New Orleans

New Orleans

I love this town, but it is CRAZY! David and I left the kids with Gram and Papa Leo, they were going to another parade in their town, so we headed to NO for lunch, David had been wanting to try a place called Serio's, that's known for their Muffuletta's. So, after we drove around, first looking for a public bathroom, then trying to find a parking spot (and paying $20 for one, ouch) we finally headed towards Serio's, only to find out it is ON the parade route, which is currently, wildly underway. We stopped and watched a few minutes, before David's hunger led us on. We found Serio's and their super ridiculously priced Muff's, which I think were jacked up for the weekend, and David was in heaven. I am not a Muffuletta Afficianado like him, so I had a roast beef sub, which was also pricey. But David's sandwich, he got a half, was HUGE. We ate quickly because the place got extremely packed as the parade ended. We watched a woman come in with a head wound bleeding all over the place, that was my cue to get out, I don't handly blood well, especially while eating.

Then, we looked around for the bathroom, after realizing how scarse they are at this time. It was upstairs, literally there was a sign on the door that said $2.00 a shot or $10.00 for the day, one shot for paying customers, so we showed our receipt and got past the "bouncer" to the upstairs warehouse looking bathroom staging area. There of course, was a line of about a hundred for the women's, none for the men, so David had to wait a while for me. Then, I realize that there are no stall doors in the bathroom, so when it comes my turn, and that of a stranger, who had one too many alcoholic beverages, she didn't hesitate to use the facilities while I experienced a bit of performance anxiety. It was quite the experience, and not one I want to repeat any time soon!

Then we decided to walk over to Cafe Du Monde, you can't go to NO and not go there, right? On the way we stopped in Jackson Square and watched some street performers that are simply incredible. This is one of my favorite things about this city, just watching the people on the street. We sat and watched them do their thing, lots of break dancing type stunts, and I got a lot of video that hopefully I will post soon. So we had our beignets and Cafe au Lait, bypassed the two hundred person line for the bathroom, and headed back to find the car. Only problem is, neither one of us remembered where we parked it!

So as darkness falls, we're surrounded by ever increasing weirdness. We find ourselves in the heart of the French Quarter, where one couple has their shirts painted one (and I mean that literally) and one man is all in gold doing an Indiana Jones impersonation, one man is dressed like Borat, in the lime green over-the-shoulder bikini, and nothing else but Mardi Gras beads. It was quite entertaining. I kept seeing signs that said "You're going to hell!" and I was like, "NO! I just want to find our car! I'm not bad, I promise!"

We did finally make it to the car, only to find a bus parked in front of us so we had to wait for the bus driver to come "move that bus!" and we finally got out of New Orleans, just a little bit later than we had planned, but it did made for an interesting day.