Moving day. We moved from the Quality Inn on St. Charles to the Belle Maison Wyndham on Gravier St. Michael has a time share and was able to get Monday - Thursday and invited me to stay with him. This worked out great and solved all transportation problems that would have occured if I'd have stayed with Steve and Jess.
Breakfast was the buffet at the Quality Inn and then we're off to the Belle Maison.
We stored our luggage and headed out for a day of touristing. We walked from our hotel to the riverfront (about 15 minutes) We walked to the dock for the Natchez and bought tickets for the boat ride later in the day.
We walked back down to Decatur Street for Oysters and Beer for lunch at My Fav, The Crescent City Brewhouse. We got to watch the shucker do his thing. I'm pretty sure that he shucked them just for us. Michael was enamored of the jelly fish on the ceiling... I had the beer sampler.
After Lunch we set off to find the Hard Rock. We thought it was on Decatur, come to find out they'd moved to Bourbon Street. So off we went. Got to hear two great street musicians on the way, two girls on guitar and fiddle. They played a nice jazzy version of "Jambalaya." 
We found the Hard Rock and had a beer and bought a pin and a church key for Steve. Michael got a shirt, a pin, and a church key for me. Michael enjoyed the one million beer bottles that were attached to the ceiling...
After the Hard Rock we needed to get back to the Natchez for our boat ride so we hired a bicycle cab for a scenic but short trip back to the dock. We had a very chatty ride. The weather was sunny and warm, very nice day for a ride.
We were dropped at the dock and waited for the boat. The ride on the Natchez was just like all the other rides I've ever taken. The calliope played, a great little jazz band on the dock entertained us as we waited. A homeless man with a head injury waited to get picked up by the medics while the band played on.
On the boat, we settled in for the two hour cruise down then back up the great Mississippi River. We had Abita Amber and Budwiser, sat back and enjoyed the ride. We explored the boat a little, going down to the engine room, visited the gift shop (got a little steamboat whistle for Miri. She loved it!) and checked out the Dixieland band in the dining room. We ended up back on deck and noticed the clouds gathering for a coming thunderstorm. We were treated to a huge light show and then the rains came... 
We waited on the boat as long as we could to avoid the worst of the downpour and then made a run for The Gumbo Pot for a little early dinner. We ate here simply to escape the rest of the thundershower. We contacted Steve and Jess and arranged to meet for dinner at the Irish House. This was unexpected but very nice. Steve loaned me his guitar so I could play in the session after dinner.
We ate some very nice chef-made salads because of our early dinner at The Gumbo Pot. Miri loved her little whistle. Jess and Steve had fish n chips with their Guiness. We moved over to the session area and I sat and played with the folks till 9 o'clock. Jessica come over for two songs and we sang Step it Out Mary and The Good Man. 
We said goodnight and a taxi took us back to the Belle Maison. We retrieved our luggage and moved in for the night. I caught up on an episode of Survivor and we watched the after-show together then hit the sack.
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