Just got back from a trip to New Orleans. My first trip and I think that if I lived there I would be dead in a year. Wow!

Stayed at Hotel Provincial in the French Quarter. Very clean but if you want a quiet room don't get one on the street (Chartres). Yikes. I thought at least on Good Friday it would be quiet but apparently all the Baptists live elsewhere and the streets belong to us partydown recovering Catholics.

Another first for me. Found myself in a bar at 9:40 AM drinking a cocktail while waiting for my Haunted History Cemetary Tour (ask for Ernie). Okay my excuse was I had to buy something to use the toilet. Yeah right.

Ate at Antoine's - for the two of us with only 2 glasses of wine plus some okay food $150 before the tip. Of course they did give me a chef signed menu -didn't ask for it but they gave it to me - and have always wanted to eat there after having read Dinner at Antoine's as a kid. Now I can cross that off the bucket list.

Also ate at Brennan's for Easter Brunch - another knock your socks off bill but the food was lots better. While waiting for our table in the bar, two unsuspecting French people ordered two glasses of champagne - $40 - well I guess for them it was imported.

Did the usual things: walking tour of French Quarter, coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde (people were waiting in 2 hour lines for this and I refused. When I finally had some I was like "fried dough?" but the coffee was good.}, muffaletta at Central Grocery, and sucking down raw oysters like a $2 you know what everywhere I went.

Highlight was the Easter Parade and I use that term lightly. Basically a bunch of crazy old ladies and drag queens having a ball. Loved it.

Favorite thing - seeing every type of person, gay, straight, young, old, handicapped and high falutin just enjoying themselves and not looking askance at each other. Oh, and being able to carry your cocktail with you on the street.

Hope my liver recovers soon.