Beware of Hurricanes...

We had a sweltering, but fun day in NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) yesterday! We were able to book an historic hotel right in the French Quarter and walk to everything for $80 a night! We got there around 11 a.m. and checked in at the French Market Inn. Our room was in the farthest building of a group of beautiful red brick buildings connected by a quaint, winding courtyard with interesting fountains. (A nice, yellow tabby cat lives in the courtyard. Meow!) We then made our way down to Central Grocery Co. for a muffuletta. A muffuletta, in case you don't know, is an Italian sandwich made with muffuletta bread, lots of Italian cold cuts and "olive salad." Olive salad is made of olive oil (lots) and three different kinds of olives and marinated veggies. I was a little dubious of the salad in my sandwich, but it was fabulous. The sandwich was probably big enough for four people, but Carrie and I split it. We ate it alongside the Mississippi River as we watched the Natchez paddle wheel river boat slide on by. The wind was lovely as the humidity was killer. We took a mule-drawn carriage tour of the French Quarter and the downtown cemetery. We were both scratching our heads at the need for a tour of the cemetery, but it was so cool! They have done all kinds of shoring up of crypts to protect them from rising water over the years. The crypts are huge and crammed in very close together. We saw the most famous voodoo queen's crypt, which was covered by triple x's and had lots of offerings and a voodoo doll. We saw many of the NOLA-specific homes, such as the double shotgun homes and the camel back homes. (Look it up, say our mothers.) The ironwork on the balconies is one of my favorite parts of the French Quarter. We wandered through lots of shops and watched a brass band made up of young men who were having a great time entertaining people in Jackson Square. They also made a freaking haul in tips. We wandered to Bourbon Street as the sun was setting and saw the beginnings of the evening's shenanigans. Carrie and I had decided to have a Hurricane (a type of a Rum Runner, kinda) and dinner at Pat O'Brians. When we got there, we went into the Dueling Piano bar and got our huge drinks and asked for a dinner menu. No food was served in the bar. By the time we finished our drinks and heard the song I had requested, one of us was more than a little tipsy. Carrie walked and I staggered into the restaurant, we both ordered shrimp entrees that were heavenly - and we each had another Hurricane. I heard earlier in the day that they are called "hurricanes" because, after you drink one, you feel as if you brain has been in a hurricane. That would be a "no shit, Sherlock" situation. We had a great time. Poor Carrie had to steer me back to our room. Boy, they were good!