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We spent a rainy day in New Orleans, touring around with brother Bill. One of the highlights of any trip to the Big Easy is a stop at the Cafe Du Monde, where they serve coffee and beignets. Beignets (ben-yay!) are a square pastry fried in cottonseed oil and sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. If, when you come out of the cafe, you don't have powdered sugar on your shirt, you ain't doing it right.

This restaurant has a very simple menu. Coffee. Beignets. Milk. That's about it. Yet, they're always packed. There's no concierge, no head-waiter. You walk inside, find a table and soon a waiter will find you. Chaos in the New Orleans tradition.



This shot was taken on Monday Morning. It was raining outside and the staff had lowered the rain fly. The lady in the center of the shot is holding a beignet. You can click on the photo for a larger image.

Then we wandered down the river, umbrellas in hand. The Mississippi River is a backbone of industry. For moving bulky items, river transportation is the key to getting goods out of the center of the nation, to the oceans and to the world. New Orleans is a major port, and commerce continues on the river, even on a major holiday, in the rain.



Here, a tug pushes a string of barges up the river, against a backdrop of barges tied up at the far shore. When I took this shot, I was less than a hundred steps from the Cafe du Monde. And about ten feet higher than the Cafe. Yeah, along this stretch of river, the river is actually higher than the city. The levees keep the water out.

We left New Orleans as the sun was going down. Got home last night about 9:30. The dog was glad to see us.