We slept in compared to our normal routine, waking up around 7:45am. We had a nice breakfast with Rabbi Silver and realized that we had a connection to one of her oldest congregants, whose grandson went to college with Arielle and married someone Abe grew up with in Massachusetts. We walked about ten minutes to Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation, where we were immediately greeted by a number of members. Abe led the Shacharit morning service and Arielle was introduced as the speaker following services. Services were energetic but traditional, and intentionally inclusive, which was wonderful. This synagogue just seemed to do everything right. The lunch was lavish and prepared by the synagogue’s chef, and included a huge bowl of guacamole, a delicious eggplant dish, amazing cookies, and chocolate covered almonds that Arielle is still carrying around. We met some young couples who knew many people we knew - the Jewish geography game took no time at all. After lunch, we returned to the chapel and Arielle began her session with over thirty congregants in attendance. Arielle spent the next hour facilitating a conversation around the importance of having value-based end-of-life conversations and fielded questions from congregants who were experiencing this in their own lives. It was a fantastic session - Abe can attest. We walked back to the rabbi’s home and, after some debriefing and chatting, we left to drive down to Bourbon St, which was a questionable decision on our part. Somehow we managed to get a spot just two blocks from Cafe du Monde, and remarkably didn’t get a ticket even though we were sure we were missing some signs. We were delighted to have made last-minute plans to meet up with our friends Jill and Dan, who we had seen post online about being on a flight to New Orleans from New York. Dan had never been to Cafe du Monde, and though we could have gone to a location closer to where we were, we wanted to give him the full experience. We waited in the to-go line for about forty minutes and then swiftly ordered some beignets, a hot chocolate for Abe, and coffees for the other three. We walked up to sit on benches overlooking the water and enjoyed the very powdery and messy treats.
We said goodbye to Jill and Dan and returned to our miraculously still-there vehicle and decided to leave downtown New Orleans right away for a calmer area. We attempted to find a good restaurant in Metairie and ended up settling on a place just down the street from the synagogue, Bistro Orleans. Abe thought his blackened redfish was delicious, while Arielle was underwhelmed by her angel hair marinara, which was initially far too spicy and then just bland when she got the sauce on the side.
The overall ambiance was pleasant, though the experience was soured mildly when the check arrived and we found out that the waitress asking Arielle if she wanted soup or salad with her pasta had mistakenly led us to believe that it came with one or the other, neither of which she would have ordered knowing that they were extra. Overall, it was a decent meal, and we returned to the rabbi’s home to pack up our things for the next day, socialize briefly with the rabbi, and get to bed.
Approximate number of miles covered: 12
No comments:
Post a Comment