Post Cruise - New Orleans

I realize now that no sane person visits New Orleans in the middle of summer, especially in the middle of a heat wave. But beggars can't be choosers, and my motto is to take advantage of your location, regardless of the conditions. You never know when you'll have the opportunity again. Judging from the crowds, there were a lot of "crazy" people like me hanging out in the French Quarter, even with the oppressive heat and humidity.

Like 96 degrees F and heat indices in the 100s.

After our cruise, we booked a night's stay in New Orleans. I had visions of a nice dinner, maybe even in a celebrity chef's restaurant, some beignets with coffee and lovely sightseeing of the Big Easy.

Well, we had a nice lunch in Mulate's a Cajun restaurant by the riverfront:




The kids had their first taste of fried crawfish tails and alligator meat. I enjoyed the oysters and we all love the Cajun seasoning on everything.

We made it to Cafe du Monde, although the kids weren't happy about walking in the heat and humidity. We sat outside and ordered our first round before moving inside where there is air conditioning. This made things more bearable for Erica.




Even with our bellies full, the next hour or so of walking around the French Quarter was too much for the kids to tolerate. They shuffled their feet, complained about the heat and didn't really see the point of us being there. They didn't see the architecture around them:


Or the wonderful Saint Louis Cathedral overlooking Jackson Square:


Then it started to rain. Hard.


The rain wasn't going to let up, so we hailed a cab back to the hotel and called it a day. Dinner never happened, but after a week of endless food on the cruise, that was probably a good thing. Sometimes, best laid plans don't pan out 100%, but I'm OK with 1 out of 3.