Quarter for Labor Day

We jumped on the streetcar and headed to the Quarter today for Labor Day.

After walking down to Jackson Square it became obvious that we weren’t going to see any break dancers or performers at the amphitheater there. The NFL was setting up huge stages, lights and big screen TVs in preparation for concerts that will be taking place this Thursday for the Saints game that will kick off the professional football season.

It was disappointing to not get the traditional Jackson Square atmosphere, but we walked down by the river and got the chance to see a homeless man bathing in the Mississippi River, so that was fun.

French Market - Not sure what the crab's all about...

We walked around the French Market but didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without.

After wandering around aimlessly for a while, we decided to eat at the famous Gumbo Shop. It was really excellent. I got the crawfish remoulade salad and Wesley got the chicken gumbo – we were both really pleased with our choices.

We walked down Bourbon Street to the streetcar for home, but stopped in Reverend Zombie’s House of Voodoo for some candles and incense. (Although the Web site is now calling it Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo…)

From downtown to goose down

Sunlight catching the camera lens in Audubon Park

Today I walked over to the French Market after work and got a really cute fleur de lys plaster hanging for my wall and some fleur de lys earrings — which I have been wanting since I moved here! I got the earrings at the nicest-looking booth in the entire market: Anatolian Silver. They don’t have a Web site, but you can e-mail them at AnatolianSilver@yahoo.com. They told me that the company is locally owned and they use only pure sterling silver, no plating. Plus, the guy was extremely nice and we had a whole conversation while I browsed. I will definitely be returning there once I get some more money — their silver jewelry was delicate, but sturdy and they had both trendy and traditional styles. I can already tell it’s going to be my go-to place to find gifts for women I know.

Standing in front of the bridge in Audubon Park

While waiting for Wesley to pick me up, I stopped into Kitchen Witch Cookbooks to look for a gift. I was completely blown away by the amount of cookbooks that this seemingly-small store had. They had all different genres of cooking as well as some extremely rare and old cookbooks, which were price-upon-request and clearly out of my price range.

Audubon Park, fountain

Later, Wesley and I took a much-anticipated walk around Audubon Park, which is right near our apartment in Uptown. It looks nice from the road, but you couldn’t guess all of the beauty and amazing things we saw. is a small river-type body of water running through it with an island at one point that hosts thousands of white birds — geese, ducks, you name it. Feathers wherever the eye could see. The sun was so beautiful as it went down through the trees and there was a very picturesque little bridge over the river into the Audubon Golf Course.