12/24/2014
Life and adventure are made up of brief moments and tiny gems. When Crystal and I toured the Historic Olivier House Hotel, I knew we had stumbled onto a treasure. We took a tour of the place before we settled into the honeymoon suite. The high ceiling and wrap around balcony gave me plenty of breathing room. I sat my bags on one of the Victorian styled furnishings and took advantage of the delux Jacuzzi bathtub. I wanted to freshen up before the evening.
It was hard to believe there was plenty of sun and time left in the day. Of course not one minute was to be wasted. We readied ourselves in minutes and went out to explore the streets of the French Quarter. We discovered music being played everywhere in the streets. Of course my hunger directed us on our journey but there were just so many places to eat. We ended up at a place where Crystal ordered a shrimp creole and I had a vegetarian muffaletta sandwich. The muffaletta was a huge sandwich first made in the 1800 by the Italians. Being in an area with many tourists, the food was pricey and the portions were small.
The culinary portion of my tourist experience would only be completed after I tasted a beignet. The treat was something like a donut combined with a funnel cake. People spilled out of the famous Café du Monde. They were making money hand over fist selling beignets and coffee. It was a testament to the fact that you only need to do one thing in life. Just make sure that one thing is excellent. After checking off the French pastry from my must experience list, we walked and browsed among the glowing signs. Even though it wasn’t Mardi Gras, the streets still buzzed.
The four poster bed in our suite was enormous. I think a small family could have slept comfortably on it. Surrounded by antique furnishings I wrapped myself in the sheets. I dozed off within minutes.
The morning began with a hot chocolate and some good news. Bobby, the gentleman that runs the Historic Olivier House, offered to extend our stay another day. It meant we would have another opportunity to enjoy the sights. He gave us a more detailed tour of the property and gave us some of its history. The mood of the day shifted as if it was on a switch. We went to grab something from our truck and found that both of our bikes had been stolen. Almost one year ago to the day someone had sawed though a chain to try and steal one of our bikes. This time the vagrant took both bikes that were chained together. I’m not sure how the culprit accomplished the feat but I had heard stories about the desperate acts of some of the displaced and downtrodden. Heck, just a month ago, in Houston, we experienced someone breaking into the car for our camera.
For sure the bikes being stolen was a bummer but we were still very grateful for all we had been given. We decided to go rest in our room so we could sort our situation out. A few minutes after settling down, someone knocked on our door. Bobby sent an envelope up to us with a reimbursement for our bikes. It was unexpected, kind, and it caught me off guard. Crystal and I headed back down to return the money because we just didn’t feel right taking it. The hotel had already been extremely generous and they weren’t the ones responsible for the bike. They insisted that we take the money and that we try to enjoy the day without stress.
We rested throughout the rest of the morning. The sporadic patches of rain kept us indoors but with such a beautiful room there wasn’t much need for entertainment. It was evening when the sound of musicians playing brass instruments in the rain passed our room. We decided to grab an umbrella and head to Frenchmen Street. I could feel the soaked denim by my ankles growing heavier as we splashed through puddles. It was a short walk but the rain had left tiny pools of water everywhere. The music in that area emanated from every establishment. It was a very cool scene. The day off ended on a high note.
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