for cafe au lait and beignets. We didn't give it much thought as we left the RV, but the kids were wearing clothes that were too dark to mask the amount of powdered sugar which coated them after eating. Luckily there was no line and we were able to walk right in and get two tables. We enjoyed our breakfast and then wandered through the French Quarter. We did a little window shopping and Alastair tried on a lot of hats, trying to find the right one.
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| Danielle letting the kids touch the prehistoric fossilized dinosaur egg |
Adelaide looked through the window of an antique store, M.S. Rau Antiques, so we walked in and started looking around. We got the reverse of the treatment received by Oprah Winfrey when she went purse shopping abroad. We were greated by Danielle, one of the sales associates, who spent at least an hour walking us through the store, giving us our own private tour. At one point Alastair asked if we were in a museum or a store. Danielle would describe the artwork and antiques and display everything for the children. At one point she even fired up the Violano Virtuoso by the Mills Novelty Company. The kids, upon seeing the 19th century Swiss gold bird box, decided that we should buy it for great-grandma Wilma. While it was beautiful, out budget did not allow the purchase. When Jll asked about fountain pens and we were shown a $550,000 pen, encrusted with jewels, I knew it was time of leave. It was hard to walk away from the original Thomas Chippendale desk, which I would have had shipped back to the office if I had had $350,000 in my wallet.
Our tour continued, carefully, for a few blocks down Bourbon Street and we ended up at the Court of Two Sisters for it's jazz brunch. We sat inside, which turned out to be a good choice once it started sprinkling a little bit. The kids wanted to get up and dance as we had done after dinner last night and we had to explain that these were two very different restaurants.
When we got back to the car after lunch we decided stopped by Meyer the Hatter's store to get Alastair his hat. This turned into a hat shopping adventure for everyone but me and Jll. This detour behind us, we went to try to view some of the parts of New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina. On our way to the Lower Ninth Ward and Lakeview it began to rain so hard that the storm sewer couldn't keep up and the pools through which we were driving we're getting deeper and deeper. Before the van stalled out we decided to head for higher ground and go the other way. With no rain contingency plan, we spent the next couple of hours visiting numerous RV dealerships, marine parts stores, and auto parts stores looking for a replacement lens for the side marker for the tail light of our car dolly, which did not show up in New Orleans with us. We were ultimately not able to find it, and I had to order one online and have it shipped ahead of us of to Texas.We returned to the RV and got cleaned up while Adelaide made dinner. We cleaned that up and had a quiet night in playing Rummikub. Adelaide schooled us all twice, so we called it a night. Unfortunately it is no longer quiet as the dog in the RV next to us is barking loudly. Hopefully he will quiet down so we can get some sleep.
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