NOLA, N'awlins, Crescent City, or just plain New Orleans!

Anyway you say it, it's just a fun city that you have to visit once!  But before I get started on our day trip earlier this week, I wanted to give a shout out to my brother!

That's my baby brother on the left!  :-)

He's currently deployed - can't say where due to security reasons - and I'm super duper proud of him.  Not only is he a great brother, he's a great husband and father.  And...he's been serving our Country for so many years I have lost count!  I think it's something like 21 or so.  He doesn't like recognition for what he is doing but he did say I could post this picture on our blog.   Be safe, "Scrub" and I look forward to seeing you once you are back home (albeit next year!).

My sister, Barbara, works for US Airways.  One of the perks she has it that she can fly for free....as long as there is space on the plane.  When I traveled for my job, she often met me to keep me company during my "down time".  She's flown to San Diego, Ft Lauderdale, Minneapolis, London and Milan just to name a few places.  Now that we are RVing, she can meet us on the road!  She was able to catch a flight Sunday night and spent 3 days with us.

Monday morning we were all up bright and early and headed to the city.  We crossed over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridge....

all 23.83 miles of it!

 and headed to our destination....

We found public parking with no problem, gulped at the price and parked!  The day was beautiful...sunny and warm but not too hot!  We walked until we found what I wanted my first "taste" of New Orleans to be...

We grabbed a table and sat down to enjoy two servings of beignets...

Piping hot and yum!

Sharing beignets with my sister...

and Dan!  He wanted extra powdered sugar on his!

After our tummies were full, we walked down Decatur Street taking in the sights...

The owner of this buggy was dressed in a purple suit complete with purple shoes!

Beautiful balconies

Very quaint, old buildings

Me and my seeeeester!

So neat to hear the different musicians!

We also wanted to be sure we saw St Louis Cathedral....

It is the oldest Catholic Cathedral in continual use in the US.  It is absolutely gorgeous....we asked if we could take pictures inside and were encouraged to....

Inside the Cathedral

Stephen, the park ranger we had talked to at Fontainebleu SP, had told us to be sure to go around to the back of the Cathedral and look closely at the status of Jesus.  He said that the thumb and forefinger were broken off during hurricane Katrina. The locals believe that this happened when Jesus "flicked" the hurricane  away from New Orleans thereby avoiding a direct hit on the city.

Look at the left hand....

Thumb and forefinger are missing!

Interesting, isn't it?!!

We walked around some more and got some more pictures of our visit...

Barbara and the Irishman...note Dan over Barbara's right shoulder!

Playing around 

We split a Muffaletta three ways for lunch!

Yep - we are on Bourbon Street

Posing for the camera!

Although we thoroughly enjoyed our day in the city, both Dan and I agree that now that we have seen New Orleans, we don't need to go back.    It's a bit too "big" for us!!