Around The World

After not enough sleep, we were up at 5:30 am this morning to get organised to get to the airport for our flight to New Orleans. We opted to skip breakfast at the hotel and, time permitting, get something to eat at the airport.

Our Uber arrived around 6:45 am, and we had a pretty good run through the morning Chicago traffic to the airport. We checked in very quickly but getting through the TSA checkpoint and security screening was a very slow process. By about 8:15 am we were in the lounge, relaxing with a light breakfast washed down with a glass of champagne (for Keith!).

We had a very pleasant flight from Chicago to New Orleans. We landed just after 11:30 am and were out of the airport and on our way to our hotel just after midday.

We arrived at the beautiful Maison de la Luz around 12:45 pm and checked in. Maison de la Luz is the former City Hall annex, built in 1906. It is located in the New Orleans warehouse district near Lafayette Square and the Italianate style is typical of turn-of-the-century buildings in New Orleans.

After settling in to our room, we decided to head out and start exploring the area. We walked down Carondelet Street, which turns into Bourbon Street after crossing Canal Street. Even though it’s much quieter during the day, Bourbon Street was still pretty busy. We turned off Bourbon Street and walked down St Peter to Jackson Square.

Formerly the Place d’Armes (French) or Plaza de Armas (Spanish), Jackson Square is a historic park in the French Quarter. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, for its role in the city’s history. The park is located on the site where Louisiana was made United States territory pursuant to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. On the edge of the square are the St. Louis Cathedral, and the Cabildo (formerly the Spanish colonial city hall of New Orleans and now the Louisiana State Museum Cabildo), both beautiful buildings.

In the middle of Jackson Square is an 1856 statue of Andrew Jackson, a hero of the Battle of New Orleans and seventh U.S. president for whom the former military parade ground was named.

From Jackson Square, we took a short walk along the boardwalk to have a look at the Steamboat Natchez, an authentic Mississippi River steamboat.

Our next stop was the famous Café Du Monde at the French Market. This café serves coffee and its world-famous beignets, which is why we were there.

The word “beignet” is French for “fritter” or “doughnut”. Traditional French beignets are a member of the French choux pastry family, which are raised in steam and have a hollow centre. The famous New Orleans beignets are slightly different from the traditional French choux pastry beignets because they’re raised with yeast instead of steam. Essentially, beignets are square pieces of dough that are deep-fried and topped with (a lot of!) powdered sugar. They are extremely delicious, which is why we managed to polish off six of them between us!

After devouring the beignets, we decided that we should go for a walk to try to counteract the sugar hit! We walked back around Jackson Square, where we stopped to listen to a great band.

We then backtracked a bit and walked down St. Ann Street to Louis Armstrong Park. We walked around a bit of the park and then stopped and relaxed for a while, just enjoying the beautiful park.

After we regained a bit of energy, we walked back down St. Ann Street, stopping along the way to admire the many very cute houses.

We turned back into Bourbon Street and headed back across Canal Street to the hotel.

It was a bit after 5:00 pm when we got back to the hotel. In an effort to catch up on some sleep, we decided to order room-service for dinner and stay in for an early night.

We have no specific plans for tomorrow but we know there’s a lot more to explore.