We had a great time! The oysters were fantastic, although I limited myself to 2 dozen raw and a few charbroiled ones (they had some fancy cheese on them, and that is one of my
forbidden foods.
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Please go enjoy some beignets at Cafe Du Monde for me while you are there!
Go have some fun at Pat O'Brien's bar and treat yourself to some Hurricane drinks...
One night we rode the streetcar down to the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) area. Didn't leave Decatur Street, however - we've done the Quarter too many times. Cafe du Monde was not crowded at all - it's not tourist season. I ate one beignet, although gluten is at the very top of my forbidden foods list (sugar is on there too). The cafe au lait was as good as I remembered, although once again milk is a ff. I'm 2 years sober and she doesn't drink, so we didn't make it to Pat O's. However, I've been there
many times and highly recommend a visit. But get
only one Hurricane - especially if you're going to continue imbibing that night or want to be functional the next day. Friday for lunch I had shrimp grits which were covered with some fancy cheese but I figured that the harm was already done. And yes, my innards are still in turmoil and will be for this entire week but I was on vacation. Another place we ate was Mother's Restaurant on Poydras. Good Cajun-style home cooking (not touristy stuff). Everything on the menu is good, and the bread pudding is excellent.
Now for the important stuff:
the coin shops. There are three shops in the greater NOLA area for collectors, and I hit them all. None are actually in the city of New Orleans, but are close by. Each has friendly knowledgeable owners and very reasonable prices. All of these shops have quite a bit of Mardi Gras exonumia but I didn't spend much time with that. I haven't had the energy or stamina yet to take pictures of my acquisitions but they are coming.
The first one I went to is Gulf South Coins in Metairie. It's a bit cluttered but Rob has some of everything. I'm more interested in international coins and Louisiana trade tokens so I went through the binders and coins boxes of 2X2s. Most coins in flips sell for half of the marked price or for melt and I loaded up. He also has a "melt bucket" - an actual bucket with a bunch of both international and US silver coins that sell at melt. I found a few real treasures in there - Anguilla 4 Dollars 1967 - Atlantic Star, a proof Maria Theresa thaler in a Capital holder, a couple of uncirculated France 50 Francs in holders, and a bunch of loose coins. He also has a good selection of bullion,
US coins and currency but I really didn't look at that stuff.
Second shop was The Coins & Collectibles Shop in Kenner. It's very neat and tidy. Rick has a more extensive selection of slabbed
US coins and not a lot of international coins. World silver goes for melt plus a few percent. I got a Barbados 10 Dollars 1977 - Poseidon, a nice Australia 1943 florin, and 1934 Panama 1/4 Balboa. He also had a box of tokens and a box of world coins at 4 or 5 for a dollar that I dug through. Found a few goodies, such as an Australia Canteen Service token from the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.
The third shop is River Ridge Coins. It's the furthest but still only about half an hour from downtown, although the roads are a bit confusing getting there. Louis has a very full shop with lots of everything. Silver world coins are either in trays in a display or a few binders, and he also has quite a few binders of regular world coins and exonumia. I worked them over and made a nice stack. There was also the obligatory box of world coins at 5 for a dollar and grabbed a few of those too.
Another place we went was Magazine Antique Mall on Magazine Street in New Orleans. There are a few
US coins in the front display but also a selection of silver and older Mardi Gras doubloons. In a booth in the far back of the shop I saw one in a vendor's display case that looked like it had been there a while. It was only $30 - it had! I figured that was a good price for an ounce of silver so picked it up.
My final purchase of the trip was at the Goodwill in Metairie on the way out. She likes to go there because they have a great selection of clothes for her (not so much for me). But I did get a Swiss Army suitcase on wheels - like new - for $10.
A final note. The Hyatt is ok for conferences but not somewhere I would pick for a vacation. It's a ways from the Quarter, they don't have their own parking garage, and it's a city block-long walk from the entrance to the elevators.
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Posted 09/24/2025 7:13 pm
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