D&S had plenty of jobs to do so we set off for the bike shop to start with. D's bike was in for tuning and we went into the bike shop with him. There are all sorts of bikes, some very high tech. Soon we were putting D's bike on the back of the van and taking it back to the house. Off again to Magazine St., where we needed to collect a footstool that matches the front porch chairs. D parked and we had just about reached the shop when he caught us up. Lots of designer furniture and a very nice woman served S. She knew S straight away and was chatting on to her. The footstool was all put together - it comes flat pack usually, but they wanted to be sure it was OK. Then we set off to find a cup of coffee, but places were very busy with Saturday morning shoppers. We just looked at the shops and then got back in the car. We drove to a sports shop that may have had Saints T-shirts for our neighbours twins, but there were only sizes up to 9 months then S,M and Ls, and they were $60!
At last we found a Starbucks for coffee and then we drove out towards Baton Rouge and the Plantations. We planned to visit Oak Alley, a plantation house that is featured on lots of the adverts because of its long avenue of live oaks some planted 300 years ago by a French settler and added to about 150 years ago by the later occupants of the house. There were grass verges at the side of the road and suddenly we saw an armadillo foraging along; then another and another until we must have seen about a dozen.
We arrived as the sky began to darken and we bought tickets for the 4pm tour of the house. A bell sounded and that signalled the start of the tour, so we joined a crowd of about forty people and after a short introduction, we were led into the reception room. The guide, in costume then took us on a very informative tour of the house. Meanwhile, it was pouring with rain outside and we went out onto the upper floor veranda to see it streaming off the roof.
By the time we came downstairs again the rain had stopped and we could walk round to the garden where we saw a red cardinal flitting in the trees. Then we walked back to the car as the sun was going down. We drove off, stopping at the view of the house down the avenue of trees and we could walk up the levy to look at the river and the sunset.
It was busy on the way back and we were running short of time, but a quick change and back in the car brought us to the French Quarter with just enough time for a quick bite before we went to the show 'Forbidden Broadway' at Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré. It really is a tiny theatre, seating maybe 200 people on chairs on a concrete floor. The walls are the basic brick and all the lights and stuff are mounted on girders across the ceiling. There is a small stage. The show was performed by four singers accompanied by a pianist. All the songs were Broadway hits, but with different words sending up the stars and the producers of the musicals the songs came from. We laughed a lot and really enjoyed the performance.
Back to the car and home for a cup of tea before bedtime.
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