Saturday 2/25
The plan for this day was to allow everyone (chaperones included) to sleep in and then pick up something at a small farmer's market that was on the way to the World War II museum. But the male chaperones decided that they absolutely MUST have a big breakfast and that they would be leaving the hotel at 8 am to go get the early bird breakfast at Daisy Dukes, a bit of a hole-in-the-wall type place around the corner from the hotel. We (the other chaperones) were invited to join if we wanted, but the kids were not aware of this plan. We ladies decided that we'd wait to see if we felt like going in the morning and set the alarm for 7:30. This is important because the overly loud hotel phone rang at 7:07 that morning with the boys reminding us of breakfast plans. Thanks boys. We all decided to join them since we were now wide awake and away we went to go enjoy some real breakfast.
The early bird breakfast consists of 2 eggs, choice of meat (bacon, sausage, or ham), choice of hash browns or grits (ew), and choice of biscuits or toast, all for $3.99. Not bad. I got scrambled eggs with bacon, hash browns, and a biscuit. It was all fine - not super exciting, but satisfying nonetheless. I was disappointed that they didn't have hot chocolate or apple juice. That just seems like normal breakfast beverage offerings, but I survived with water. All 6 of us got the special, so it wasn't a particularly large bill...
We made it back to the hotel before any of the students emerged from their rooms - success! At about 10 AM, the whole group made its way to the farmers market to poke around for awhile. We bought (or shared) some baked goods from one guy - there was this delicious thing called an ooey gooey. I couldn't tell you what was in it, only that it was really really good. I split a chocolate oatmeal walnut cookie with another chaperone. That was good. While we were getting our baked goods, the kids came to tell us that some random guy was buying them candy. Deciding that we should possibly investigate what was going on, Mario discovered that the man in question was actually the owner of the lot who found out from the kids why they were in NOLA. He bought homemade pralines for the whole group, a very nice gesture. He also bought tamales for Mario and Dave. As we continued our wandering around the market, we came upon lots of fresh fruit. I got some excellent strawberries to share with everyone. And then we came to the pesto guy. He had all these samples of pesto to try. Holy crap, they were good. Steph 1 and Rebecca picked up a couple different flavors (hello Habitat discount!!) and it was then on to the cheese guy. He was selling homemade cheese. After much deliberation (and taste testing), we settled on a goat cheese and a harder cow-goat cheese mix. Lunch after the museum was going to be good.
It was also at this point that my exhaustion began to take its toll. For example, Steph 2 tied my shoe for me because I was about to tip over. I pretty much brought up the rear of the group as we made our way to the museum. It was also at this point that I discovered that my camera was missing. This put me in an overly cranky mood since I thought it was stolen (I did discover it in the hotel room later that night. Phew). We went on the museum tour (it was fine), and then decided it was time for lunch. At 3:00. The pesto and cheese needed bread and meats, so we made the lengthy walk to the grocery store. I was really dragging at this point and the whole group was way ahead of me on what felt like a power walk to the store.
The store itself was a bit of a upscale grocery store - not quite Whole Foods, but excellent deli, cheese, pastry, bakery, etc. departments. We got a selection of salamis and hams (after the deli lady gave us all samples), crusty breads, grapes, and olives. I was under the impression we were going to take our picnic with us to eat somewhere else (the park perhaps?) but apparently we were eating it at the little dining area in the store. I guess this was decided among everyone else as I was walking behind the group.
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| Perfect picnic lunch |
We went on a trolley ride after our late lunch. We met some, um, very unique individuals who were riding with us, including one woman whose orange daquiri spilled everywhere. In her VERY drunk state, she was quite concerned with cleaning it up by containing the spill with her shoe. She was unsuccessful. She and her husband eventually got off so they could purchase more drinks before continuing their ride. Priorities people! We took the trolley to the end of the line - the big city park. That was an awesome and unexpected find. It would have been the perfect place to have our picnic. We took the trolley to the cemeteries (which were sadly closed already) and then back into the city to go to VooDoo BBQ for a later dinner.
Last year, Dave and I took a small group to VooDoo and had an excellent experience, so we decided to take everyone this year. It didn't disappoint. The pulled pork sandwich was excellent. I just got a sandwich and drink and regret not getting the sides. I tried the sweet potato souffle (sooooo good) and macaroni and cheese (mmm, cheesy!). Mario ordered a couple sides of loaded fries for the chaperone table. It was an amusing sight with all of us eating and watching the UConn basketball game on the television. Fully fed and stuffed, we made our way back to the hotel.
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| Good barbeque and basketball |
Sunday 2/26
We returned to Daisy Dukes for breakfast, this time with everyone. I had the same thing as the day before. The only change today was that the hash browns weren't particularly warm. Other than that, another filling breakfast.
After breakfast, we made our way down Bourbon Street. You can't go to New Orleans and skip Bourbon Street, but with a school group, we took them down at 9:30 am on the way to church. Hee. Fortunately, they didn't seem to really notice the pictures of scantily clad women in compromising positions covering the windows of the local establishments. We then went on a tour of the St. Louis Cathedral and sat through Mass (not really my thing, but I digress...).
After church, the kids were given an hour of free reign in a large flea/farmers market. While they shopped, the chaperones had a sit down lunch at the Market Cafe. We got a lot of food. A few of us ordered jambalaya. It was excellent. The boys ordered muffaletta (a gigantic sandwich, as big as the plate it was served on) and big bowls of gumbo. The muffaletta was so large that for once, they gave us some of their food. Someone else had the crawfish etoufee and said that was quite good. After that meal, we were stuffed. That didn't stop us from peaking into the chocolate shop right next door. Rebecca treated us to chocolate covered Ritz cracker and peanut butter sandwiches. It was 2 inches of gooey peanut butter. Heavenly!!
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| Muffuletta and gumbo! |
And since it was our last night, we needed one final trip to Cafe du Monde. I could really use a beignet right about now...
Monday 2/27
Travel day home, so nothing special. We brought our left over food to the airport (mini bagels, fruit, goldfish, granola bars) and had a little picnic in the boarding area.
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| Airport picnic |
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