Southern Nights in N'Awlins

November 10, 2015

Allen Toussaint

Southern nights 
Have you ever felt a southern night? 
Free as a breeze 
Not to mention the trees 
Whistling tunes that you know and love so. 

Statue of Allen Toussaint in NOLA

We find ourselves in New Orleans on the day it is discovered that the great songwriter, producer and performer Allen Toussaint has passed away unexpectedly. It's always tough to hear news like this about the people you love. And I have loved Allen since I was first introduced to his music in the early 60s. I was fortunate to meet him and stand next to him while he performed to a small, intimate gathering. Allen Toussaint was a true gentleman. Several of his songs have been huge hits for other artists. There's a statue of him with other New Orleans musical legends in the Bourbon Street Park. He was a good one and will be sorely missed.

We're camped just West of downtown New Orleans near the banks of the Mississippi River. One of the oddities of New Orleans is that the "high point" of the city is the River. When you sit in Cafe du Monde eating a beignet, you look up to see ships passing on the Mississippi River. The area relies on pumps and levies to keep the city dry. As we saw, when the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina overload the system with surges of water, the levies and pumps couldn't keep up.

Street Art display in the French Quarter

Cheri and I visited before The Storm way back in the 20th century when many radio conventions were held in New Orleans. So, the trips were for "business purposes." The business didn't stop us from getting out into the city and seeing some great live music and experiencing the culture. New Orleans is a music mecca and a major foodie town. We attempted to cram in as much as we could in our four days here.

The first day was a wash-out as we got to experience a major rain event. We ended up sitting in the RV listening to the pounding rain. Unfortunately, we found that we had a leaking roof, so we got to enjoy the rain on the inside, too. Besides setting up buckets to collect the rain, Cheri used the rain time to do some RV maintenance like defrosting the refrigerator. I ran out to a local joint and got us a couple of Po' Boys to enjoy some local food flavor while we listened to the pounding rain.

The French Quarter is like another world

Day two dried out and we got to experience the French Quarter. It was Sunday, and while many were at the Mercedes Benz Super Dome enjoying their Saints play, we found free parking right on Bourbon Street and wandered around. We stopped into Acme Oyster House. We started with a couple of hurricanes to quench our thirst, fresh oysters on the half shell, truly inspired char-grilled oysters (a New Orleans specialty), and a sampler plate of gumbo, jambalaya and red beans and rice. All the flavors of New Orleans in one simple meal. It was fabulous!

Acme Oyster House

After our fill, we walked through the French Quarter. They close off Bourbon Street to traffic at night and turn it into a pedestrian mall. It gets quite packed and Bourbon Street is not the place for innocent eyes. Strip clubs have their doors wide open for passers-by to take a peek from the street. We found the most interesting shops off the beaten track. We found lots to see and do without having to deal with all of the crazies that come to New Orleans to party!

Café du Monde, a tourist stop

The next day, we got up and hit up another New Orleans tradition - beignets and Cafe Au Lait at Café du Monde. For the uninitiated, beingets were brought to Louisiana by the Acadians. They are basically a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar. It's a NOLA treat made famous by Café du Monde.

WWOZ one-of-a-kind

While in the area, we stopped by WWOZ, the eclectic community radio station in New Orleans. It is about the only place on the radio dial that you can find the true musical essence of New Orleans. The rest of the stations here are the standard cookie cutter Top 40 or Adult Contemporary stations. We often stream WWOZ to tune in to the unique sound of New Orleans.

The New Orleans French Market is full of life

Right near WWOZ is the New Orleans French Market. It's several blocks of restaurants and shops where people can find all kinds of authentic New Orleans memorabilia and items. We walked through the Market at lunchtime, and every restaurant and bar had a live band playing New Orleans Jazz. There is music everywhere, including buskers on the street corners.

Madame Levaux House of Voodoo

Wandering farther through the streets of the French Quarter, we came across various voodoo shops, costume shops, hot sauce shops, souvenir shops and the like that had many fascinating items on display and for sale. Yes, we bought a few souvenir items to remember fondly our time in the Crescent City. Cheri's favorite is an alligator hot pad where you put your entire hand inside and turns the hot pad into a puppet where you are grabbing things out of the oven inside the alligator's mouth. It will be a fun conversation piece.

Avocado Salad at El Libre

For lunch, we found a Cuban restaurant called El Libre. We enjoyed a cuban sandwich, a vegetarian bowl of beans and rice and an avocado salad, which was a bowl of fresh avocado with some corn and a delicious sauce. I have to learn how to make this. It was very refreshing.

St. Louis Catholic Cemetery in New Orleans

We walked through Jackson Square and eventually ended up at the St. Louis cemetery. Because of the high water table in New Orleans, all the gravestones are above ground. Many of the graves have been around since the 1800s. We saw old, historic graves that were crumbling due to exposure to the elements next to newly constructed graves. We were in a place like we've never seen before.

Frenchman District in New Orleans

One the next day, we got together with Cheri's friend Rhita and her mate who live here and got away from the hustle of the French Quarter and hung out in the Frenchman District. We got to enjoy sazaraks and some fine New Orleans cuisine sitting outside on their patio.

As it has happened many times during our journey, we were torn about leaving New Orleans. With the death of Allen Toussaint, we figured there would be upcoming parades and celebrations of his life throughout the area. But we also don't want to miss out on seeing our friends and family on upcoming scheduled stops. So, it's time to pack up Dolly and move on down the road. Tomorrow: Austin, Texas!


To continue reading more of the blog of our Dolphin adventures, click on "Older Posts" below