Bourbon Street

Bill was treated to his first visit to New Orleans today.  Pam traveled through the historic French Quarter district while in college with the touring Maranatha singing group. As we began to approach the French Quarter, we saw several horse drawn carriages with tourists.

The backdrop for the Jefferson Plaza is the Church of St. Louis, initially erected in 1724.

The area is famous for its beignets.  We found a delightful courtyard, called Cafe Beignet, that served wonderful piping hot beignets with powdered sugar and accompanied by a live jazz band.

The view below of Bourbon Street shows that we were joined by a hearty crowd on this sunny but cool 55-60 degree day.

There were lots of food vendors selling creole cooking and other traditional foods from this region. 

If paintings are your thing, local artists sell their wares throughout the French Quarter including along public plazas and sidewalks.

By mid-afternoon, Jefferson Plaza, at the heart of the French Quarter, became quite crowded.  We thought this surprising for mid-January.  The crowd was representative of most age groups. 

There were at least two wedding parties that we saw dancing in the street.  The party below was escorted by the police on loud motorcycles down main streets of town.  Immediately preceding the bride and groom was a jazz band and following the very happy couple was their wedding party and guests.