Last night was very special. We took an Uber to the Saenger Theater. By the way don’t take a cab here unless it’s from the airport where the fee to and from the city is a fixed rate. We’ve taken 3 cab rides here and not one taxi had a meter. It’s as if they make up the charge on arrival (With the exception of the airport rides). For instance last night we took an Uber to the theater and paid $10. Yesterday we took a cab to the same place to buy the tickets and the charge was $20.
Oh well, let’s concentrate on the happy thoughts. The show was at the Saenger theatre which was built in 1927. It has housed performances by Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Seinfeld and many others. Broadway shows have also been featured including Chicago, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, and next week Hamilton. The theater is gorgeous. Before the show we had a chance to tour around this beautiful theater. We met an usher who had been on the job for only 2 days but was born and raised in New Orleans and it was obvious that the theater had been a big part of his life. He filled us in on the history of the theatre and gave us a list of the songs and the order in which they were going to be played.
Simon came onstage at 8:15 for a show that was scheduled to start at 8. I was disappointed looking at the song list because “Father and Daughter” was not included. Although not his most famous song it has been special to me since I made two music videos using the song. Each honored one of my daughters Lindsay and Erica (I also made one for David using “Let’s Hear It For the Boy”. A better choice for obvious reasons). Simon finished the show and then came back for his encore with the songs listed as “The Boxer” and “The Sounds of Silence”. He started to talk about his daughter Lulu and then much to my surprise he started playing “Father and Daughter”. By the time he got to the last line (“There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you”) I was in tears. [Patrice here: The big baby was in tears just writing this sentence.]
This morning I started off thinking it was time to hit the gym and get on the treadmill. I kept procrastinating until Patrice woke up and said “Let’s go to breakfast”. We took an Uber to Who Dat Coffee Cafe (2401 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70117) which was recommended by our friends Alan and Becky. We shared the special of the day Oysters Benedict. I said to the server that it sounded very healthy to which he replied “They don’t call us the heart attack capital of the world for nothing.”
After breakfast we took a short walk to the nearby Jamnola museum. Jamnola stands for Joy Art Music New Orleans Louisiana. It was a small but fun museum with lots of creative exhibits.
We thought we would then cruise the neighborhood but heavy rain with thunder and lightning convinced us to just chill in the museum a little longer.
They had a number of costumes and accessories that people have worn at Mardi Gras celebrations including the outfit below.
Then it was off to lunch. It was still raining quite hard so a walk to burn off some calories was not going to work so another Uber ride was upon us. We decided to return to Muriel’s for another amazing meal.
I think Muriel’s might be our NOLA favorite.
Sorry, I need to stop for now. My book group meeting is about to start. Dinner will be late so I will leave you until tomorrow.
Ciao
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 