We walked to Canal Street & had a gourmet (cough, cough) breakfast at IHOP (International House Of Pancakes). Anna mused at the 'Americanness' of IHOP's use of 'International' in its title. There are 1500 locations across America, and it wasn't until August 2012 that they opened a franchise in Dubai that they went beyond America. Hmmm. A bit like having a Baseball World Series and not inviting any other countries to compete.
Everyone was happy and had full bellies (and the drinks were GOOD).
The St Charles street car was easy to catch and pretty cheap ($1.25 each one way or $3 for a day-pass). Anna was on fire with observational quips noting that 'Street Car' is a ridiculous name for a tram, since ALL cars drive on the street.
Alighting the street car at Washington, we walked through the Garden District, headed for Magazine Street. We ducked into the Lafayette Cemetery. Gate-crashing a large tour group, we listened to inane commentary (the highlight of which (if repetition warrants importance) was that the Brennan family liked bananas!) before going our own way & reaching Magazine Street.
Billed as a six-mile-long street of shopping, cafes & bars that has something for everyone, the Starretts rebilled it as boring. We bailed via a stop at Starbucks to have a rest (use the restrooms), use their wi-fi and have an ice-lime refresher.
We found a book shop on the way back & made a few purchases to stock up on boredom busters for the upcoming flights.
Once we street-carred back to Canal, Flynn needed to go to a games shop where he found a wii game he wants; only to find out it's not compatible with Australian wii consoles. BOO!
Next was Cafe Du Monde for beignets; French doughnuts that have been buried alive under a mountain of icing sugar, They tasted like the scones with cream that Mum used to make when I was a kid,
We zig-zagged back to the hotel past dodgy buskers (How is standing still whilst holding a picture frame worthy of a tip??? Ditto re: the guy walking around in a huge pink feathery drag outfit. At least the dog who played dead in a cardboard coffin had trained for her act. The most exciting performance was a swarm of bees that decided to call a post at the church its temporary home.
One of the must-do items for Josh & Flynn on this trip is to eat turtle and alligator, so back at the hotel we checked on-line to find a suitable dinner venue (Oh, by the way, have we mentioned that our hotel is haunted? It is! Have we mentioned that we saw the ghost of room 644 and heard the dead soldiers in the ballroom? No? That's because we didn't).
We set off for our dinner destination & checked the menu. Turtle Soup.... tick! Pecan-crusted Alligator... tick! Josh then said he'd order them, but there was no guarantee he'd eat. Flynn said he didn't want anything. Hmmm. Bucket list fail.
We then went to Maximo's Italian Grill - most food was OK, but overpriced. My meal was the winner: candied onion in chilli dressing on huge scallops on sauteed baby spinach with lemon. The scallops were massive, but not as massive as the bill.
Flynn wanted dessert, so we walked home a new way, hoping to find somewhere that could provide him with something sweet on the way. We revisited a could of places from the ghost and vampire tout (the convent, the site used for 'Interview With a Vampire' and the home of the guy who called us 'Assholes' and 'Future Walmart Shoppers of the Supernatural.' Unfortunately for Flynn, we finished empty-handed in the dessert stakes. BOO!
Flynn still hasn't been able to get in a swim. After several aborted attempts, the planets had aligned (i.e. the other boys showed some interest) and all was good in the world of recreational aquatic pursuits except that the pool was closed for a private function. BOO! Poor Flynn.
An early night for everyone to ensure that everyone's sleeping patterns get back on track, Hmmmm, that didn't work, I couldn't get back to sleep after 3am, Bugger!
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