New Orleans: The Garden District and a Great Po’ Boy

Continuing on our adventures over the Thanksgiving weekend in New Orleans.  Our daughter lives in the Garden District, one of the better suburbs of New Orleans.  She thought we would enjoy a morning walk around to view some of the historical homes.  It is worth noting that you don’t really need a tour guide as so many of the homes contain a historical plaque or marker to explain their background.

The first cool thing we hit was the Commander’s Palace.  This is a historical restaurant that started in 1880.  While we didn’t eat there, my daughter says she has and a great turtle soup there.  The address is 1403 Washington Ave.

Right across from the Commanders Palace is one of New Orleans famous above ground cemeteries.  This one was very old with many of the early names and text in French.  I thought it was kind of neat how entire generations are all buried together in one tomb and they just add plaques, eventually running out of space on the front and going around to the side.  Note the many generations of vets buried in this one tomb.

Continuing to wander around the neighborhood, there really isn’t a right or wrong way to go as almost all the homes were lovely.  Plus, we were enjoying the 75 degree weather!  This first one has a big sign out front “Our Lady of Perpetual Help”.  A family home that was eventually turned into a charity.

This next one has really interesting cast iron fencing of corn.  Apparently, this was the house of a rich guy from Kentucky and to make his wife less homesick, he made all the fencing look like corn stalks and ears of corn.

You really see an enormous variety of architecture in the Garden District and almost all the houses are very well maintained.

Then it was time for some more sightseeing and our daughter took us to Parkway Bakery for Po’Boys.  They were voted the best Po’Boys in New Orleans this year and they didn’t disappoint.

I had the Stewed Turkey with Gator Sausage Gumbo and my wife had the Shrimp Po’Boy (there were over a dozen large shrimp on the sandwich), while my daughter had their famous Roast Beef Po’ Boy.  Everything was delicious, but be prepared to stand in line.  It took us an hour to get served here and the line was just as long at 2:30 when we left.

After coming out to find a flat tire on my daughter’s SUV, we finally made it over to the National World War Two Museum downtown.  We didn’t have a s much time as I would have liked due to the delay, but still saw a lot of the museum.  Really nice exhibits that were mostly interactive and entertaining.  That should be a must-do on your list if you visit this town.