Sunday in New Orleans

Sunday was another wonderful day weather wise - clear blue skies and constant sunshine. We drove across the Mississippi by another bridge and travelled along the north bank to get into downtown New Orleans. This lead us through a very nice district, obviously old, with huge, beautiful houses lining the streets. I thought they were real Pollyanna style houses - wooden slatted with huge porches and massive front doors - some had wonderful stained glass windows. They were very grand and, I imagine, you would need a fortune to buy and maintain one. They were next to a college- apparently a very old and distinguished college- which was housed in some magnificent buildings and opposite to a beautiful park. Eventually, we arrived in Lafitte Square in downtown New Orleans where there was a Blues Festival in progress. Thank goodness for my Blue Badge which enabled us to park in a handicapped space as there was nowhere else to park nearby. The square was shaded by very old and magnificent live oak trees which provided much needed shade - the temperatures being in the 80'sF (30C). There were two stages giving a platform for some very loud, but good blues bands. People were either sitting on their lawn chairs or wandering round looking at the many craft stalls displaying everything from photographs, jewellery, paintings to musical instrument's. Down one side of the square were the stalls selling food - creole, Mexican, burgers, BBQ, etc. We ate our lunch there listening to the music and just enjoying the atmosphere of local New Orleans enjoying their Sunday outing. After a couple of hours, we moved onto the French Market which is located on the river bank near the French Quarter. This market is on 7 days a week and is worth wandering through. They sell lots of touristy things - T shirts, masks, voodoo paraphernalia etc. as well as food and drink - but at a price!!! It really caters for the tourist but it was still worth a visit. We had a drink at a street cafe while listening to a live band - they were good! Kathy bought a hat - like a man's trilby but she looks good in it.
On our way home, we stopped at the fish market again and bought shrimp for our tea. Terry had a lesson in how to prepare fresh shrimp for cooking and then was initiated, by Kathy, into the secrets of making Shrimp In Brown Gravy Over Rice. It was delicious and the huge pot that was prepared disappeared in a trice!!! Thank you, Kathy and Jim for a new recipe added to the Phillippe menu! Tonight we are going to BBQ jumbo shrimp and cook them on the grill. Kathy and Jim leave us tomorrow and travel back to Destin, FL to attend a bikers meet. Jim rides a beautiful Harley Davison and they often go to bikers meets and meet up with fellow Harley Davison enthusiasts. We have very much enjoyed our time with Kathy and Jim - thank you for putting up with us!!