Friday. Out the door by 915! Have a tour of the oldest, 1789, cemetery in NO. Cemetery St Louis. Tour at 1030. Kid wants beignets first. So up and go.
We walked to the world famous Cafe Du Monde, near the river. The Mississippi, for those of you keeping score. There were about a million people here when we arrived near 920. Ok, maybe only a thousand. The to go line had over 50 people in it. So we took a table. Getting a table here is a contact sport. You have to find your own then the waiter will show up. So we had to act like lions on the Serengeti searching for prey. Fortunately Marika is a aggressive hunter and it took no time at all. And all the tables were full. Amazing.
Had to wait three minutes or so for waiter to show up and clear old dishes. We ordered at same time. No menus. Hey, it’s cafe au lait and beignets only. An easy order. Took 3 more minutes for food and bev. Man do they keep it moving. And, this shit is really good. I would eat them every day except for the high carb and grease content. Million calories. That thing.
So we have successfully eaten quickly, which was our goal. We are off, table claimed immediately by another lion. He had that look of hunger. We walked north to St Louis St where the tour meet up is at. I have still not told Marika where we are going. Just for fun.
It is really hot. Like Africa hot, today. We are melting. We got to meet up and moved to the opposite side of the street to the shade. Took awhile for tour guides and guests to get there. We were off to the cemetery pretty quick once all was accounted for.
The St Louis cemetery is the oldest one in use in this country. Since 1789. A place that old has many stories. All told by our guide whose name I have forgotten. Heck, I have forgotten the stories. Cemetery has a famous voodoo priestess buried there. Actor Nicholas Cage purchased a tomb there for later use. That’s weird, he is not from there and only visited. But wants a crypt in NO? Strange.
The cemetery is behind tall walls, no air flow. And it’s real hot. At the end of the tour we went across the street to the NO visitors center. It’s air conditioned and has nice restrooms. Also a small cafe amongst other things. We hung out there for an hour. The AC was awesome.
We finally left and returned to the hotel. I have some office work to do and I’m sure Marika would like to nap.
I worked for an hour or so and she did power nap the whole time. She is an amazing napper.
We had nothing planned for the rest of the day so we figured wander around New Orleans. Which is what we did. It was close to lunch so we went in search of Po Boys. It’s an NO thing.
We managed to find, not hard, a restaurant serving authentic Po Boys. We, as is our habit, sat at the bar to have lunch. We each ordered a different sandwich, here catfish and mine oyster. And, of course a Sazerac and a modified French 75. We are sitting at a bar you know. And we sat quite awhile after we finished. Food was great and pleasant to just sit. And drink.
Once we were good and rested, and full, we decided to explore. Which means walk off into the distance and wander. Which pretty much describes what we did. We walked for miles, out of the French Quarter through other districts along the mighty Mississippi, and on. Long walk. We finally got so tired and hot we decided to head back home.
On the way back we made a pit stop at the Toulouse Dive Bar. Well named. Has the absolute coolest restroom doors in America. I didn’t check the list but cool as hell. I had to go, and was confronted by bookshelves lining the back hall. Just bookshelves. I stared awhile and found a handle amongst the books and grabbed it and pulled. The shelves parted and revealed a restroom behind. Like a secret passage to the shitter. But, way cool.
We sat in the bar, had only one cocktail, much ice water. We watched a bad Johnny Depp movie where he played Dillinger. Not very good but after our epic walkabout we were tired. So we just sat until we were ready to move. Over an hour. Perfect.
We were 3 blocks from our hotel so we sauntered back for some clean up and so Marika could nap. Actually, she just fell asleep. She doesn’t just lay on the bed ever. Always, she gets under the covers. So obviously she is gonna fall asleep. So again we sat (lied down) for a bit. And she went to sleep. I didn’t, I did some work.
After the rise and shine, Marika searched online and found a place that serves gumbo and jambalaya and red beans and rice. Acclaimed food. No swill for us. So by 830, we headed out again. For dinner.
The Gumbo house, so called, was an excellent choice for dinner. There was a very long line when we got there but they sped right through it and we were seated in no time. For a change, no cocktails I could use a rest. The dinner was very good. I had no room for dessert.
We are now back at the hotel, both too tired to go do anything. I nodded off a few times typing this. I need sleep. Maybe I will be able to get up and work out tomorrow.