Trip rpt - the End
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| Fri, 04-10-2009 - 2:32pm |
Our last morning was spent browsing shops in the French Quarter. Some were closed down - victims of no business after Katrina. Others had lots of sales, but most were beyond our tastes and pocketbook. A woman in a jewelry store tried to sell me silver pieces at 1/2 off - down to $55. I recognized the pieces from when I went shopping at the wholesale importers in Chicago last year - all imported from China. I turned to leave and there was a tray of really marked down stuff. One was a small glass bottle with a metal butterfly sculpture on the front and back. It's for carrying perfume (or as she said "any libations"). As I'm a butterfly person, I immediately bought it for $14.00. Next stop was a store that specialized in miniature figures - the kind used for battle recreations. DH spotted a wooden pirate ship model and said we had to have that to remember the trip. We're big into pirate movies lately and I call him my old pirate. Last stop was a candy store for pralines to give to DGrDs. After a quick lunch, we rode the streetcar back to hotel, picked up luggage, then headed to train station. BTW - we were first class ticket holders so were allowed to wait in the VIP lounge. What a joke! It had privacy windows, a TV on the wall, free coffee, 4 comfy chairs, 2 tables with hard chairs. The trip home was another overnight ordeal. We didn't even try to sleep on the upper bunk. Each of us took one end of the bench seats, asked for extra pillows and blankets, then curled up. Unfortunately, many of the rural crossings no longer have signal lights, so the engineer is forced to blast the horn almost constantly. The passengers on either side of us boarded at 10:30 PM and were an extended family with kids who had never ridden a train. Needless to say, it took a long time for them to settle down. I was actually grateful when the train began moving and drowned out the giggling. We were awake by 5:30, had coffee, watched the sunrise and were glad to be almost home.
Two incidents to report - both with good outcomes. I went to pay for the last lunch and my credit card had been denied. The last time this happened was when the company caught suspicious activity. Someone had ordered $4,000 of electronics in CA just minutes after we had eaten in LA. I immediately called the company. The problem was that DH had left his card at the model shop and the clerk called it in. DH promptly made a quick 10 block trip to retrieve it. We were sure glad that the card signature line only says "See ID". Very glad the clerk was so honest. Second scare was when we got home and my purse was missing. I was sure I'd taken it off the train, but we had to sit and wait in the station for our friend to pick us up. I called the station and sure enough, the security person had spotted it. They're very suspicious about lone packages, but he wasn't too worried about the flowered shoulder bag with tassel pull - LOL. Quick trip back to claim it and then back home to NAP.
We are both showing our ages today - all we want to do is vegetate. Plus temps are low 40s and rainy - far cry from the Spring in LA. I should make a grocery run and do laundry, but think a nap sounds much better. As long as I do laundry on Sat., we'll be fine and there is plenty of food in the freezer.
Jacquie

Welcome home Jacquie. What an experience!
Welcome home and have a very Happy Easter.
Carol
I really enjoyed your travelogue, Jacquie!
Jacquie, your trip sounded like quite an experience, the good outweighing the bad, and thanks for taking us all along for the ride.