Seen in New Orleans

What can you do between 9:30am and 3pm on a Monday in New Orleans? My two co-workers and I started with the touristy-but-worth it Jazz Brunch at the Court of Two Sisters in the French Quarter. Highlights included the buttermilk biscuits, blue cheese potato salad, cajun sausage and pecan pie. Sunshine on my back, coffee in my cup and a live jazz trio pretty much sealed the deal.

From there we walked back to Canal Street and hopped on the St. Charles streetcar. We rode it west a couple of miles before hopping off and walking south to Magazine Street, where we moseyed through fashion boutiques, shoe stores and art galleries (there are also a ton of restaurants). I picked up clever t-shirts for the girls from Storyville.

Unable to find an eastbound Magazine Street bus, we hailed a taxi and drove to Cafe Du Monde, famous for its chicory-based cafe au lait and beignets. The service was more brusque that I remember from my trip there 7 years ago, but the powdered sugar-laden beignets were just as delicious.

How about a Jennifer Aniston portrait in oil?

After dusting off off our clothes, we wandered around the French Quarter, taking in the tattooed, meth-head palm readers, the ubiquitous street bands and shoeshine stands, the painters and caricature artists and scam artists and horse-drawn carriage guides all hollering and bargaining and "where you from?"-ing and generally trying to make a buck.

And the local color wasn't all--the tourists were a sight to behold as well. Check out this lady in red, who we determined was getting paid for her "fantasy day" (her words) with a pudgy white guy.