Where Yat? In New Orleans

The St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square New Orleans.

Where Yat? A common greeting in the Big Easy meaning "How you doing?" or "What's on your mind?" it seldom means "Where are you?" You also hear "Who Dat?" which is a statement of pride, like "Did you see that; it was amazing!" or "I'm cool." Depends a bit on the context. Yes, I'm still here in NOLA. It was about 70 today with a light breeze. Last night was nice and I took the time to locate several things I wanted to see, but mainly finding the meet-up location for today's Haunted History Tour. I stumbled across many things I'd read about in guidebooks simply by covering a lot of ground.

Jesse, the Haunted History guide at the meet-up
in front of Dr. Zombies Voodoo Shop.

Today's tour was a walking tour. (So, yes, my legs hurt.) It was more interesting for the architecture and history than for the ghost stories. Mainly interesting was that the city was established by the King of France who emptied the prisons by giving the criminals a choice of execution or life or being sent to New Orleans. They chose exile. He also gathered up all the woman of ill repute, shackled them to a criminal and put them on a boat. By the time they arrived, babies were on the way, too. Wallah!  Instant families to settle the new world.

So, in a nutshell the place was created by a corrupt politicians, criminals and loose women. The guide suggested the city's current state was simply a result of DNA.

A Cajun band playing Zydeco at the Bayou Club.

I did finally catch many quality music artists, both on the street and in clubs (playing jazz, blues and more). No dixieland, yet.

I saw one amazing Cajun band playing Zydeco, which was one of my goals. They were awesome! I love that music!

Seven Strings and a Two Dollar Bill.

I also saw a street performance that really tickled me, because it was unusual. They duo played old country music with a guy on banjo and a girl playing a small guitar (almost mandolin size) while tap dancing.

Blackened Chicken Po' Boy.

And I finally had a Po' Boy the Gumbo Shop. It wasn't as big as the ones at Jimmy's, but it was fifty cents less and in a much nicer place. I had a blackened chicken sandwich that was both tender and tasty. While not as spicy as I expected ((or would have liked) there was a house Creole Seasoning that I added to bring some heat and zest. Very nice.

Oh! I stumbled upon children's bookstore of all things and bought a copy of one of my favorite books to read aloud, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Little Red Riding Hood.

Tomorrow I drive to the Honey Island Swamp in Slidell where I will tour Honey Island Swamp in search of their swamp monster then drive through the Garden District to see the Antebellum mansions before dropping down in to Houma.