Some of us slept in this morning. Okay, I slept in, while the others were up early and being productive doing laundry and having breakfast. By 10:00 a.m., it was already too late to book tours for the day so we decided to conduct our own tour of the city. After a careful and long study and conferencing together we figured out how to use the self-serve ticketing machine for the city rapid transit system and spent $5.00 each to ride the St. Charles Trolley around the city. During our travels we had occasion to see both Tulane and Loyola universities, some of the downtown area, both poor depressed high-density neighborhoods and beautiful old million dollar turn-of-the-century homes with a rich history of southern living. It was well worth the $5.00.
Following our self-initiated tour we returned to the French Quarter and opted for lunch at Mother's Restaurant, known for their cooked ham and Po Boy sandwiches. For the uninitiated, a Po Boy sandwich is basically a submarine sandwich on a French roll with any number of contents, which may include: deli meat, shrimp, fried oysters, catfish, or craw fish with a special white sauce or gravy called debris. We all ordered a different Po Boy sandwich and shared them among ourselves.
After lunch we we toured the Riverwalk, a shopping mall and food court along the Mississippi River and then returned to the French Quarter where once again we were drawn to the two Harley-Davidson T-shirt stores (I tell you its a sickness) for more T-shits and caps.
Suppertime rolled around and fresh oysters on the half shell were calling, so it was back to Felix's Seafood around the corner from our hotel for dinner. The Oyster shucker (Is that what you call the guy who opens the oysters, or is he an Oystermeister, or is that a blender?) showed us how to make our own cocktail sauce with ketchup,Worcestershire sauce, a sprinkle of Tabasco sauce, fresh lemon squeeze, a touch of black pepper and as much or as little horseradish as your pallate can tolerate. After that we were on our own. Can you say spicy?
Following supper, we did the late evening Bourbon Street stroll again in and out of the various night clubs and drinking establishments. Please understand that it is very thirsty work, but we rose to the occasion. However, you can only have so much fun in one day, and besides, we ran out of plastic beads, so we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. It's all right here in the diaries my friends.
John and the usual suspects.
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