral. This looks like a princess castle.
Mississippi River
We admired the Mississippi river briefly, which was quite high! We saw the steamboat again and it scared us a little with its loud horn.
Cafe Beignet
We had seen about Cafe Beignet and that it was meant to be good, so we stopped in to try some beignet and a lemonade.
A beignet, to us, seems more like bread than like a doughnut, covered in powdered sugar.
Beignet…Done That!
Rating:- 8/10
The beignets were delicious, but we had no time to waste and made a plan to go somewhere, but we found something interesting on the way.
Antique Weapon Shop
We saw an antique weapon & money shop, so we had to have a brief look around. We saw all kinds of 1700-1800 weapons and money from the same era and different countries.
Mardi Gras World
We got to Mardi Gras World after a long, hot, 45 minute walk.
We got there and managed to jump in on the 16:00 tour!
We sat through a video which was good, telling us all about Mardi Gras, the company we were visiting and what they do.
A guide introduced himself and was very funny. He explained some more facts and then gave everyone a slice of ‘king’ cake, which is a traditional Mardi Gras cake, essentially just sugar.
We then had a brief tour of the warehouse, which is a working warehouse so we had to be respectful. This is where we were shown about the process, which is largely started with styrofoam and then to papiér maché followed by painting.
Step 1 – Made In Styrofoam
Step 2 – Papiér Maché
Step 3 – Paint
We then got to the floats themselves. We were told all about them as well as some official rules and laws regarding Mardi Gras.
The final area was regarding the new $2m robot they had recently purchased. There are only about 10 artists working at the warehouse, so they are very busy, but they got a robot to help with the external client work they complete. The robot does all the cutting for them!
Mardi Gras World | New Orleans,LA
Rating:- 8.5/10
We got to stay in the warehouse after the guide had gone, so we wandered around and saw a lot of incredible things.
Home & Dinner
We got a free shuttle down to where our tram stop was and the tram arrived at the perfect time, so we got on that.
We sat on it for a while and then got off a stop prior to our usual so we could get some dinner.
We bought a meatball marinara pasta from Whole Foods and then went to the bus stop.
The bus arrived shortly after and we got home nice and safely.
We had our food and then chilled out, along with getting an earlier night than we have been.
We’ve had busy, long days, but New Orleans has been fun so far.
Mr & Mrs Hale
Mr & Mrs Hale 