–Saturday, 1-28-2006
Our class at Tulane went really well. Leo was out with me until 5am the night before though, so we were both a little impaired by lack of sleep and post-night-out fogginess. This class was an hour and a half instead of an hour, so it was nice, too, to not feel rushed and have to cut things short.
After the classes were over, we changed back at our apartment and went to Angelie’s (same place we had dinner a couple of nights ago) for lunch. I got a crazy-good spinach, mozzarella, artichoke, chicken, feta, garlic spread and yum sandwich. I name the ingredients, simply so that I can remember them to re-create it later. After lunch we headed out to a few boutiques, before splitting up to run some errands. I finally found a shop that carried the items I wanted to buy for my mom and my sister, and also bought some touristy stuff before I headed home.
When I got here, Becca and I laid around indiscriminately doing nothing, and generally being listless. Renee invited us in to watch TV and chill in her room. I fell RIGHT asleep and proceeded to take a four to five hour nap.
I was awakened by Renee, who, at 8:30 was asked by Stuart, the man who owns the house we’re staying in, to have us all come up and join us for dinner. I woke up really groggy and tired, and quite confused as to what was going on. Nonetheless, I went upstairs (in my PJ’s, no less,) and watched Stuart make us the most AMAZING stir-fry. We joined him in his dining room for the meal, and afterwards had aperitifs with him on his balcony that overlooks the street, in typical New Orleans style. I had chambord, Straga (I think it was called,) and so much fun… we continued talking and hanging out with him in his sitting room once we were rained off the deck. He is such an interesting and fun guy. I hope to be able to write to him to thank him for all his generosity and kindness while we’ve been here.
After our dinner, drinks, and conversation, Crystal and David and a friend they know from the area showed up to hang out for a bit. We toured Stuart’s house again, and talked a bit more before I excused myself to go make some phone calls. Becca and I eventually got ready to go out for the night in the midst of trying to pack all of our stuff. For some reason, it seemed like my bag exploded in New Orleans, so packing was more of an ordeal than normal. Also, I feel like perhaps my stuff expanded a bit here, because I went from having extra room to having no room at all, and even an extra store bag left to try and work in later. For now it’s okay because we have a tour bus to get to Lafayette, our next stop, but when we have to keep our bags to a 50-pound limit on three more flights… we might have problems. Hmmm… perhaps I should have limited my gift and souvenir shopping just a tid bit more.
Allen Moon showed up to retrieve Becca and I, and we went to meet Benji, Ed and Nick, (a former and founding member of Diavolo,) at a bar on Frenchman’s Street (apparently, more of a local’s place to hang out.) We went in and out of a few bars in that area before heading all the way back to Bourbon to LaFitte’s. We ended the night with Becca and I getting a chance to walk the length of Bourbon when it’s at its busiest, at 2am on a Saturday night. It was much like I expected: kind of like a big frat party and Vegas mixed together. We had some of our boys walk us home, and Becca and I finished packing – which was now even more confused and tiresome of an effort because at this point I was drunk – before we settled in for the night. Tomorrow we have to be up to be picked up by the bus at about 10:30am, but I hope to be up much earlier to seek out a coffee shop (CC’s is closed Sundays,) in order to check my email, take care of some bills, and post this entry…