Day 2 in New Orleans

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

We slept in a bit this morning and then headed out in the car to find a bank.  Thank God for GPS.  Went to Chase and Starbucks and back to Chase.  We then drove to the City Park and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, which is right next to the New Orleans Museum of Art.  It was so beautiful, the landscaping and all the sculptures outside.  We took lots of pics and thoroughly enjoyed it.   Lots of storm damage around.

Jodi's favorite

Jack's favorite

We had to find a place for lunch and lucked out and ended up at The Parkway Bakery and Tavern, which is a 100 year old establishment that is famous for Poor Boys.  We talked to the businessmen in line and they recommended the roast beef especially if we had never been here.  The one man had been working on the levees for the last 6 years and was so happy they proved their worth in Isaac.  It was interesting talking to locals about the Hurricane.  When your order is up at the Parkway, they say “Jack, your order is up” (that will be important later in the story).  We had this amazing sandwich, were almost finished when this man walks up, introduces himself as the owner (Jay Nix) and gives us these 2 little notebooks with pencils.  He sat down and proceeded to talk to us for about 45 minutes, about his life, owning the Parkway since 1995, how they make 500-900 sandwiches a day, the fact that they make their own bread and how his family runs the place. He told us this was the first day they had been open since Isaac.  He then asked us if we liked dessert, of course we said yes, and he got up and brought us back each a large sample of their banana cream pudding and homemade bread pudding.  Again, simply amazing food.  Then he really started opening up and told us a story about the 5 year anniversary of Katrina.  It was the lunch hour and they got a phone call that said, “the President’s coming” and then they hung up.  Two minutes later, a very tall blonde secret service agent walked in and told them Obama and his family would be there in 15 minutes.  They frantically tried to polish the place up a bit and then Barack, Michele and the girls walked in.  There were 20 people in line and he started working the line, hugging all the women and shaking hands with all the men, working himself to the front of the line.  He ordered his sandwiches, the bill total was about 22 dollars but he only had 12 dollars in his pocket!  Secret service paid the rest of the bill and he went and sat down.  Jay said his nephew was making the sandwiches.  When they were ready he announced over the microphone, “Barack, your order is up”!  Jay showed us pictures of the pres with the staff and with his nephew.  Such a fun story!  He then got serious and told us about Katrina.  His menu tells the history of the Parkway and this is from that history.  “Parkway Bakery came to a sudden halt in August of 2005 due to Katrina.  Parkway suffered six feet of water in the restaurant but with the help of God and family, Parkway was able to reopen in December of 2005 to begin feeding the courageous few New Orleanians who had returned to Mid-City and the surrounding areas.” He showed us a picture in the bar with 6 feet of water in the bar.  He said he can’t even look at the picture.  Can you imagine how devastating it would be if you owned a business and had to be closed for 6 months, or if this was your job and you could no longer work? If you ever get to New Orleans and you have a car, make your way to The Parkway Bakery and Tavern.  Great food, great people. We were truly blessed today to have this local experience

We then went to several cemeteries where the bodies are above ground.  Some people say it is because of the low water table but I guess it really is because of French tradition, which is exactly what we saw last year in the south of France.  We walked around the Garden district and located the houses of author Anne Rice, Sandra Bullock, and Archie Manning (father of Eli and Peyton).  The gait to Archie’s house was open, car in the driveway.  Jack wanted to go up and knock on the door as Eli was playing tonight against Romo.  Jack wanted to tell him that Eli had done him good last year in Fantasy Football, but tonight he had to cheer for Romo as he was now on his Hackensack Homeboy team! 

Archie's house

 Back to the room and take a second shower from this heat and walked back down to the French Quarter where we went into The Coop to have beer, and then on to listen to fabulous music at the Spotted Cat, and watched amazing swing dancers.  We then had great soul food at the Praline Connection.  Try to get to Frenchmen Street, it is where the locals go. Music and air conditioning spilling out onto the street as you walk. Fun!