RiVoli Rallies Blog
Raves, Reviews and Rantings!
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Big breakfast consisting of egg and sausage casserole, pancakes, sausage, hash browns, and oatmeal served by our favorite caterer, Virginia. She is so sweet; she even cooked eggs especially for Don, over easy. She goes above and beyond!
We spent the afternoon at the St. James Cheese Company, a family run enterprise. They built an international network of cheese makers and affineurs who hooked them up with the artisan and farmhouse cheeses not found in other shops. Their name comes from their 200 year old shop in the St. James neighborhood of England where they began their life in cheese before bringing it to New Orleans in 2006. Operating on the premise that cheese should be fun, they make each visit unique and unforgettable. They lived up to their word! It is a playground for the cheese rookie, the rind-sniffing expert, and the curd curious. Guests are encouraged to try every cheese, every day, to ensure that each cheese is being offered at its peak. We had our own Cheese Monger,  She taught us how to pare wine with cheese. Check out the huge sandwich they provided us for lunch. We also had an opportunity to buy some of these unique cheeses.
Our afternoon was spent at Café Du Monda and the French Market. You cannot visit New Orleans without visiting the market. The iconic New Orleans cafe is known for café au laits, chicory coffee & beignets since 1862. It is open 24/7, closing only for Christmas and hurricanes. What is chicory coffee and beignets? The taste for coffee and chicory was developed by the French during their civil war. Coffee was scarce during those times, and they found that chicory added body and flavor to the brew. The Acadians from Nova Scotia brought this taste and many other french customs (heritage) to Louisiana. Chicory is the root of the endive plant. Endive is a type of lettuce. The root of the plant is roasted and ground. It is added to the coffee to soften the bitter edge of the dark roasted coffee. It adds an almost chocolate flavor to the Cafe Au Lait (mixed half and half with hot milk). Beignets were also brought to Louisiana by the Acadians. These were fried fritters, sometimes filled with fruit. Today, the beignet is a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar. While everyone was enjoying the café, we explored. Ron and Kay got it on with a street vendor singing gospel.  The market can be quite scary.
Meanwhile, at the candy store.
Do you think Kay realizes who she is about to shake hands with? KAY DON’T LOOK AT THE CAMERA, LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO! All that shopping made us hungry, so off to The Country Club for dinner. It is New Orleans’ best kept secret, hidden away in New Orleans’ charming Bywater neighborhood, The Country Club offers an elegant escape from everyday living, an escape from the hustle and bustle of the French Quarter. Everyone was comfortably seated in their special section with their own special waiter. Dinner was a choice of roasted chicken, shrimp, flank steak, or penne arrabiata. Mary discovered the indescribable restroom that we just had to photograph.
The photos just don’t do it justice. We visited the Sanger Theatre built by Julian Saenger in 1927 for the unheard of price of $2.5 million dollars. Advertisements of the day described it as “an acre of seats in a garden of Florentine splendor.” Today, the interior atmospheric design creates a magnificent 15th century Italian courtyard and gardens, with arched surroundings, columns and decorative moldings.  The suspension of disbelief is completed by a blue domed “sky” ceiling complete with twinkling stars. Greek and Roman statuary line the walls and statues of Venus stand on pedestals along the upper rim of the auditorium. The theatre was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and redeveloped at a cost of $53 million. It reopened its doors in September 2013.
The theatre show was put on by a special group of children. What talent they have!
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FINALLY, a lazy day in camp. Lazy, haha, not so fast. Rivoli Rallies has a full day planned. Beginning with a light breakfast.  Time for some prizes. We invited Skymed to visit with us and explain their services. Did you know you are not only covered when you are traveling, but you are also covered at home! Wow, who knew? Skymed is the bomb! ESPECIALLY since they treated us to an ice cream social.  Please check out their services and tell them we sent you. Even better, attend one of our rallies for a great Skymed discount. Light lunch today, or should I say “lighter” lunch?
Why? Well, because we are having dance lessons. Crazy fun Cajun dance lessons to get us ready for tonight’s entertainment. Our catered dinner was scrumptious. NO WAIT! This was just the appetizers!
Day 8 Rivoli Rallies Submerged in the Bayou 2018 Leave a commentDay 8 FINALLY, a lazy day in camp. Lazy, haha, not so fast. Rivoli Rallies has a full day planned. Beginning with a light breakfast. Time for some prizes. We invited Skymed to visit with us and explain their services. Did you know you are not only covered when you are traveling, but you are also covered at home! Wow, who knew? Skymed is the bomb! ESPECIALLY since they treated us to an ice cream social. Please check out their services and tell them we sent you. Even better, attend one of our rallies for a great Skymed discount. Light lunch today, or should I say “lighter” lunch? Why? Well, because we are having dance lessons. Crazy fun Cajun dance lessons to get us ready for tonight’s entertainment. Our catered dinner was scrumptious. NO WAIT! This was just the appetizers! Saving room for dinner (pasta alfredo with grilled chicken, pasta Carbonara with homemade sausage, or vegetable lasagna) was a challenge.  Served by the Liberty Ladies. Entertainment tonight was by T’Monde. Those dance lessons paid off. Until Rivoli Rallies did it again....taking over. What’s this the “bump”?  And a little Hee Haw?  OR getting down and dirty.
Ending with the, what else???.... The Rivoli Rallies Train.
But, WAIT, there’s more. Prizes! What a fun day!
Bruce, Janet, Wayne, and Patty joined us for pre-breakfast of only cinnamon rolls (because we were heading out for a brunch) and Sunday morning sermon. It was so nice to have quiet time with Bruce and friends before jumping on the bus and heading to downtown New Orleans for a Natchez Steamboat Cruise. What a classic way to experience the mighty Mississippi. The historic stern-wheeled steamboat makes its home on the riverfront next to the French Quarter, and slowly and gracefully cruises the river for brunch, lunch, or dinner cruises with live traditional jazz on board. True to New Orleans' love of music, we enjoyed a local jazz trio as we enjoyed a wonderful lunch buffet consisting of a waffle station, scrambled eggs, biscuits & gravy, fruit salad, gumbo, glazed ham, shrimp and grits, bananas Foster, and of course bread pudding. “Someone” in our group put gobbs of yogurt on their dessert because they thought it was whipped cream. I’m not saying any names….. but I have to say, we all got a laugh out of that. As we disembarked, there was the mime that always seems to be there. I love watching him!  Meanwhile… I guess it was a bit warm for Toni.  We spent the afternoon at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. The aquarium immerses you in an underwater world. The colors of a Caribbean reef come alive in the walk-through tunnel, where I don’t think Kay and Ron knew people were swimming above them.  Their penguins and Southern sea otter enchant you with their antics.  Touch a sting ray, feed a parakeet, and marvel at our gigantic sharks, tarpon, and rays in the 400,000 gallon Gulf of Mexico Exhibit.  Watch for sea turtles throughout the Aquarium as coordinator of the Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program, they prepare many of them for release to the wild. And of course, there is always time for a photo op Time to head over to Harrah’s to try our luck out at Black Jack. Remember, we were schooled on how to beat the house. Oh wait, another photo op as well as treating ourselves to the best New Orleans buffet. This spread is complete with something scrumptious for everyone; succulent roasted turkey, fried chicken, catfish, shrimp, and a variety of Asian dishes and soups. There were seven action stations serving up all our favorites. I can tell you, we didn’t leave hungry. The hardest part was saving room for their famous "Sweet Treats" dessert bar, with over 40 different items to choose.
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