NO trip

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DrT999

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Council Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Messages
8,829
Reaction score
1,935
Location
Piedmont of NC
s-t-dday01-2014_zps73cc4c78.jpg
-- wife & self outside the 'canteen'/theater building at the D-Day Museum complex

Returned yesterday from my annual winter trip to New Orleans.  No cruise this year, though.  We stayed at the Pontchartrain Hotel on St Charles, once a famous hotel (they have a display of silver plaques with the names of stars who once had suites named after them when they stay -- Richard Burton, Bob Hope, etc.)  They are part way through a renovation, but as is it's a pretty nice place with (currently) reasonable rates for the area.  They'll close down after Jazz Fest for another $10 million in renovations and then (hopefully) reopen for next year's holiday season.

Alas, the wife developed an infected tooth, and had a root canal started on Monday, which obviously cut into her enjoyment of my visit and limited the dining we had planned.  The dining room had a somewhat limited menu but the food itself was great.  We also went to the Sunday Jazz bruch at the Copeland Cheesecake -- even with her bad tooth she could enjoy gumbo and cheesecake.  I had breakfast each day at the Avenue Cafe just a bit further up St Charles (1907).  Some of the offerings were a bit chi-chi (fresh-squeezed veggie juices, etc.) but they brought in great pastries and the coffee was up to NO-best.  The French-pressed chicory coffee was especially good.

While we visited friends, etc., the touristy thing we did was go to the D-Day Museum.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to go through the main museum, and on the whole it was pretty well-done.  I was especially interested to see they had an enigma machine on display.  While I had never been, my wife had, and when she was there the 'canteen' was set up in the period -- period menu, wait-staff in period costume, period music, etc.  However, that is now under new management and all the period stuff was gone.  Duck confit wasn't common in American diners in the 1940s so far as I know.   :D Still, we had a good time.
 
Sounds like a nice time was had!! Watch out for that Chicory coffe, it can get addictive !! That's ALL i drink and have for the last 30 years !! :twisted: :twisted:
 
It's a great city in many respects, and certainly one of the more interesting. I'm not an alcoholic or drunk, but whenever I visit there I usually end up in the French quarter in an advanced state of silliness. I once (1978?) delivered a new Rolls-Royce to the owner of the Hotel Pontchartrain, Mr. Lyle Aschaffenberg. He was quite a character, and he invited me to dinner in his Caribbean Room with a reporter from the Times-Picayune, who was doing an article on various people around the city. Lots of stories told, among them, for example, how he threw Zsa Zsa Gabor out of the hotel because of a dog she smuggled in. (NO had a no-pets-in-hotel-rooms ordinance or something.)

Anyhow, glad you enjoyed yourself for the most part. Sorry about your wife's ailment. Definitely qualifies as a bummer. I was curious, what do you mean by a "cruise?" For some reason I, wracked with hangover, always took the port excursion upriver on the riverboat. You reach the apex of the tour, they lower the gangplank, and you can walk around on a genuine antebellum plantation before returning. That always soothed me and my skull. Each to his own, I reckon.

Another query, then I'll leave. Have you ever read A Confederacy of Dunces? I recommend it after having read it about four times and counting. Comic masterpiece. Reeks of New Orleans. Just sayin'.  ;)
 
Monbla: I have to mail order Community Coffee Instant Chicory since they don't have it in the stores here and I don't usually have the time to make it from beans :D I love the stuff

Richard: the previous 3 three years we've gone on a Carnival cruise over Christmas.  And yes, I read Dunces back in the 90s soon after I had moved there.  Go 'Lucky Dogs'!
 
DrT999":fgmsrnkm said:
Monbla: I have to mail order Community Coffee Instant Chicory since they don't have it in the stores here and I don't usually have the time to make it from beans :D I love the stuff

Richard: the previous 3 three years we've gone on a Carnival cruise over Christmas.  And yes, I read Dunces back in the 90s soon after I had moved there.  Go 'Lucky Dogs'!
Being next door to Louisiana. we get both Community Coffee AND French Market here. I like the French Market a bit more as it has more chicory in it (at least it seems to me to) :twisted: I consider Chicory coffee to be similar to a Lat forward Va blend and they just naturally go together !! :twisted: :twisted:
 
Never been to Nawlins. Need to get there someday. The music scene interests me primarily.

Have an old friend who lives there and have a standing invitation to come visit. Just need to take him up on it.

Looks like a good time DrT!


Cheers,

RR
 
Brewdude":gchu4p8g said:
Never been to Nawlins. Need to get there someday. The music scene interests me primarily.
All kinds of music there (of course); everyone should visit twice!
 
I was to NO once back in the mid '90s during Mardi Gras, it was actually a business trip and the timing was perfect. I had a blast and heard Zydeco for the first time; so many really good bands all up and down Bourbon St every night. NO is one place I'd love to visit again.
 
dday-cig_zpsfacdb12a.jpg


Cigarette display (and a Players VA packet) from the D-Day Museum.  One of the few displays I wondered about, as it was implied these were in the US field rations, but I thought those should have been smaller packs (4 cigarettes, K-rations; or 3 packs of 3 or a nine pack, C-rations), and only US brands (plus Players).
 
DrT999":l67b2my8 said:
Cigarette display (and a Players VA packet) from the D-Day Museum.  One of the few displays I wondered about, as it was implied these were in the US field rations, but I thought those should have been smaller packs (4 cigarettes, K-rations; 3 packs of 3 a nine pack, C-rations), and US brands (plus Players).  
Perhaps a faithful depiction would be construed as advertising for the hellish U.S. tobacco companies, thus non-PC. The first rule of any responsible position nowadays is CYA. This looks merely "quaint" to the average hyper-sensitive Americano and thus gets a pass.
 
Top