We had decided to sleep late today. We had nothing to do and
all day to do it. It was quiet and the bed was comfortable and the room was
cool, but I still didn’t sleep well. I kept thinking the boat was taking a big
turn or curve in the river, enough that I kept shifting in bed to keep from
being rolled out. Then I would open my eyes and realize over and over again
that I was no longer on a boat. Then I would wonder if the building was falling
before going back asleep.
We got up after 7am and Clay checked the weather and it was
about 85F outside but the heat index was already near 100. He said he was going
to offer to walk across the street to Croissant d’Or and bring back breakfast
to eat on the balcony but we both decided we’d rather walk over and eat
indoors. They have very good croissants. I had a complimentary cup of Community Coffee from
the lobby before we went. Croissant d’Or has chocolate croissants but I didn't notice until after we had both ordered the eggs to order breakfasts at about $7 each, so maybe tomorrow.
We set out walking and walked through part of the French
Market’s weekend flea market early but not for long. I tried to get Clay to
cross the street to check the door sign of Central Grocery to verify their
hours since he plans to get a muffuleta for the plane trip home, but he refused
and said that he had checked the website and they were closed on Sunday. We walked around the back of Café du Monde again, so I could watch them making beignets again. I love that!
We set
off for the Audubon Aquarium and to look for a Starbucks for an NOLA mug. We found the
mug and got one for $10.95. Thanks again to Stuart Jones for the $10 Starbucks
giftcard he sends annually! I still don’t like the new Starbucks mugs’ designs
as well as the old designs though. We were still too early as the Audubon
Aquarium doesn’t open until 10am. So after buying the mug, we sat in the Canal Place Mall in the AC
for about 15 minutes to let the sweat dry. By the time we walked around to the
aquarium the box office had opened and then we had about a 10 minute wait in
the shade of the riverfront to enter.
We had been here pre-Katrina, so nothing seemed familiar. It
is a small aquarium compared to Atlanta. But, we strolled and sat and checked
every tank and spent at least 4 or more hours.
We left and headed to Hard Rock
Café and Acme Oyster Bar. Clay had a dozen raw with an Abita and he was a happy
man. He loves LA Gulf oysters the best of anywhere in the world. They were
$15/dozen which was also cheaper than he has paid elsewhere lately.
We walked
over to Canal Street and found the statue of Ignatius Reilly from “AConfederacy of Dunces.” Behind Ignatius was a Pop This Popcorn Shop. We bought
2 small bags of white cheddar cheese and caramel corn for dinner tonight in our
air conditioned room.
We plan to eat a late afternoon main, big meal at
Johnny’s Po-Boys. Johnny’s closes at 4:30pm daily so it will be a combination
late lunch/early dinner. Clay had an oyster po’boy. I had a country fried steak
with rice and gravy. It was brown onion gravy like they use on roast beef
po'boys, so it was different but I liked it.
As we left we found a sweet shop
with Italian gelato. We stopped for dessert. We walked down Chartres Street and
found a needlework shop that we failed to see yesterday when we walked by.
Today I saw it and we went in and I bought some local cross-stitch pictures about food in
NOLA, but they were out of Café du Monde and so we paid to have The Quarter Stitch mail all 3 to Mom’s house when it comes in. They will be great art for
our kitchens when she finishes them!
We got back inside our room 200 by about 4pm and got settled into the AC as the
heat index reached 106F again. We’ll hope to find a good movie on TV tonight.
