One draw back to staying in a townhouse or condo, if you plan on cooking, is grocery shopping. You don't want to over buy so you end up under buying so picking up a few groceries is always on the to do list. So the first two stops today were Costco, where we bought a couple of things and had Carol's much desired hot dog for lunch and the Dollar Tree.

The tourist destination of the day was City Park. The park is 1 mile long and 3 miles wide and contains not only green space but the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, the Botanical Gardens, a Carousel Gardens, Storyland, the Peristyle, a dog park, tennis courts, mini golf, etc. This afternoon we wandered the sculpture gardens and some of the area around it. The woman manning the information center outside of the sculpture gardens gave us lots of information about the gardens and the park in general. She grew up in the area and her grandfather ran the casino (which was in building housing the cafe).

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I found this moving sculpture mesmerizing. Wonder where I can pick up one for the backyard.

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Ed found a new friend. She was a good listener but did add anything to the conversation.

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A few of my favorite sculptures --- except for the bird. It was real and use to people. It hung around the coffee shop waiting for left overs.

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It was a little chilly today, so we stopped for a coffee to warm ourselves up. I tried the cafe au lait (one third coffee, two thirds hot milk) which was really good. Ed ordered coffee, our waitress indicated that their coffee contains chicory and is very strong. The waitress was a little surprised when Ed repeated he wanted coffee. Everyone who has ever had a cup of Ed's coffee will know he enjoyed his "strong" cup of coffee. We also tried the beignets -- a deep fried pastry with powdered sugar. They were good and we we need to go to Cafe du Monde to try the "best" beignets.

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Thought this was interesting --- I've never heard of anyone denoting a lawn let alone a "great lawn".

A lot of live oak trees were lost during Katrina but happily many also survived. The park is filled with these majestic trees.

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Not sure of the significance of the lanterns in the tree but I thought it was very pretty.

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The singing oak has several wind chimes creating beautiful music when the wind blows. Look closely and you can see a couple of the chimes.

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Live oaks make a great playground of kids.