All right, we had another rainy day!
The weatherman assured me that Tropical Storm (soon to be Hurricane) Fay is not the cause of the storms around Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, but guess what, it doesn't really matter at this point, it's raining!
We left the hotel this morning at around 11AM, asked the lady at the reception desk if we could leave our luggage, and then left once again for a sightseeing tour of the French Quarter, this time, with plenty of daylight.
Did I really say daylight? LOL
At one point I looked above at the sky, and it looked like it was almost ready to fall down over us.
We went back to take a walk on Bourbon Street as you can see from the pictures, or at least that was our idea.
We saw many of the place we had seen the day before, only a lot quieter.
The streets seemed to be very clean, not even a cigarette butt on the road, but still, there was a not very pleasant smell, somewhere in between sewage, natural gas, and well, let's not get into details this time!
After walking part of it, we then decided to take a right to get into Royal Street (Calle Real as you can see from the picture), leading to Jackson Square, where Saint Louis Cathedral stands.
Saint Louis Cathedral is also known as the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, and has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States.
First established in 1718, it is one of the few Catholic churches in the United States that fronts a major public square to signify the Catholic roots of New Orleans.
I'm sorry I didn't have the time to take a picture of the outside, as it started raining as soon as we got in front of the Cathedral, and that didn't give me a chance to do so.
For those of you who think I got in the church to seek shelter from the incessant rain, you're right!
No, I really was interested in this NOLA landmark, as it really is one of the most recognizable buildings in the city.
We spent quite some time inside the Cathedral, "praying" for the rain to stop (got that?), and admiring the beautiful paintings and frescos.
Here's the one on the ceiling in the main nave.
Eventually we decided that it wasn't going to stop raining just because we wanted to, so we got two big white bags from the Cathedral gift shop, and armed with scissors, we cut holes for the head and the arms and ventured outside the church.
Our next stop for the day was only 500 feet on the opposite side of Jackson Square.
Yes, a stop in New Orleans wouldn't have been a real one without going to "Cafe Du Monde".
Cafe Du Monde is best known for its cafe au lait, and its French-style doughnuts as they call them (Beignets).
As I later learned, in pure New Orleans style, the coffee (cafe au lait) we had, was blended with chicory.
Not really, as my taste buds were probably spoiled by the three beignets I had (yes, that's correct, three beignets is one serving, I'll start being food conscious when this trip is over, and the gym is going to be my best friend!).
Look at those beignets, can you see the amount of powdered sugar on top of them?
They were good, I give you my word for that.
Last night I didn't mention the lines outside some of the places to get in and have dinner, but this morning since I had the camera with me, I managed to take a picture of "Cafe Maspero".
See the people outside? They're all lined up to get in and have food! Not for me thank you!
The only thing in this world that is worth waiting in line for is my Mom's kitchen, and nothing more...
Back to the car, we left New Orleans and Louisiana for a quite short drive (only 185 miles), at least compared to waht we did yesterday!
Our final destination, where we currently are, is Mobile, AL.
It wasn't quite worth it to stop anyplace because of the rain, but we did manage to get off the highway in Mississippi, to drive on US90 through Gulfport and Biloxi.
We saw the casino (enough already!), and then we went back on I-10E for the final stretch to Alabama.
Here's the last State sign we're going to encounter before coming back home next week in our home state of Florida.
I mentioned the rain, but I didn't actually know how bad it's been for Mobile today.
They had 6 inches of rain in one day, a record (as the weatherman said) for this area.
This evening, after the fancy Brazilian Steakhouse of last night, we're going to "Hurricane Brewing Co." a local brewerie that is supposed to have excellent beers, and hopefully good food.
All I need is an old, plain, good American Burger, I'll be happy with that.
Have a nice evening y'all,
Nico
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