New Orleans, LA
June 5, 2012
Miriam’s dad, a professor at Tulane University, had two guest passes to the large recreational center on campus, so we decided to take our morning workout indoors for our last day in New Orleans.
The Reilly Center offers practically everything you could want in a gym, and Miriam attempted to do as much as possible, from running to playing racquetball, but I kept it simple and stayed on the treadmill. After our workout we headed home to clean up and get our day started.
One of the goals for my last day was to get a daiquiri to go, which is very popular in New Orleans, so we thought it would be a good idea to cross that off the list right away. We stopped by New Orleans Original Daiquiris Cafe and found we had the place to ourselves. I had never seen it so empty! The bartender looked bored so I sampled a few things before deciding on Rum Punch.
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| Miriam waiting for my daiquiri |
I even opted to get a bigger size in order to get the fabulous souvenir travel cup (I had been looking for a cup similar to it the entire time we’d been in NOLA). It wasn’t until we got back in the car and I was happily sipping away at my drink that we realized it wasn’t even noon yet...whoops!
We then drove back over to Tulane to visit the music department and pick up Miriam’s dad for lunch. It was at this point that I realized I was slightly intoxicated (and still sipping the drink), which meant that stairs were a daunting task and interacting with people was a little bit amusing. We had a good visit, talking with a number of staff members who had watched Miriam grow up and who were always excited to see her come home for a visit.
We then drove back over to Tulane to visit the music department and pick up Miriam’s dad for lunch. It was at this point that I realized I was slightly intoxicated (and still sipping the drink), which meant that stairs were a daunting task and interacting with people was a little bit amusing. We had a good visit, talking with a number of staff members who had watched Miriam grow up and who were always excited to see her come home for a visit.
We then drove back to the house with her dad, and made a few sandwiches, me trying to soak up some of the alcohol in my system, and them trying to catch Jeff’s local commercial for his pizza place (we didn’t see it) and laughing at my drunk behavior.
And as quickly as the intoxication came on, so did the hangover. By two o’clock that afternoon my head was pounding. Thanks, overly-sugared alcoholic beverage. All I wanted to do was take a nap, but we had too many things to do.
I sucked it up and climbed back into the car for the bumpy ride over to visit our little friends Jadyn and Zoe one last time (gotta love the uneven NOLA roads when you’re hungover...). Jadyn was busy playing outside when we pulled up and was very excited to see her Mimi again. Zoe was once again taking a nap. I was jealous. We had fun playing with Jadyn-- well, Miriam played and I took lots of pictures-- and chatting with Jadyn’s mom, Christa.
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| Jadyn playing in the sprinkler |
Once it started sprinkling we decided it was time to head out. We had shopping to do!
Now, when I say shopping, I don’t mean for fun souvenirs...I mean Wal-mart... *hangs head sheepishly*. When you live in New York City, where Wal-marts do not exist and everything is a bit more expensive, sometimes a trip to Wal-mart is very exciting. We like to stock up on little things, like our favorite Crystal Light flavors, and things of that nature. So we finished all our errands and then headed back to the house for a nice, home-cooked meal.
Miriam’s mom was making us a delicious dinner and insisted on inviting our friends Jena and Sarah over so that we could see them one last time. There was so much food on that table that by the time we finished dinner I think we had to be rolled out the door. So good! Sometimes it’s so nice to have a Mom-made-home-cooked meal. There’s something truly special about it.
We had talked about getting ice cream with Jena and Sarah after dinner, but we were all too full, so they offered to drive us to the French Quarter instead, where we would be spending the last part of our evening. We said goodbye to the girls and began our saunter through the Quarter.
It’s always fun to walk around the French Quarter. There’s so much art and beauty but at the same time debauchery and crazy Voodoo shops. It’s great! And it’s nice that you can walk around the streets with a drink in hand to take it all in (I passed on the drink, thank you very much-- still recovering from the daiquiri).Our destination that evening was Preservation Hall, the famous jazz hall located in the Quarter, and a place I had, surprisingly, never been to before. We were hoping to catch the early show but arrived to the line just after a very large school group in bright, lime green tshirts. Preservation Hall isn’t very big, so that school group got all the spots. We hunkered down to wait the hour in line for the next set. At least we were now near the front of the line, which meant we would get good seats.
Preservation Hall is simply a jazz hall. No food, no drinks, no cameras, no recording devices. You pay your entrance fee, find a spot on the floor or a nearby bench, and you sit back and listen while a bunch of New Orleans jazz legends play fabulous music for 45 minutes.
While we waited for the next set, I left Miriam to hold our spot in line and walked around the Quarter for a little bit to take some photographs. By the time I got back to her, the line was ridiculously long, and I was glad we opted to stay in line. Every once in a while we could hear the band playing through the windows. I was even able to sneak some photos of the band through the small holes in the shutters.
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| The famous Lucky Dogs vendor |
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| The line for Preservation Hall |
Once the early show cleared out, we were allowed to go in and claim our seats. Miriam suggested sitting on the cushions on the floor so that we could be up close to the band without people being in our way, but I didn’t think I could sit for that long on the floor so we grabbed seats on the first row of benches. Excellent decision.
We were allowed to take photographs of the stage and the instruments before the show, but as soon as the band members came out we were told to put all cameras away. And they’ll call you out on it, too, if you try to take a picture! We saw it firsthand. Someone attempted to take a photo and the band members stopped what they were doing to point the guy out (luckily, they were only talking and not playing so nothing was interrupted).
The show was a lot of fun. You can tell the guys love what they are doing and have so much fun playing music. 45 minutes goes by really fast with jazz music. We only heard 4-5 songs total because of all the solos and riffing.
Up on the wall is a price list if you want to make a request, and someone actually paid the handsome $20 price for “When the Saints Go Marching In”-- it used to be a staple to play, since NOLA is home to the NFL team, the Saints, but the guys got tired of having it requested multiple times a night so put a hefty price on it.
After the set came to an end, we had the option to stay for the next set (once you pay the entrance fee you can stay as long as you want), but it was starting to get late. We tipped the band and thanked them for the fun show, and then called Miriam’s parents so they could meet us in Jackson Square.We couldn’t leave New Orleans without going to Cafe du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets, the special NOLA fritter served covered with powdered sugar. Our plan was to grab some to go, but Miriam’s dad was able to find a parking spot, so we settled in to one of the outdoor tables, ordered up some coffee and one order of beignets. It was the cherry on top of a fun trip to New Orleans.
I had a really great time in New Orleans, doing a lot of things that I had never done there before, but it was time to pack up and head on to my next adventure: Wisconsin.
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| Jackson Square |
