[2015 New Orleans] Super-Gwen & feast of live music

This morning begins with a cemetery tour, which starts in the courtyard of the nearby Cafe Beignet. Naturally, beignets for breakfast! Honestly I still don't understand what's the big deal, because to me beignets are simply fried dough covered in powdered sugar. But hey, it's what NOLA's known for, so we gotta have it! Even though this is not THE Cafe du Monde, it still had a line, but the wait wasn't bad, maybe around 15 minutes. The beignets were fresh out of the fryer, and survived the short walk back to our hotel. I liked it but didn't think I could eat too many in a row.



We went back to Cafe Beignet, just in time to see a small group start gathering by the sidewalk. There was also Gwen, our guide for the tour, taking down everybody's name. Once the group was confirmed, we headed towards the cemetery.

Our first stop was this fancy looking lobby of the nearby hotel. The reason: it's pretty and has air conditioning. Oh I like her already~

After a brief introduction, we headed out again. The cemetery we're visiting today is St. Louis cemetery I, the oldest one in New Orleans as it has been in use since 1789. Due to its immense popularity, this cemetery can now only be visited with a tour group.

This three legged dog tavern must get good business coz "3" is a lucky number in voodoo culture, so says Gwen. 

Oven graves near the entrance of the cemetery. Due to the hot summers, bodies in these graves are subject to a slow-cremation process that takes about 1 year for everything except bones to decompose. Notice how the bottom row is half buried in the soil? This is evidence that New Orleans is sinking fast. The gulf area was originally formed by sediments brought down by the Mississippi river. With industrial development and changing climate, water flow in the river has declined dramatically. As the sediment loses moisture, it compacts and causes sinking of ground level. For more information you can read this article from HuffingtonPost.

The famous Nicolas Cage empty grave. New Orleans residents are not happy about how glaringly different this tomb looks compared to the others, as well as the fact that he thinks he's important enough to be buried in such a historical place.

It was a rather muggy day, and there were frequent dark clouds overhead, adding to the spookiness of the cemetery. However, there were also tons of tour groups, so this cemetery didn't have the usual tranquility one would associate with cemeteries. I was a bit disappointed by that. I've always thought cemeteries should be quiet and peaceful for people to remember loved ones.

There were a few famous residents in this cemetery, but I obviously didn't care much for them, because I was more focused on the statues around me. The child angel one above was a bit saddening.

Here's Gwen. The tomb next by is of some bad voodoo priest I'd forgotten the name of. Notice all the XXX symbols? That's how you call on spirits in voodoo. But don't be tempted to leave your own XXX on the graves, or you'll get arrested!

The most famous resident of the cemetery also happens to be a big name in Voodoo: Marie Laveau. Actually her grave was our first stop, and Gwen insisted on having some of our group members go through the ritual of making a wish at her grave, so we were there for quite a while. But since I don't really believe in this, I didn't even take any pictures. I first heard about Marie Laveau in American Horror Story season 3, actually I quite liked her because she's such a strong character!

So why's our Gwen super? When we left the cemetery, we had to cross a major road, but it was frigging hot and the traffic lights were far far away. Jaywalk? Nobody dared to take the lead...except Gwen, who bravely walked to the center of the road and held her hands up to stop oncoming traffic. Whoa! Not easy being a tour guide in the Big Easy!

After the tour, we were starving and close to Bourbon St, naturally we ducked into one of the many restaurants. This Oceana Grill had decent reviews on Yelp, and giant oysters, but they were relatively bland compared to the flavorful tiny oysters we had the night before. But the alligator poboy was quite delicious! (Alligator's really growing on me...)

We decided to walk our lunch off. First it's off to the Frenchmen St/Fabourg Marigny area north of the French quarter. This happened to be the heart of live music venues in New Orleans, but since it's still early in the afternoon, things were relatively quiet. We then looped back down towards the hotel on Royal St., which turned out to be a great shopping street, lined with cute little stores. I ended up with a dress as my souvenir...which was probably imported from Asia...oh well.

This little fella looked like he needed help!

Pretty & colorful houses along the way.

Perfect police vehicle for the tiny streets!

Traveling pianist? People here take live music very seriously.

Since the weather was just way too hot & humid, we went back to our hotel's carousel bar for a cold one. Unfortunately I wasn't aggressive enough to snag a seat at the bar, but the couches were pretty comfortable. This place reportedly has the best Bourbon milk punch in NOLA.

After a brief nap, we set out again to Frenchmen St. This time, it's straight to Yuki Izakaya, a place that left quite an impression on Dave's first visit. Honestly, I think his craving for kimchi is kicking in again...

Of course there's kimchi on the menu...

Baked fishcake and takoyaki. I didn't care much for the fishcake coz it was kinda salty and didn't have much texture, but the takoyaki was delicious.

This cold tuna salad on shrimp crackers was a cool refreshing bite. Paired perfectly with sriracha. 

I was craving something Asian too, specifically, kimchi noodle soup- my version of comfort food.

Grilled hamachi kama - another one of my favorites.

Live music up front. They weren't fantastic, but they sounded like they were really having fun.

There's also a small art fair in this district with some interesting works.

But the highlight of tonight has got to be this street band. They were excellent and tons of people gathered in the streets. Cars driving in the area must have hated us!

On our way back to the hotel, we passed Lafitte Blacksmith shop bar. D had been talking about their hurricane since we arrived, so of course we get one to go, just coz we can. I liked the one at Royal Oyster House better because it wasn't as heavy on the alcohol. I have to admit it was weird walking with an alcoholic drink in hand. I have enough trouble balancing when I'm sober, now what am I gonna do?

I just couldn't get Cafe du monde outta my mind, so even though it's 10p, I still insisted on stopping by (as though it's on our way to the hotel. It wasn't.) The Cafe is now open 24 hours, so finally there was no line out the door...for food. Yet there WAS a line for the bathroom. Hmph. We got 3 to go, along with a decaf chicory cafe au lait, which tasted like weak coffee with chalk. Urgh. The beignets were good though. Still, it's fried dough! Nevertheless, I can now cross that off my list of things to do in the Big Easy, and off to bed for our splurge brunch tomorrow!