Mr. Peabody Pembroke Gets Fresh in New Orleans!
Welcome to our last day in the Big Easy City! It’s a full
one!
First stop: Starbucks for a mug! I took the street car into
town this time to save my achy little feet (that was a lot of walking the day
before!) and to save time as well.
The mission was complete! The Starbucks in
the Sheraton was open and had plenty of New Orleans mugs! Got it. Walked back
to the street car (did you know the New Orleans street cars are some of the
oldest in the country?), and got back to the B&B before breakfast even
started!
Again, breakfast was delightful. Good food, good coffee, and
a beautiful setting are all I need to be delighted! Stan and the boys texted me
that they were on their way to pick me up for church, so I waited outside on
the front porch. Oh, so nice to have a front porch!
They picked me up and took me to church with them, and the
church was so nice! Everyone was very friendly, and the worship service was
enthusiastic, despite there not being a ton of people there. They even asked us
to stay for lunch, but they already had lunch reservations, which they let me
crash, because they’re such nice guys!
We went to the Palace Café on Canal
Street for brunch, where I had the best blue crab omelet, maybe ever! One of
the boys has a friend who lives in New Orleans, so she joined us for lunch as
well. Her daughter goes to Georgetown University, so I gave her my card and
said to let me know the next time she goes to DC!
After lunch, the boys and I parted ways. They had some music
to find, and I had some museums to see!
Well, I did until I realized that most of the museums on my
list are closed on Sundays and Mondays. Bummer! Plan B… Back to the French
Quarter! Thank goodness for Trip Advisor. I was able to look up the museums I
wanted to go to and see if they were open or not! So I have a lot of things to
come back to New Orleans for, and I’ll do better about planning my events!
Anyway, I made my way back to Jackson Square to see a few
things I’d missed before. And wouldn’t you know… One of those museums was
closed for renovations! So I walked a couple of yards down the sidewalk and who
did I see? Amanda, Tracey, and Bill! They were talking to some people from
Bill’s conference, waiting to go into one of the history museums. Since so many
others were closed, I ended up going into that museum with them. And lucky for
me, there was a whole exhibit on Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans!
Such fun.
We stayed until the museum closed at 4:30, then spent some
time enjoying New Orleans the way New Orleans is meant to be enjoyed—through
music and art! We listened to musicians, watched people dance, looked at art, and strolled through a bookstore (where William Faulkner used to live!).
Just around the corner, there were more musicians and lots of people sitting around listening. There was even a modern-day wordsmith writing poems for donations. So I paid $5 to write a poem for my Love. All I needed to do was
give him a topic (traveling with the one you love) and a donation, and he wrote
up a sweet poem for me!
Time to get ready for dinner! I was set with what I was
wearing, but the others needed to change. We would be dining at the Commander’s
Palace that evening, a place that still enforces a dress code, requires a
reservation, and is consistently rated the #1 restaurant in New Orleans!
We arrived at the restaurant a little before 7:00, and
instantly I could see why this place is so highly rated. It’s decorated to the
nines, staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and it was truly one of those fine
dining experiences they say you “must” have in a lifetime! We sat down to a
meticulously set table in the middle of one of their (many) rooms, and the
evening truly began!
First course, foie gras. It was my first time having it, and
I’m still not entirely sure what all was involved, but it was tender and
delightful!
Second course, soups! We ladies couldn’t decide which one to
have—turtle soup, gumbo, or butternut squash with chicken—so we all three got
the sampler plate. Bill is the only one who made a strong decision and chose a
bowl of the turtle soup. I thought that was the best one and wished I could
have had an entire bowl of it!
Third course, entrees! Amanda got the fish of the day, Bill
and Tracey both got the fried soft shell crab, and I got the lobster risotto. I
couldn’t resist!
The dinner conversation was just as good as the food, and
maybe better! Amanda and Tracey are such fun to be around, and Bill is just the
nicest, most thoughtful and accommodating person I do believe I’ve ever met. I
picked his brain a bit about being Thomas Jefferson and got his thoughts on
some history topics, but I was delighted that most of the conversation was
spent on travel! As you know, if you’ve ever read much of my blog or known me
for any amount of time, travel is my favorite topic!
And then came dessert. Yes, we were quite stuffed from our
previous three courses, but they’re known for their bread pudding, and I saw a
praline parfait on the menu!
So there we were, having a lovely conversation about Thomas
Jefferson biographies, and then I saw Bill’s eyes get exceptionally wide as
something approached us from behind…
And this is where things got even more interesting, or a
little nuts if you prefer! Someone suggested we take a picture of Mr. Peabody
Pembroke with the parfait. And Bill’s idea was to pit him ON the parfait!
We had so much fun with that! And, since it was his idea in
the first place, Bill offered to clean up Mr. Peabody Pembroke… This is where
things started to get fresh!
So I tackled as much of the parfait as I could, and everyone
else pitched in to clear out the rest. And then things got a bit sticky…
Bottoms up! And this is what my poor ducky looked like by
the end:
Bill graciously took it upon himself to clean off Mr.
Peabody Pembroke with his napkin and water from his glass. And then he
delivered the best line of the night! He looked at Amanda and said, “May I have
some of your water, dear? There’s duck in mine.” I nearly spit out my own water!
We really had a hoot over that one!
After dinner, we ladies perused the other few rooms and the
second floor of the restaurant, gawking at the ornate décor and beautiful
furniture all the way. Bill got a cab ready for us, and off we went! They dropped
me off at my B&B with the promise to see me in the morning!
And they made good on that promise. They kindly dropped me
off at the airport, even though I needed to be there by 11:00 and they didn’t
have to be there until 5:00! But I didn’t feel too bad about that. They needed
to get something figured out with their check-in and luggage, so it was
beneficial for them to come a bit early!
And that was my first ever New Orleans experience! I plan to
return and see some things I missed this time around. Care to join me?
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