I do not like surprises!

Good ones, bad ones ... any kind - I don't like to be surprised. I guess it's the control freak in me. So yesterday's news wasn't well received by me. After almost 10 years with his company, DH was laid off. Economic downturn was the reason. Understandable, and he had been predicting it for a while now. I just figured he was being Chicken Little and that his experience/knowledge combined with the fact that he's well liked would keep him employed. Shows what I know. That's why we get along so well, he's Chicken Little and I'm Pollyanna. LOL. And while we had plans of retiring early, I think this is a little too early. So the uncertainly of his next step is hard for me too, change doesn't come easy for me. Sigh.

Anyway, glad we got our vacation in before this all happened! Here are pics from Day 2 in New Orleans

June 8th

First stop - Cafe du Monde for coffee and beignet - YUM! While the pastry isn't my thing, I fell in love with the chicory coffee ... I even carried a can of it home!


After breakfast we wandered around Jackson Square - a beautiful park in the middle of the French Quarter, with St. Louis Cathedral as the prime focal point. Gorgeous, isn't it?
It's flanked by two other buildings, one is the old City Hall (where the Lousiana Purchase was signed) and a building the originally housed Roman Catholic Priests and then became a courthouse in the early 1900s. They are both museums now. And can you believe we didn't tour any of them? Bad tourists. Next trip, right?


The park was named Jackson Square after General Andrew Jackson, after the war of 1812. His statue is in the center of the square
The entire square is gated, and around the fence artists, palm readers, entertainers etc. all set up for tourists. Pretty cool, actually. Horse drawn carriages line up, to take tourists on a tour of the quarter. We opted to walk instead, lol.

Next stop was the French Market, which apparently was damaged during Katrina and just recently reopened, all shiny and new. I think I would have liked to see it before, I bet it was great. Not all the vendors have returned, it feels a little empty. Leading into the market is a cool gold statue - it's of Joan of Arc, given to the city by the French. Why, we don't know - although we heard someone call the statue 'Joanie on the Pony' and it cracked me up. So that's what we call it now, heheh.

This was my favorite house next to the French Market - isn't it cool?
After walking the market, we wandered over to Frenchman Street, where all the good jazz clubs are. We had discovered that while Bourbon St. is great for partying, all the bars there seemed to play rock music. Lots of cover bands, lol. We wanted to hear real New Orlean's Jazz, so I wanted to see what our options would be. We ended up going back one evening and I think ended up at a place called Snug Harbor. It was great! (I didn't take my camera out at night, so can't share any night photos). It's an artsy street, I loved this one house that was painted in bright colors. And the junque store/cool metal art was a fun place too.


Okay, so that's enough photos for today - more coming tomorrow!!