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| My mint julep. |
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| Our drinks. |
Tricia Anne was driving, so no drinks for her. I asked the server what a good NO dish would be and ordered the recommended seafood dish. Imagine my surprise, okay, disgust when I pulled a creature out of my dinner! It was an octopus, gross. Tricia Anne ate it, but we were grossed out by the idea of it, and yes the sight, that we couldn't even watch her. It was like being in an episode of fear factor!
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| Creature in my dinner. YUCK! |
I love to read, a lot, and I've read a lot of novels and even some historical books, that mention downtown New Orleans. I really enjoyed seeing all the balconies, the side streets and alleys and the slim shutters that people could slip behind in the dark. It brought the pages of the books I've read to life.
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| Beads hanging on the power lines. |
Tricia Anne was a great tour guide, being a "native" NO resident. As we sat at a red light, waiting for a police officer (in a car) to go by (on a green), she goes left through the red light. Being the back seat driver that I am, I alerted her to her mistake. "That's a red light!" She's pretty chill and responded, "Oh he (indicating the cop that just went by) doesn't care about us". What? Apparently, pretty much anything goes in NO. YIKES.
She let us out on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets in the French Quarter, telling us we could catch a streetcar part of the way back to our hotel and a taxi the remaining way, if we opted not to walk it. The French Quarter was very lively, vendors, tourists like us, party goers, vehicles, and again, lots of law enforcement interacting with the public. Not in a negative way, just talking, making sure folks were safe.
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| July 3rd, 2014 Bourbon St., New Orleans |
The first street vendor I saw on Bourbon was selling marijuana necklaces, with what looked like (from the novels I've read, ha ha, this is my blog, I can make up whatever I want), real leaves on it. He tried to convince me how much I needed one, but I used my motorcycle as an excuse, saying I didn't have enough room to carry it.
We were excited to be part of the festivities. We walked down Bourbon noting all the lights, people, noise, and enjoyed the experience. Janet can't walk as fast or as far, since she just had back surgery March 18th, so we parked her on a bench to people watch. We left her at an outdoor cafe that had 3 statues of jazz musicians. We ventured off to see what was going on. We noticed lots of ladies with fishbowls full of adult beverages. We asked where they got them and how much they were. They were $10 so we got in line. After waiting about 15 minutes, with 6 girls in front of us to the counter, they announced they only had 2 fishbowls left. Damn, we were out of luck.
We walked away hoping to find another vendor with the same offer...but no such luck. We did see some interesting sights though.
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| Almost to the front of the line. |
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| Voodoo items and shops aren't as scary when all the items are "Made in China", LOL. |
Tricia got her picture taken with Silver Man....he tried talking to me, but his accent was so "something", I couldn't understand him at all. So I did the "smile, nod and escape as fast as possible" maneuver.
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| Tricia and Silver Man |
The French Quarter, with all those people, drinking and doing who knows what, and where, doesn't exactly smell pristine. I cautioned Janet, walking with her canes, not to put them in the suspicious liquid to the side of the streets. From the overpowering smell, I was pretty sure it was urine.
We headed back to check on Janet, and lo and behold, our fishbowl shop had a fresh new batch ready.
We were at the counter before the crowd realized they were back in business and we bought our fishbowls. Yay, score! As we turned to leave, the crowd waiting in line behind us was already well into the street.
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| Look, I got a fishbowl! |
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| 64 ounces. Vendor warned us not to trust the strap, "It'll be better in you than on you!" Sounded like the voice of experience there. |
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| Being the magpie I am, drawn to shiny things, I loved this balcony. |
Janet was hoping for a traditional NO funeral while we were in town, but since it was the July 4th weekend, we had to settle for a picture of this sign instead (which was fine with me). Janet did clarify that although she wanted to see the procession, she was not wishing anyone meet their maker.
Janet really enjoyed her people watching, until 2 girls in high heels and short dresses approached the jazz statues and began performing lewd acts. We laughed when she told us what she'd seen, but it really only emphasized what Tricia Anne had told us before, "Anything goes here!"
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| Janet got her beads, don't even ask how. But then she broke them. Again, don't ask. |
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| We kept Janet out of jail, barely. LOL |
We caught a street car back to Harrah's Casino and then a taxi the rest of the way to our hotel. What a great night!
OMG Did you have to tell about the beads??
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