Monday, January 20, 2014

Seeking the better beignet. . .

That's the 1917 Popp Bandstand right over Darren's white cap.
"The beignets are better here than at the Cafe du Monde," Darren promised. "They're always fresh and hot."
The visitors from the North had just finished a large yellow bucket of balls at the city driving range and now were in "The Morning Call" restaurant on the back side of the New Orleans Museum of Art. They drove across the classic 1938 WPA bridge, dedicated to Hand Tools and Work, and found some easy parking under the ubiquitous majestic oaks with the wispy moss, then let Birdie out for a pee and a stroll.
Parking is free and easy on Victory Drive. Good looking too.
She got very pumped with all the activity around. It's 70 degrees, Martin Luther King Day and the kiddies are out of school, so it was madness and mayhem around all the cute Storyland venues and playgrounds. The visitors steered clear of the maelstrom, though Birdie strained to get closer.
The world class Art Museum is closed for MLK, so Degas, Monet and the photography exhibition will have to wait a while. (Edgar once lived just down the street a bit for about a year in 1872. They've enshrined the house with a cafe and bed and breakfast.)
The visitors found plenty of other amusements today, even stopping to chat with Oatis at the Fairgrounds Race track, but first they took their lunch at the Morning Call.
Birdie could see the ducks coming up the canal from here.
Dogs are welcome at the cafe tables outside the restaurant and Darren brought over a big shiny dish of used water for Birdie, which she sniffed at, then ignored. She's used to fresh. :)
Kathleen ordered beignets and Stan had the crawfish etoufe, a dish heartily endorsed by his Shakopee neighbor, Vance.
After lunch they crossed Esplanade and slowly motored through St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, but failed to spot Nicholas Cage's tomb. Supposedly the actor bought property there and plans to repose in a pyramid-shaped resting place. All the history and artwork scattered about the mausoleums drew praise, they read names aloud as they browsed by at a dignified rate of speed. Not many Scandinavians, you know, but they did spot a Peterson.
People think the above-ground burial is to avoid floods and saturated ground. That's not so, they say, it is just a traditional European cemetery.
The visitors headed home via Carrollton to St. Charles to Napoleon to Tchoupitoulas for groceries. Which turned out to be the long way. Should have been Carrollton to Orleans to Broad Street to Tchoupitoulas. Oh well, they're learning.
They still got home in time to watch a time lapse of the Metrodome being deflated in their hometown.

No Cage. Peterson though.