Mid-day, I pulled into a parking lot on the waterfront of the French Quarter, paid the ransom via an app on my phone, and got down to business – walking and eating.

Beignets/Calas

After a quick visit to the nearby visitor info center, I headed for a place I had found for gluten free beignets, or the next best thing – calas – apparently rice fritters – hot, fried, glazed, smothered in honey, sweet, and delicious. Sweet tooth momentarily satisfied!

Red Beans and Rice

I continued my wandering down the waterfront – along the mighty Mississippi River – to the French Market, where I found some red beans and rice. The sky was threatening rain, so I enjoyed the cover of the market to eat.

French Quarter

With some food on board, I meandered through the streets of the French Quarter. I love the wrought iron railings, narrow streets and walkways, colorful houses. A number of buildings also had exterior lamps that still use gas.

Beauregard Keys House

I came across a house that offered tours on the hour, so wandered in the area and came back at 3:00. The Beauregard Keys house has been restored and is open to the public for guided tours. The home is named after General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard and Frances Parkinson Keyes. The confederate General was the most famous person to live there, although he and his two sons only rented the place for three years. Frances Parkinson Keys, renowned author, lived there from 1945 to 1970 and brought the house back from decline.

Camping in the City

After finding some groceries and ice, I pulled into the KOA. The campground was spendy, but convenient and had some nice amenities: free showers, cheap laundry, and I knew it would be safe. It also saved me time from having to hunt around for a place to boondock for the night.

The next morning, I got some laundry going, had breakfast, and took care of the morning routine. In the process, I ran into the same woman in the restroom twice. The second time, we started chatting. J is a nomad living in a van, headed to her new worksite in south TX.

Once my laundry was dry, she helped me get the case on my mattress – which really is a two person job – and we teamed up to take the bus and streetcar into town together.

In the French Quarter we found Bourbon Street and J got some coffee and beignets. The cafe was next to a tiny city park where there was live music outside (and under cover from the rain) – imagine drinking your morning Starbucks to live music!

Jambalaya, Boudin, and a Crepe

Yup, more food! I spent the day wandering and eating. Lunch was jambalaya and a praline crepe. The crepe was butter, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon. Sweet tooth abated again.

J and I met up in the late afternoon and had some dinner – I had hoped for gumbo, but it wasn’t gluten free. Instead, I had a boudin – a meat and rice sausage. Apparently, I was hungry, as I didn’t even take a photo of the food.

Underground Garbage

J was the first to notice these strange lids in the sidewalk. I came up with some fantastical idea of a robotic underground garbage removal system, but a google search brought up a more prosaic explanation of a defunct system of keeping the garbage cans below the sidewalk.

Live Music

After we’d eaten, we moseyed over to Frenchmen St. for some live music. We found a bar with a band and ordered drinks. Yes, I had an alcoholic drink! I did ask them to go light on the alcohol though, the extreme lightweight that I am. The band played music from the swing era, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Knowing we both had long drives ahead the next day, we made it an early night; J called an Uber, and our awesome driver saw us safely back to the KOA.