Day 7 and New Orleans

This is what I saw when I woke up and stepped out on our balcony!  A beautiful sunrise on the Mississippi River, not everyday I get to see this :)
We have to be out of our room by 8:00 AM so the crew can have the rooms ready for the new group of passengers.  We go up to the buffet and bring back breakfast so we can enjoy the peaceful view from our balcony.
Disembarkation seemed to go as smooth as it can be expected, those carrying their own luggage off were starting to disembark at 6:45, since we were just checking into a hotel we didn't get off the ship until about 9:30.  The line was slow moving as there were only 4 customs agents on duty, we were told they come and go because they take breaks so sometimes there are more custom lines open.
We checked into the Hyatt Regency on Loyola and were able to go straight to our room!  It is a huge hotel and I wish I would have taken a picture of the glass elevator, it moved so fast we felt like we were on a amusement part ride, it took your stomach away when you looked out!

We were hungry early for some reason so decided to go ahead and walk to Mothers for lunch, arrived around 11:20 and there was a line already, but the line moved fast.  The set up was a little different than the last time we were here with the kids about 13 years ago.  They now take your order at the cash register, but you still better know what you want when you get up there! Then you take your receipt to a table where a server takes your receipt and then brings out your food.  Last time we were there one when our food was ready for us to pick up  one of the black ladies doing the cooking called out to our sons they better get up there and pick up the food for their mama, don't let her be doing it!   We decided this was one of our best meals in New Orleans this trip! (I am writing this the day after we arrived home... and am ashamed to see all the errors I made while typing this on my iPhone during the trip, yikes!)

The famous Debries Sandwich

Red Beans and Rice

After lunch we hopped on the St Charles Street car and purchases at 24 hour pass for $3.00 a piece. We got off of it at the Washington Street stop to explore the Garden District. 

Commanders Palace Restaurant is a famous restaurant owned by the Brennen family, they also own many other restaurants around New Orleans, proper attire including suit coat is required, we did not eat here but went inside to check it out and read the menu.

We then walked through the cemetery that is across the street from the restaurant.

Below is the house that was used in Benjamin Button, it was the nursing home.

This sign, along with a lot of other dog signs, was on the fence of a beautiful home in the Garden District.  We can relate to this!!!!!

We hopped back on the street car and rode it to Canal Street, from there we walked to the French Quarter.  This duo playing on Royal Street were very good, loved how this couple had obviously brought their own chairs for a front row seat!  A portion of Royal Street is blocked off to make it pedestrian only and has lots of cute shops, art galleries and antique stores.

I took this picture because this building has bubbles blowing off the balcony, hard to see from picture, it is across the street from the Gumbo Shop on Saint Peter Street.

We walked back to our hotel which is in the Central Business District for a rest then walked back to the French Quarter in search of some Creole Cuisine.  Went to Oceana because it was rated high on Yelp.  We both had a sampler, red beans and rice, crawfish etoufee, and gumbo.  We both liked the crawfish etoufee the best of the three.  Walked back to our hotel, we put more than a few miles on our feet today, we are tired!  We both decide we will skip a run in the morning because we know we will be doing a lot more walking, we love these walkable cities :) It has been an excellent day :)