New Orleans-Mexico cruise: days 5-7

The last full day of the cruise was another day at sea. When we booked the trip I wasn't wild about the same number of days at sea as days in port, but I must say it was nice to have the last full day be pretty laid back. Once again we were blessed with great weather - at this point the weather had been nice all trip - and we spent all day out on the lido deck.

Saturday morning we made our way up the Mississippi and docked back in New Orleans. Luckily for us the vacation wasn't quite over as we were staying for a night before we were going back to DC. After disembarking we saw a bunch of runners chugging through a 10k. Naturally, this made us hungry (although I am running in a ten mile race this weekend, so all the food I ate on the trip is going to come back to haunt me pretty soon). After breakfast we went to the aquarium and saw all kinds of fish, turtles, sharks, rays, frogs, birds, and even a white alligator. Lelaine loves aquariums and wanted to go the last time we were in NOLA, so she was a happy camper.

It was then lunchtime, so we went to the Acme Oyster bar. Since there aren't too many good cajun/creole places in DC, we decided to each order samplers or small orders of many different things and share them. I tried the bivalves for the first time and really enjoyed them. I guess when you grill (not brave enough to go for the raw ones) something drenched in garlic and cheese, it is going to be pretty tasty. The other items on the list included andouille and sausage gumbo, andouille and sausage jambalaya, seafood gumbo, red beans and rice, more sausage, what might have been the best roast beef po boy I have had, and an excellent pecan cobbler.

By the time we finished the feast it had started to rain, so we walked over to our hotel. Lelaine found a great deal at the W that was about the same price of some dumpy places, so we were living large for the day. After lunch we stayed in because it continued to rain. Lelaine read a book and I went to the gym - had to work off some of that food - and watched the Butler-Michigan State game.

For dinner that night we went to Emeril's. I am not a big fan of his TV show, but the restaurant was outstanding. I had a pork belly salad - my kind of salad - and then the largest pork chop I have ever seen (so big I barely ate half of it). Lelaine went for braised rabbit and redfish. We were ready to waive the white flag when the waiter asked about dessert, but felt obligated to get something, so we shared a slice of banana cream pie that we couldn't finish. We slept well that night, as I had consumed enough food that day to feed a person for two weeks.

If anyone is still reading - Lelaine tells me my posts are always way too long - you may know that I have turned into an old person in the last couple of years. In my advanced age I now wake up every morning a little after 7am. Lelaine, being the young vibrant wife she is, doesn't have this problem so as she slept I played on my iPhone and decided to read some reviews of the last meal of our trip - brunch at Mr. B's. Yelpers raved about the bbq shrimp, so when we got to the restaurant, I decided I would go for it. I have tried shrimp many times and have never really enjoyed them, but figured if there were ever a time I would like it, this was it. Mr. B's is a pretty nice place, particularly on Easter morning with a lot of guys in seersucker suits and women in their giant hats, which made it a little embarrassing when the waiter tied a bib around my neck right before delivering my meal. While the shrimp were...well shrimp (i.e. not too great), the sauce they swam in was out of this world. It was more like a few shrimp in an glorious soup, and fortunately they gave me a whole loaf of french bread to soak up the sauce that is heavy on butter on Worcestershire. Good thing I had the bib, because the shrimp came with the full shell, head, and tails still intact, so you have to do a lot of work and it gets messy.

After lunch we strolled around the French Quarter. Lelaine found several huge chandeliers in an antique store, but they might overwhelm our 650 square foot palace (not to mention that they probably cost five times as much as our entire trip); we watched several fancy people dressed to the nines ride in convertibles down Royal St; and we listened to a couple bands play on the street. It was a great way to spend Easter morning and early afternoon, but sadly we had to leave to go to the airport to come back to reality.