Spring Break: The Trek

Today, I woke up at 7:30 to eat breakfast at eight because we needed to do our tour thing at ten something. So, I got up and dressed and straightened my hair and such, and then went downstairs to eat. Edwina and Jon had set up the table for our breakfast, I had cereal, Special K, to be exact, and also, a croissant. And also some orange juice and some coffee. Yum. After breakfast with our other Bed and Breakfast-ers from Alaska, we all walked with Jo^hn^(?) to the trolley place so we could go to New Orleans. We waited a few minutes for our trolley since we just missed the one that was there when we walked up, it's okay though, because they circulate enough trolleys to have all the stops visited once every five minutes. I would know, Jon printed out a sheet of all the trolley stops for me, along with a map of the French Quarter, where we would be spending our day.

So, as soon as our trolley came up, Jon left and we boarded, and I paid five dollars for the four of us (because it's $1.25 a person) and we all sat down. Turns out we got the trolley in training because, well, our trolley driver was in training. The man in the purple shirt who instructed him seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this particular morning, because he was the least happy camper I had seen yet. Our History Tour started at 10:00 in the back of a voodoo shop between Royal Street and Bourbon Street... Where were on the trolley at ten o'clock. We got off the trolley at ten o'three -ish. And we still had about seven blocks to go. But it was A-okay, because the family of Jereality is well versed in the forced march. We got to the back of that voodoo shop at around 10:07 ish to see a crazy woman (CW) dressed all in black, except for her shirt which had only the white words 'Haunted History Tours' (which is the tour we were on) handing out stickers to designate tour-goers. Yay! We got our stickers! I still have mine, by the way... mmhmm.

CW took us down a few streets in the French Quarter, explaining why the deceased needed to be burried above ground rather than underground. It's because of the water... See, if they were careful, a couple months later 'aunt marie' would come floating on by the dinner table, and 'while in life her conversation was riveting, now, it's kind of lacking...' (That's what CW said, I thought it was quite funny)

Then I saw a 'lady of the night', but if we had to ask, it was a man... That's what CW said. They (New Orlean-ers) have a thing called the Blotter, or something and one of them is "If you have to ask, it's a man." So, I saw a 'la-man of the night' and took a clandestine picture, good times. Silliness.

After that, we went to the St. Louis Cemetery One. There, we saw that people were 'buried' (for lack of a better word) in wall tombs. [because I can't say entombed and tombs in the same sentence, it's just awkward] They were neat looking. Entire families were entombed in the wall...tombs. They place the deceased in a coffin and put the coffin in the tomb for a year and a day out of respect for the dead and also legal reasons because you can't sue them if the person wasn't really dead if it was a day after a year [I think that was it]... I don't remember... Anyway, after we went through the whole cemetery, we were finished with the tour.

We followed our tour guide to some free food behind the St. Louis Cathedral to which Sibling turned her nose up to... Which was understandable because it looked as if the food had been sitting out for quite a while. So, our group of four turned tail and moved to the front of the cathedral, looking around and walking around the french quarter for something to eat. Finally, we got to a place called Muriel's. It's in Jackson square, a lovely open air bistro... I had a seafood au gratin... It was delicious. After we ate, we all walked around the French Quarter for a very long time. Sibling bought a piece of art work, then I bought a third and mom bought 2 thirds of a piece of art work... and there was a man dressed and painted all in silver who sounded like a robot...

Eventually, we wound up at Cafe du Monde, a very, very busy cafe that is famous for its beignets - a square, hot, french doughnut covered in mounds of powdered sugar. They're delicious. By the time we were eating our beignets, however, the group was tired of itself, and we all just needed a rest... We had been walking around looking at various museum-esque things. We went through a Zulu museum, and we went through an 1850's house - which is exactly what it sounds like, and then we went through a history of New Orleans type of museum, which gave the history of New Orleans... It was lots of fun... Mostly, we people watched through the large windows... We excel at people watching. If I posted pictures of actual people, I'd show you... but I don't, because that kind of creeps me out... Anyway...

After we ate at Cafe du Monde, we went and relaxed in the park in the French Quarter, Sibling laid on the ground like a crazy person... Mother laid on the bench, then Liz laid on the ground, and I sat on the bench. Because I'm alert, and looking out for people who want to take our stuff. Our visit was cut short, however, because some man closed the park... So then we went to the St. Louis Cathedral and played cards on the step... It was lots of fun, and then we went on our Vampire Tour!

I can't do the tour justice, I can just tell you that it was awesome! If you click on 'Vampire Tour' it will take you somewhere else that described what I did... Except I don't know who their tour guide was... Our Vampire.... tour guide was Tony, that was his real name, so when you all go to New Orleans, you can go and request him. He was really quite entertaining. I had an amazing time... Except the part where at the Zodiac/Axeman/Tony's Favorite House my right contact decided dry out and make my eye itch and fall out. It was awesome... I listened to wonderful Tony speak about the most amazing things... with blurred vision. Awesome.

And then the tour was over around... I don't remember, ten-thirty? Mother had the map, she said we should go straight, Liz asked to see the map, she agreed, led the way. I should have looked at the map. We wound up walking for a good half hour, forty minutes... in the wrong direction, me with blurred vision... I was less than pleased. Eventually, we turned around and walked back toward the French Quarter.. but the damage was done, and Mother was annoyed so we wound up taking a cab back to the bed and breakfast... Ah, good times...


Quote:

While Playing Cards on the steps of the Cathedral. A large group walks past, we needed to know which tour it was...

Sibling: Excuse me. Which tour is that? Excuse me? Hello? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

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In the beginning of the Vampire Tour, gauging our knowledge of vampire's, Tony asked us if we knew the ways to finish off a vampire. The first three steps were called out.
Tony: I'll be really impressed if anyone knows step four
-silence-
Me: -whispers to Liz- It's water...
-silence-
Liz: Say it
Tony: Anyone?
Me: Water. Sprinkle the ashes in fast moving water...
Tony...the Vampire: -stares- I'm going to be...over here