Thursday was our one full day together in New Orleans. I was up by 7:45, Nicole woke up maybe an hour later, and we got Catherine out of bed around maybe 9:15. I realize I get ready way too quick and I have to have some patience when waiting for ladies to get ready to go anywhere. We were all out the door by maybe 10:20 a.m. I think in those preceeding 2.5 hours, I did some writing, printed some maps out downstairs, and took a quick walk around the block. Our first stop had to be Cafe Du Monde for some beignets and cafe au lait. I guess that was the one thing I treated for. The donuts themselves tasted amazing. They were soft inside and crispy outside and unlike many donuts and beignets that I've had, they didn't taste very heavy. And with all the powdered sugar, that made them taste even better. As for the cafe au lait (half coffee, half hot milk), well, it was so-so, but still a little too bitter for me. So I took Nicole's advice and threw a bunch of the extra powdered sugar along with some of the granulated sugar right into the cup. I'm sure I used a good half cup of sugar! But that was the only way I was going to drink the thing!
We took the streetcar down to Julia St, thought we had to wait 15 minutes for it to come. And we probably could have walked that distance in not much more than 15 minutes anyway! In any event, we checked out the Central Business District with the Civil War Museum and the Lee Circle with a very tall statue of Robert E. Lee. The museum had a lot of old war artifacts. It was basically one big room, wasn't the best, but it was a decent way to kill an hour.
We walked back up Magazine Street because I heard there was some nice places to shop and possibly eat. Well, apparently we were walking in the wrong section, it was mostly businesses and parking lots. Nicole gave up on it a little bit too early (we should have kept going to Canal St)and we turned east down Podyras Street towards the river. So we went shopping at the Riverwalk Marketplace and it was a cool place. The first thing we found was this memorabilia shop with all kinds of unique merchandise like paintings of Republican presidents shooting pool and paintings of Democrat presidents playing poker. They had the sports heritage banners, statues of animals, personalized photos, newspaper clipping collections on different subjects, etc. It was just a cool place to walk around and explore.
We walked around the mall and got a couple of shrimp po' boys at the food court. They weren't the best, it was a food court after all, but it hit the spot. And thank God they came with tartar sauce and not mayonnaise! We checked out some fine souvenir shops and I have to admit I came close to buying a fedora. But in all fairness, when would I really wear it? The girls stopped for some fudge. Of course, Catherine had a thing for the peanut butter/chocolate fudge, what a shock that was...I stopped into a food store and brought a packet of seasoning for BBQ shrimp. I haven't made it yet, but we'll see how they turn out. Of course, buying shrimp isn't exactly cheap either. We also stopped in this retro shop and it had artifacts from the 1900's. Lots of 60's and 80's music gear, old TV show merchandise, Who's on First posters, Hulkamania t-shirts, a Partridge Family bus. It was like stepping into a time machine.
By the middle of the afternoon, we were starting to feel a little bit tired and we took the streetcar back to the hotel. I headed straight into the creepy room, took of my shoes, laid down on the bed, and turned on my Ipod. Within five minutes, Catherine tells me we're heading back out! So it was more shopping, this time in the French Quarter. We stopped at Central Grocery for some muffuletas that we planned to save for dinner. I think by this point, I was on autopilot. We went to Bourbon St and we each drank a hurricane and Nicole and I "sang" Happy Birthday to Catherine. It was okay, it tasted like a twisted Hawaiian Punch, but I preferred the sweetness of the grenade. Now I figured that was about it for the night. Not quite. We walked back to Jackson Square and into Cafe Beignet for another order of beignets! These were bigger than the ones at Cafe Du Monde too. They tasted good, but I noticed they were heavier than the ones we'd had earlier that morning. But I didn't think too much of it at the time. Plus Catherine was giving way too much love to this cat that was hanging around the Cafe patio...
After a few more stops (I can't remember, the hurricane was getting to me a little bit, probably because I drank it so quickly), we got back to room for the Rangers game against Florida. Actually, the hurricane was really getting to Nicole. She said she didn't like it, yet, she kept drinking it too! I would have offered to help. Anyway, we were all on the couch watching the Rangers and I realized about midway through the first period that I was experiencing some bad stomach cramps. During both intermissions, I actually went in my room and laid down, even falling sound asleep during the second break. Eventually, I felt better, but I decided to skip the muffuletta. I felt much better when Gaborik scored in OT to give the Rangers the win. And right after that, we all got to watch the final episode of 24/7. Stellar. I think I shut up the whole time while I listened to the girls gawk over Del Zotto, Lundqvist, and Girardi.
So I really wasn't feeling too great about the whole thing as I went to bed. But for the second straight night, I was blessed with some company in bed. We kissed, went to bed, woke up around 4, and...
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