Thursday morning was breakfast at Cafe du Monde, a cafe that serves two things as far as we can tell: beignets and cafe au lait. Good enough.
One is supposed to engage in powdered sugar battles, blowing sugar on your companions. My eating companions were not sports, and threatened non-playful consequences were I to engage in this New Orleans tradition. So I just ate mine.
The cathedral of St. Louis in the central square of town. I love this picture - it looks like a postcard or a painting.
Me, riverside.
Heavy artillery.
The Superdome - it really is gigantic!
But I can't imagine thousands of people stuck there as refugees after Hurricane Katrina.
A bus trip to the Lower 9th Ward to see the old and the new. This is the old.
And this is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's "Make It Right" project, building new eco-friendly homes.
And this would be my new hangout if I lived in New Orleans. Always open.
Now this was truly great - a swamp tour on an airboat. Chicago people came along with us for the three hour tour.
This was our tour guide / captain. I have no idea what his name was. Between is 5 teeth and his bayou accent, it was indecipherable.
The cemetery was an ominous start to the tour.
Them fans in back is LOUD so the headphones helped some.
And it looks just like Pirates of the Caribbean.
Alligator spotted, coming at us
Interesting fact, the distance (in inches) from the tip of the nose to the eyes is almost exactly the distance (in feet) from tip to tail.
Alligators hunting their natural prey: the mighty marshmallow.
Crazy man feeds them by hand. But he did have all his fingers at the start of the tour, so I guess he knows what he's doing. Or it was his first day on the job...
Then he brought out his baby Elvis from the back of the boat, scaring the hell out of the little towheaded Texas boy who was sat behind me.
Amy hands it off to me - incorrectly, I might add - causing it to wiggle and move in ways it shouldn't do when pointed right at your face.
Here I have Elvis back under control.
Little Tow-headed kid's dad tries to make little Tow-headed kid hold Elvis. Little Tow-headed kid refuses.
He does, however, touch the very very tip of Elvis's tail.
Headed back to the dock to take the but back to the hotel.
My last night in town, I bid farewell to my colleagues and went back to St. Anne's to drink with my peeps. I gave Greg a call to see if he was up for a drink, and he met me out at Good Friends Bar.
Posing downstairs at The Pub. Our picture was taken by a local "celebrity" called Chad or Chaz or something. He claimed to be the owner's son and was shocked that I didn't know who he was.
I didn't know who Chris was, either, but he was so frigging cute that I made a point to find out. He was a bartender at Lafitte's In Exile, and invited me to join him for a drink at the Phoenix after he got off work - at 6AM which I had to (sadly) decline.
Drunk college fratboys engage in a bare chest contest at Oz.
Greg and I observe the half-naked sexiness.
Here they are, strutting their stuff. I voted for the blond twink (duh)
And by blond twink, I mean the one standing to the right, thought the one pumping his pecs in the pic isn't a bad runner up.
This one almost made it a topless and bottomless event, started taking his jeans off cuz it "helped him do pushups better."
And I ended the night with a final swallow and a long walk alone back to the hotel. I would leave this fair city the next day, but filled with happy memories of good times and good drinks.
