In New Orleans you never know from the outside what you will find on the inside. For example most neighborhood markets do not look inviting from the outside. One of Bywater markets has a single worn sign on the outside saying Market. No windows just brick walls. Once inside it’s a fine place where you can find most items on your list and much else that just isn’t in the Supermarkets back home. You would think twice about entering the local restaurant Elizabeth’s if you hadn’t already been told it’s a great place.
Dooky Chase is in a nice building in an area north of the French Quarter where most tourists probably don’t venture. Inside it is as elegant as any fine white tablecloth restaurant in the French Quarter Restaurant. There is fine art on the walls and contemporary stained glass windows over the buffet. If you stop in the foyer you will see photos of Leah Chase with Obama. We even got our own photo ops with Leah when she graciously agreed to let us come visit with her at her table in the kitchen where she was working on tomorrow’s menu. She was lovely to talk with just charming. Our lunch was quite good. Especially the shrimp dish and the fried chicken.
After lunch we headed off to the Metairie Cemetery. All the guidebooks and on-line ‘Things to Do in New Orleans” lists said go to Metairie and so we did. The reviews also said it was hard to find the entrance. Now all those people had found the entrance but did not say where it was, so I was left wondering why they didn’t just explain it. Now that I know I’m not sure I could explain it as you have to go under Interstate 10 and take an unmarked left hand turn that leads you to an actual sign pointing you in the right direction but that sign is encouraging you to diagonally cross two lanes of traffic and then take a sharp left.
Maybe it is easier if you come from the other direction.
Once there it is a tranquil place to be. The arrangements office in the funeral home will loan you two CD’s and two maps of the important graves (you give them your license).
So we spent an enjoyable couple of hours driving back and forth hearing the stories of the long dead and marveling at the funereal architecture.
Now it is time to pack up and figure out where we go from here when we hit the road again tomorrow.