Mon - Jazz Lunch & Walking Tour

We had finished our tour by bus and were now walking through the French Quarter on our way to our "Jazz Brunch".  Our tour guide gave us sooooo much information that I know we cannot remember all of it.  He explained the origins of "Jazz", "Dixieland" and many other terms.

On the same block as the restaurant we found this jazz combo.  Many musicians set up in the street and play wonderful music.  This was on a Monday afternoon a week before the "Fat Tuesday" so I can imagine how many groups will be performing as we get closer to Mardi Gras day!

Our brunch was at this historical restaurant and they had lots of food typical of the area.  Gary loved all the seafood dishes but I stayed rather bland in my selection.  We are being given many opportunities to try the foods that are strange to us.  Jambalaya, Gumbo, Turtle Soup, Grits, and many others whose names I don't have down yet.

Our group took up this whole dining room and as we went back and forth to the buffet lines we were entertained by a jazz trio.

Our walking tour began after our lunch was done - we really needed to walk off all the food we ate!  One of the first stops we made was at this Catholic cathedral at one side of Jackson Square.  It was beautiful inside and reminded me of all the churches we had seen in Europe.  Many of the sights we saw had been refurbished or rebuilt but I cannot honestly remember which ones were which!

Voodoo has a deep tradition in this area.  It was part of the culture that came with the slaves that were imported to the south.

One of the famous bars is "O'Brien's" and this is a picture of the ceiling in one of their rooms.  They have dueling pianists playing here in the evening and I guess its a jumping place, though you wouldn't find us here at that time!

The picture at the top is the courtyard behind O'Briens.  It is typical in the French Quarter to have the buildings built right up to the sidewalk but have their beautiful courtyards in the rear of the buildings.  If you look through the buildings from the street side you can often see their gardens in the back.

The second picture was taken inside the door of the Voodoo shop.  I didn't realize that we were not supposed to take pictures (see the sign) and hope I didn't jinx myself!!!

As we walked through the French Quarter we saw many buildings decorated for the Mardi Gras.  We probably have way too many pictures, but each time we walked down a different street it seemed to call for a new photo!

Another great view.  You can see how narrow the streets are as the town was built before all our modern transportation!

This is one of the most photographed buildings according to our tour guide.  
We walked for about 2 1/2 hours around the area and then had some time to walk through a farmers market/ flea market on our own.  It had been a cloudy, cool day and most of us were tired so not too walking was done at the markets.  That's okay.  We still have another week to see even more!