Spring Break in New Orleans: Day 5

Today was last day of our adventure and it's time to head back to Texas. We packed our bags and left the hotel by 10 am. We drove past Baton Rouge, LA where we stopped for gas and lunch at Subway.

Our original plan was to drive west for five hours and spend the night in Houston, where we would go clubbing or what not. Along the drive back, we realized that we'd rather spend the night in our bed and enjoy Sunday at home. We made it back to San Antonio by 7pm and chilled for the rest of the evening.

Spring Break in New Orleans: Day 4

This morning we had pre-purchased tickets for a Super City Tour at 9:30am. We left the hotel at 9:00am and walked down Julia Street to the trolley stop. Rather than waiting for the trolley, we decided to walk the length of tracks down to Toulouse Street. By 9:20am, we were at the Gray Line "Lighthouse" ticket office, boarding passes at hand and ready to start the tour!

The narrated tour took us through the French Market, French Quarter, and Jackson Square. We stopped at the historical above ground cemeteries, we viewed the Bayou St. John and the world's largest bridge across Lake Pontchartrain. We took a drive across suburbs that were affected by Hurricane Katrina, made our way back around Carrollton Avenue to the Garden District and back to downtown via St. Charles Avenue. The tour ended back at on Toulouse Street by the French Market.

The tour guide had pointed out several good places to have lunch. I was specially interested in a shrimp Po Boy so we wandered through the French Market looking for the Po Boy Shop. After a half hour of looking, we settled at the Gazebo Cafe and enjoyed New Orleans style muffalettas. Turned out great... We had lunch outside, the day was gorgeous... warm and breezy and the nearby band was jamming. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. I wanted to be awake and cheery in time for our dinner cruise.

Later that afternoon, we got dressed up and ready to embark on our last night in New Orleans. We made our way back to the pier and boarded the Steamboat Natchez. Once aboard the ship, we were directed to the buffet line. We helped ourselves to some Prime Rib, Praline Chicken, Catfish, pasta, veggies & salad. Yum!

After dinner, we made our way to the front of the ship where the live jazz band, the Dukes of Dixieland, performs. Moments later, the captain of the ship came out to welcome us, give us a short history of the Natchez Steamboat and commence our cruise. We left the wharf and sailed downstream toward the gulf, moving further away from the city. The captain narrated how the Mississippi River is an integral means of commerce and transportation. We made our way into the boiler room and learned how a steamboat works.

Spring Break in New Orleans: Day 3

This morning was weird. We got woken up twice by what seemed to be fire alarms that only lasted a few seconds. I am not sure that it was fire alarms, though, because there is a hearing impaired button outside our door and whenever we press it, a siren goes of inside our room and a strobe lights blink. Maybe some prankster was walking down the hall and pressed the button. Who knows. All I know is that the beds here at the Courtyard (and any Marriott I've stayed at so far) have got to be the best hotel beds ever! Plush, soft and oh so comfortable. Even though we got woken up, we fell back asleep without much trouble.

When I finally got up around 11 am or so (I was very tired), I booked us a city bus tour on the Gray Line Tours for Friday at 9:30 am, followed by a steam boat dinner cruise at 7 pm. Henry was eager to head out for some breakfast so we walked up to St. Charles Street, grabbed a trolley and made our way back down Garden District. The houses down the Garden District are a sight to behold... It's like traveling back in time where Gregorian homes with intricate detail work and beautiful landscaping adorn the street. We kept our eye out for a place to eat, but we had no idea what to go for. The trolley made it all the way west to its final stop at Carrollton Avenue. The driver suggested we try The Camellia Grill just down Carrollton Avenue. When we got there, we found ourselves amidst a large crowd of loud and moody people waiting to be seated. We passed on The Grill and decided to keep walking down Carrollton Avenue until something caught our eye. We stopped at a Walgreen's down the block to buy sunglasses. On our way out, the cashier recommended we try the day's special at The Chef's Corner, a little bistro place next door.

We made or way into this nice boutique-like restaurant that couldn't have had more than 12 tables tops. The atmosphere was upscale, yet casual. It was far enough from the touristy areas that there were mostly locals dining inside. The owner greeted us at our table and offered us the day's special: four catfish fillets served with a generous portion of homemade rice, sausage and shrimp jambalaya. Never having jambalaya before, I felt adventurous and decided to try it. The food was amazing... "super good and very inexpensive." I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a delicious meal away from the tourists without breaking the bank. On our way back to the trolleys, we stopped at a Baskin Robins for ice cream and made our way back to the hotel.

After an hour or so, we left the hotel room to venture out again. We spent the afternoon discovering the length of the Moon Walk. We started down Julia Street at the Riverwalk shopping area and worked our way past the Plaza de España and its beautiful fountains, Canal Street, New Orleans Aquarium and IMAX Theater, Holocaust Memorial and finally into the French Market. The streets were filled with music, families walking down the plazas, and locals enjoy the views from balconies nearby... while not as crazy as Bourbon Street, the French Market was definitely a more mellow type of fun. We found amazing artwork and tons of gift shops willing to take your money. We were mesmerized by plates of food out on display outside some Bistro that we had to stop for dinner. Henry had Red Beans & Rice while I had Shrimp Creole. Both were very delicious and nutritious. Being close to Café du Monde, we stopped by for an after-dinner café au lait and begniets.

Next it was off to Pat O'Briens to experience the legendary Hurricane. We took a right turn at the St. Louis Cathedral and made our way back to Bourbon Street. As we finally approached the bar, we were surprised to see a line of people 1/2 a block long all waiting to get into the bar. Yeah.... Pass on the Hurricanes... at least for now. We worked our way through Bourbon Street and back to Canal Street where we waited for trolleys for what seemed like forever. After about 20 minutes of waiting, we gave up on the trolley idea and walked back to the hotel. By then we were tired and had achy feet. We crashed for the night.

Spring Break in New Orleans: Day 2

It's my birthday!!! Today I turn the big Three-Oh. Yep... yours truly is now 30 years old.

So today we woke up early in the morning. Let me tell you... getting me out of bed early is no easy feat (just ask Henry). Yet, Henry was impressed that we were checked out from the hotel and on the road by 9am. We drove for about an hour and stopped at an IHOP past Beaumont, Texas for breakfast. I had a ham and cheese melt and Henry had an omelet. As we placed our order, Henry told the waiter it was my birthday, so he offered free cheese on my side of fries. Big whoop-dee-freekin'-doo. When the check came in, the waiter surprised us by omitting my order from the bill. Now that's what I'm talking about!!!

We drove again for another 4 hours and approached New Orleans at around 3pm. By 3:30, we were in our hotel room ready to explore The Big Easy. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott (Thanks, Erik!!!), a couple of blocks away from Canal Street.

We got acquainted with the landmarks and made our way first to Canal Street and then to Bourbon Street. Holy crap. It's like Austin's 6th Street only more adult oriented. Now I know why they call New Orleans the Big Easy... if you know what I mean. ;-)

We took a right on St. Peters street and ended up at the St. Louis Cathedral. We went inside and were in awe at the artwork on the murals and ceilings. The paintings were so lifelike and had inlaid gold and silver leaf. Truly amazing. Oddly enough, ambulant voodoo shops and palm readers were outside the church doors ready to make a deviant of you.

We walked past the Plaza de España and into Cafe Du Monde for the obligatory cafe au lait and french begniets which definitely live up to its fame. We walked up the plaza past the canon monument, down the moon walk and further over to the French Market. We found the riverfront trolleys that go between the hotel and the French Quarter and learned that they sold 3-day passes... only to discover that they only accept exact change and we had none. So we went back into the French Market looking for a shop to break our high dollar bills. We stopped by Sally's Praline Shop and bought $40+ dollars worth of prailines... Yes... $40+ worth of sugary treats just to get change to buy trolley tickets. We made our way back to the trolley tracks and waited for the trolley to arrive. After a few minutes, we got ready to board the trolley and buy the 3-day passes when the trolley driver said, "Uhm... yeah... the 3-day passes are sold down at the next stop." What the hell does that mean? We walked down to the next stop, looked around for a ticket machine and found nothing. We had to ask a local where the tickets were sold: Up some alley stairs, left into a mall entrance, down the electric stairs, and find the ice cream shoppe on the right. Fifteen minutes later, we found the damned ice cream parlor and bought the tickets, only to realize we didn't need exact change at all. Oh well... We went back outside to the trolley station and rode with our pralines back to the hotel for a short break.

Later that evening, we went out on a quest for dinner. We walked up Julia Street to St. Charles Avenue and took a trolley through the Garden District. The sun set quickly but we still were able to appreciate the beautiful homes adorning the street. We ended up at the trolley's last stop Carrollton Avenue, where we met four other people who, like us, were heading back to town. Among them was a woman who was raving about a daiquiri bar across the street from the trolley stop where they sold 40+ flavors of daiquiri slushy. We were like high school teenagers all on a mission to get booze. It was fun. Henry and I each bought a 32 oz. bucket of strawberry margaritas which we enjoyed (minus the brain freeze) all the way back downtown.

We boarded the trolley again and headed back to Bourbon Street in search for dinner. Needless to say, most restaurants close their doors around 10 pm to give way to bars and shows. We found the Bourbon House, a nice corner restaurant that was still open and willing to seat us for a late dinner. Two waitresses introduced themselves and took our order. Henry ordered a Hearts of Romaine salad and I got a Bourbon Shrimp appetizer plate. We waited for a short while and when the food came out it was delicious. As we were eating, we noticed long elapses of time between refills and when we finally got the waitresses' attention, their attitude left a lot to be desired. Henry was fed up with their attitude enough that he got up and asked for a manager. Shortly thereafter, our main entree came out and the waitress asked how everything was. We politely expressed our dissatisfaction to the waitress, to which she gave an excuse about how late it was... blah blah. Henry rebutted that it makes no difference how late it is... For the amount of money we're paying, you'd expect the same level of service whether we arrive at 8 pm or 11:30 pm. The waitress gave attitude and said she'd pass the comment on to the manager. By then, Henry told her not to bother; that he had summoned the manager already. Moments later the manager stopped by our table, introduced himself as Armand, and asked what the problem was. We explained to him that the food was outstanding, but that our experience was soured by their lack of service. He quickly agreed that we should expect the same level of service regardless time. We also informed him that we were there celebrating my birthday and that the "perfect birthday dinner" was becoming more of a hopeless disaster. He apologized and offered to make it up to us.

He whisked back into the kitchen and brought us back some Bourbon Vanilla Gelato with nutmeg as a complementary after-dinner cocktail. Delicious! Moments later, he walked out of the kitchen with a platter full of goodies: A warm brownie with white and dark chocolate chips, a slice of New York style cheese cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream with strawberries, all served on a plate with "Happy Birthday" written with chocolate. Very creative and elegant. After dinner, the waitress gave us a forced apology as she handed us the check. You can tell she'd been disciplined. Take that. In the end, my birthday dinner turned out to be a truly interesting, memorable event. We headed back to the hotel thereafter.

Spring Break in New Orleans: Day 1

This Christmas Henry gave me "a week off from work" as a special gift; which is a lot considering how he has a hard time distancing himself from CapGroup. It also happens that my birthday lands on Spring Break this year and since school district employees have Spring Break week off, we agreed it was a great time to do use his week off do do something fun and spontaneous. We talked about doing another Caribbean cruise, or going to Florida, doing New York again, etc... but flight fares were through the roof! As Spring Break got closer and all hope seemed lost, Henry suggested we do a last-minute road trip to New Orelans, Louisiana.

The plan was to leave home Tuesday evening, head out to Houston and spend the night east of Houston near Channelview or Baytown, Texas. As we left left home around 5pm, I realized I forgot something, so I did a u-turn and headed back home. While I was scrambling, Henry put a hot pocket in the microwave. We left home again only remember that Henry's hot pocket was left sitting in the microwave. U-turn. Pick up the hot pocket. We finally made it out of town by 6pm.

During our first hour of driving, we stopped near Seguin, Texas to get gas. The convenience store ha a Church's Chicken next door. Mmmm... Spicy chicken tenders!!! Should we get 3? 4? But the 12-pack is such a better deal... Okay. 12 it is... and add some honey biscuits too while you're at it, please. Oh, and a Diet Coke because we're on a diet. ;-) The best cure for boredom is food, so for most of our trip, we chowed down on semi-hard, cold chicken tenders, cheetos and soda.

At around 9:30pm, we finally arrived at La Quinta. The evening was cold, wet and very windy. We dumped our bags and walked down the street on a quest for more munchies and drinks (we still had tenders left over, but we had maxed out our fried-chicken-quota for the year.) As we approached the corner convenience store, I spotted a Denny's just down the street. If you know me, I like pie. Denny's sells pies. Mmm... pie. So Denny's for pie it was. And a bowl of chicken noodle soup, too cuz I'm cold, dammit!

After the late nite meal, we stopped by the convenience store, picked up some sodas, a beer for Henry, a 6-pack of Watermelon wine coolers, and some Rolaids (damn chicken tenders gave me heart burn). We walked back to the hotel and spent the night.

I'm on TV!!!

Today Caroline and I went to El Palmito; a local restaurant on Bandera Road for lunch. As we were ordering our meals, a Fox News reporter and camera man came in to interview the owner. Without prior consent, the camera was on us, capturing us eating our food from all sorts of angles and close-ups.

Ms. Caroline, of course, wouldn't pass the opportunity to give her contribution to the news so she volunteered to give her 2 cents on the subject. I politely passed.

Please keep the fan mail to a minimum, please. ;)