The blog is finally updated! A little too drunk the last couple of nights to do any serious typing, but we slept early last night — too much free beer at the Casino’s – although I wound up waking up at 3am.

Anyway, it was too early, and we wound up having breakfast at Harrah’s Casino, although the security guy couldn’t decide whether to let me through cos of my id [note to self: bring PASSPORT!]. Went to the French Quarter area to have a walk after that, and had a gypsy read our futures. Well, apparently, I’m in for a big move soon, one that will bring me what I want – love and success – not sure if she was just pandering to my desires or if she really hit the nail on the proverbial head. But for 20 bucks pax, she’d better at least tell me something nice. 🙂

Lunch at The Alpines, had the seafood platter which was again too big for one person to finish, but as we were heading out for a cruise and movie, didn’t pack anything. The Bloody Marys were very good though, lots of pepper.

Went aboard the Cajun Queen for a 1-hour tour of the Mississippi River. Actually seen it from St Louis, Missouri, where it was actually much more scenic than in Louisiana. Mostly warehouses, ships, and barges here. Well, the bridge was kinda nice.

Dinner at a great microbrewery called The Crescent City – much like Brewerkz – with Weiss Beer, like the wheat ale. The oysters were not bad, and the stuffed shrimps were pretty good, but too buttery. Well, almost everything’s too buttery for me here.

Went on the Voodoo/Witchcraft tour in the evening. New Orleans has a rich history of Voodoo practitioners, the most famous apparently being Marie Leveau. We were led by a guide called Steffanie, appropriately decked out in black, although she did bear a striking resemblence to Boy George. It wasn’t as spooky as I imagined; instead she was more interested in portraying voodoo as just another religion, much like Roman Catholicism. In any case, it was among the more interesting and value-for-money touristy things that we did in NO.

Steffanie also pointed out the gay bars along the way – guess we must have had some billboard put over our heads – and we did go to one in the evening called the Good Friends on St Ann’s. It was supposedly a straight-friendly gay bar. It was all right, I guess, although the bartender was quite cute.

Also tried absinthe at a couple of bars in the evening. There’s actually a bar called The Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street. Tried making it before in Sg, but tasted rather terrible. But this is how’s it’s supposed to be done [erm, it still tastes very ghastly]:

1. Fill 1/3 to 1/2 of the glass with absinthe.
2. Put a little metal filter thing across the mouth of the glass, with a cube of sugar on it.
3. Light the sugar to caramelize it.
4. About halfway through, add water over the burning sugar.
5. Voila!