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More New Orleans tales

Okay, first I have to say that per Lisa's request, I have changed one of the "what I'm thankful for's" from That "I" wasn't shot in NOLA to that "We" weren't shot in NOLA. Lisa pointed out that I should have been thankful neither of us were the murder victim as that would have really put a damper on my trip if she had been killed!

So here are some more NOLA tales...

On Saturday night we looked and looked for some good music (our favorite piano bar didn't survive post-Katrina). We went from place to place, but never found any that was great. We wondered all the way down to the end of Bourbon St. (at Canal) and there was a brass band of at least a dozen members playing in the street. They looked like a high school band and let me tell you they were FANTASTIC! They had a huge crowd gathered around them and a bunch of people dancing in the street. It was great fun and definitely worth the price of the trip alone!

Also on Saturday night, as we walked down Bourbon Street, we saw a three legged dog, a miniature horse and a drunk woman wearing a dog collar being led by a leash...ALL WITHIN ONE BLOCK. Now that is what you call one freaky block! Sunday we encountered a guy from Scotland wearing a kilt. It was really quite daring, as it was very breezy that night. I told Lisa that it was such a shame we hadn't seem him on Saturday night on the freak block. I told her that I might just embellish the story and add him to the block story, but alas, I think the block was freaky enough without adding Braveheart to it!

Finally, like that wasn't enough action for Saturday night, there was a murder on Dauphine. You should have seen the look on Lisa's and my face when we heard that on the news. You see, our hotel was the Dauphine Orleans and which street is that located on, that's right Dauphine! Since returning back home, we have seen an article where they caught two of the kids (15 yrs old) who are responsible. They had sketches that were made that helped identify the kids. I told Lisa tonight, "You know, I swear I remember seeing those kids on Saturday night," to which she replied "I thought so too, but thought I would sound crazy for saying it!" I do swear that I remember seeing those kids because I thought they looked way too young to be down on Bourbon and way too gang-bangy to be there!

There is just something about being without a hotel room that makes you feel homeless and despondent. Every time I think it is a good idea to book a return flight late in the evening so that we get an extra day, it ends up being kind of a crappy day. This trip was really no different. Aside from being homeless after noon on Monday, other things didn't really work out our way either. We had planned to visit two historical homes in the Quarter and also the Ursuline convent (oldest building in the Mississippi Valley). Well wouldn't you know but the homes were closed because of MLK day (but didn't have that info posted anywhere!). So our day was kind of screwed up. We walked and walked until my ankle was about to crash. We finally decided to go see an IMAX movie at the Aquarium. We used my fairy godmother (iphone) to find out what movie was showing when. We settled on the 3:00 viewing of Hurricane on the Bayou. It was really good and discussed the impact of the diminished wetlands and how they cause the hurricanes to be more severe in NOLA.

We went back to the hotel to get our bags on Monday after eating an early dinner at K-Paul's. I went to the bathroom while Lisa handing the valet the tickets for the luggage. Just as I was coming out of the bathroom, Lisa said "Watch my stuff" and headed to the bathroom. About that time, the valet came up to me and said "Your cab is here and I'm loading your bags". I said "Hold off on these pink ones (mine of course) because I need to find something." I dug around for my car keys so that I had them when we landed in Dallas and also looked for our boarding passes we printed out on Sunday night. Then I gave him my bags to load. Lisa came out and said "where are my bags?" to which the valet and I replied "in the cab". We had the zaniest cab driver, Marco, aka: Dr. Love, who never shut up the whole way. We got out at the airport and he opened the trunk, only to reveal my two bags. I give Lisa lots of credit because she didn't loose it near as much as I would have expected. I got on the fairy godmother (again, my iphone) and called the hotel, spoke to the valet, told him to get the bags on a taxi ASAP and get them here. After several conversations, the bags were put in a cab and sent to the airport. We got them within 30 minutes and the hotel picked up the tab (after we told them they were going to, of course). You see the problem was, when the valet checked our 4 bags on Monday morning, they gave us only two claim tickets. He pulled my bags, saw one of the numbers and assumed the the carry-on hooked over the handle must be the second bag! Note to all travelers, never get into a cab unless you actually see your bags in the trunk!

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