Back from New Orleans...

Elaine and i went to New Orleans this past weekend to celebrate her birthday. It's becoming a tradition. we left Fri (her BD) at 6:30am. stopped in Sorento to eat at The Cabin restaurant. then down the road to the Cajun Village for some shopping. was disappointed to see the art gallery featuring local artists was no longer in business. on to Nola. Elaine had booked us at the Villa Convento, believed to be the "House of the Rising Sun" from the song of the same name. it's a great place to stay in the French Quarter. the young man Warren, who works there and whose family owns the place, is always friendly, helpful and knowledgable. he is always accompanied by his female black Lab, "Oyster"; who upon hearing the bell ding at the front desk, jumps up from behind the counter, puts her 2 front paws on the counter and looks at you as if to say: can i help you? she is so adorable! Fri nite we went to Napoleon House for supper. i had to get the muffaletta. then down Bourbon St. what a place! no where else like it!! then we stopped off in this little hole-in-the-wall dive bar called Flanagan's. it was a Goth hang-out and we were the only non multi-tatted, multi-pierced people in the place. there was a huge screen tv playing the movie Army of Darkness. Elaine ordered a Cosmo and i a Bud Lite. i think it must've been the only time in the bartender's life that someone told him the drink was too strong! Elaine had him add some more cranberry juice.
the next day, Sat, was spent going down our list of places we wanted to make sure we went to.
we made our way down towards the RiverWalk Mall. one of my fav places, a cat store, was gone. altho i did find a place with a Hello Kitty watch that i had to have! we went to the food court, got some cold, liquid refreshment (in my case a strawberry margarita) and went and sat near the huge floor-to-ceiling window for a magnificent view of the Mississippi River. and altho there still isn't as much boat traffic as pre-Katrina, it's still a very relaxing pastime. then to Harrah's where Elaine wanted to try her luck. i, not being much into gambling, waited for her in the Starbucks. for dinner, we wanted Italian, so we asked Warren for his recommendation. he suggested Adolfo's(upstairs over the Apple Barrel bar). it was near the area where our friend Lips was playing at the bar Checkpoint Charlie's. so we planned to eat, then go and catch her set from 7-9pm. well, things didn't exactly go as planned. there was a long waiting list at Adolfo's. by the time we made it to Checkpoint's, we only got to hear Lips sing one song! a huge disappointment! but we did get to visit with her and meet some of her friends: a couple, Bill and June, and Donna. we drank a couple of beers, danced and visited. and then we got a suprise treat. a guest musician, Alabama Slim, joined the band (after Lips) onstage. he was fantastic!!!
in fact, the bar had been really loud and rowdy, but when he started singing, the whole place went silent. the people looked mesmerized, almost like zombies! it was an amazing thing to witness! not only his great talent, but the effect it had on the people, Elaine and i included. then
the next day we took it easy because we'd pretty much gone to most of the places we'd wanted to. we went and got some perfume (i got patchouli) at Bourbon French, we got some chocolate (out of this world!!!) at Laura's Candies. we went to Margaritaville, Hard Rock, Landry's and a whole lot more! i was bummed that the Baskin Robbins in Jax's Brewery was no longer there. and also that the Cajun place at the RiverWalk Mall was gone, they had the best and cheapest crawfish etouffee in all of New Orleans! also disappointing was when we went to the Hard Rock, we discovered that they're closed Sun's and Mon's. we went to most of our fav old places, found some new ones and i'm probably forgetting some. later in the afternoon, it became overcast, with a nice little breeze and low humidity so we went to sit on the Moon Walk by the mighty Mississippi. it was so pleasant. watching the river, the boats, all the people walking by. what a parade of humanity. then monday i got back in the driver's seat. we ran into some rain here and there. but it wasn't bad. and it didn't last long. when i got back, i saw that my wonderful neighbor Bruce, had trimmed back ALL the thick branches and bushes that had blocked my view whenever i tried to back out of my driveway! God bless him! and boy, was Elsa sure glad to see me! she couldn't stop meowing! i checked my phone messages, among which were Myra, Chris, Mom and my honey. so i called my honey and he couldn't wait to come over, laden down with a wonderfully delicious homemade dinner and a lovely bottle of red wine. like the saying goes: be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!