Friday, March 1, 2019

Some Alabamians in New Orleans (3)

This post continues one about a visit to see our son Amos at Christmas 2018. You can read the first part here. And further down in this post there is some actual Alabama history!






On Sunday afternoon we went to this  brewery and watched the Saints beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-28 in an exciting game. Amos and I always enjoy testing out local brews. 

 We ate dinner that night at the St. Charles Tavern, which is close to Amos' apartment, open 24 hours, and has great food and reasonable prices. We had eaten there on our previous trip as well. 




Our visit included a nice walk around part of Audubon Park, which has walk and bike paths in addition to a zoo, aquarium, insectarium, and a golf course and other athletic facilities. Oh, and lots of large trees with Spanish moss. 





I presume that sign does not apply to the abundant water fowl population we saw. 





Audubon Park is 350 acres purchased by the city in 1871 and named after the famed naturalist John James Audubon who lived in New Orleans beginning in 1821. Before the Civil War the land was a plantation. 









And here we have it, the Alabama history connection in this blog post. You can read more about the Centennial here. This event was held in 1884, when Birmingham's reputation as the "Magic City" was being developed with its rapid industrial growth. Iron ore was a big part of that development.





On our way to a Christmas Eve meal at Commander's Palace, we stopped in at another of the city's well-known independent bookstores. 





We managed to get a 3 p.m. reservation on Christmas Eve at Commander's Palace and had a wonderful meal. In order to be properly dressed, I had to borrow a sport coat from Amos. 

After dinner we eventually made our way back to the Green House Inn, where we did our annual viewing of A Christmas Story




Not only are there huge houses all over New Orleans, but many of them are very colorful. 





We made it to City Park on Christmas Day for a brief visit. Alas, the coffee shop that Amos said was very good was closed. 





Late Christmas afternoon we headed to the Arts/Warehouse District and found ourselves at the Legacy Kitchen and Craft Tavern. Notice the Talladega and Georgia-named items on the menu. I ended up with an excellent steak. 





As sort of a dessert, we found three Dale Chihuly pieces in the Renaissance Hotel next to the Legacy Kitchen. We've been fans of his glass art for a long time. 





On the way home we stopped for lunch at an old style IHOP in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.




Across the street from that IHOP is the University of Southern Mississippi campus.

The street where the IHOP and campus are located is known as Hardy Street and there is a Hardy Hall on the USM campus. William L. Hardy founded Hattiesburg, Gulfport and Laurel, Mississippi. Interestingly, he was an Alabama native. 





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