We started the day returning to our favorite NOLA coffee shop. Satsuma isn’t just our favorite because it is just a few blocks away it’s our favorite because it is funky, the clientele are funky and the coffee and food are really good. It did not disappoint.
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We were waiting for a bus at the designated bus stop when a passing pedestrian informed us that the bus didn’t run on Royal street anymore and we should walk to the next block (Chartres St). Harry was having difficulty believing this because the sign indicated that we were at the right bus stop and the website indicated we were at the right place. He did apologize when the bus did appear on Chartres. Lesson learned – New Orleans doesn’t play by the rules.
Our morning activity was the National Park Services History of Jazz walking tour. From the ranger we learned that the music played in New Orleans in 1750 was Opera. In fact the first opera house in the United States was in New Orleans and by the end of the 1700s there were 15 opera houses here. As the years passed the rhythms and songs of the enslaved people from Africa and the Caribbean combined with the classical tunes and the beat of the marching bands and Jazz was born. We walked through the area near the French where the after hours Jazz clubs were in the early 1900s and ended our tour at the Louis Armstrong exhibit in the old U.S. Mint building where we learned that Armstrong’s nickname of Satchmo was a shortening of Satchel Mouth.
We asked the ranger for a recommendation for lunch noting that we would be open to something not typically New Orleans. He suggested a Mediterranean restaurant a few blocks away that the park staff frequented. It was an excellent choice good authentic food (fresh hummus, tahini sauce, delectable falafel crunchy on the outside, soft and spices on the inside).
We returned to the Mint for a concert in their 3rd floor theater of a soul and funk band from Baton Rouge. Henry Turner Jr and Flavor. The whole band was terrific but Mr. Turner was the entire package – singer, guitar player, and storyteller.
We returned to the Mint for a concert in their 3rd floor theater of a soul and funk band from Baton Rouge. Henry Turner Jr and Flavor. The whole band was terrific but Mr. Turner was the entire package – singer, guitar player, and storyteller.