The night before Steve and Barbara arrived we thought we would be in for a special treat when we noticed that AL HIRT was to appear at Chris Owens' on Bourbon Street.

The show turned out to be a disappointment to say the least, a virtual disaster. Appearing on stage drunk as a skunk, Al could not blow his trumpet, lost his trousers on stage several times, and when at least giving the audience some interesting e pisodes of his life, he could not find or aim his mouth at the mike, so most of it remained inaudible.

What a shame ………………….

The first night with Steve and Barbara, after dinner we went out to explore the VIEUX CARRE or FRENCH QUARTER. And a visit there would be incomplete without having paid tribute to the PRESERVATION HALL, where we listened to a rendition of the "Tig er Rag".

The next day we decided on a "wet"-cum-"dry" tour, meaning that we spent the first two hours onboard "the biggest ship on the river, the NATCHEZ, and the second two hours onboard a GreyLine bus.

Paddlewheeler "NATCHEZ" ………

…… and her paddlewheel

Steve and Barbara chatting there while away onboard the NATCHEZ, while Yours Truly was having a beer so kindly referred to by Ray Smith as "pineapple juice". You've seen the pic on Steve's page.

The first stop of the coach trip took us to New Orleans' cemetery where the dead are stacked four high in view of the fact that the whole city of New Orleans is below water level.

I must have slept through the further stops - as documented by Mr. Steve Sokol - although I feel I only had forty winks in the bus.

Those forty winks proved to be just enough to keep the eyes open through dinner at Felix's (Steve had oysters, what else, Melly and I had red beans and rice, another New Orleans special, and I don't remember what the rest of us had) and a few numb ers of New Orleans Jazz by Jack Mayheu at FRITZEL's on Bourbon Street.

Jazz Champagne Brunch started at the famous THE THREE SISTERS (1832) at 09:30 on Sunday with a three-piece band shown here ……………..

Melly, Mark, Razor's ever-present vest, Steve, and Barbara

The inner courtyard of THE THREE SISTERS

"WEATHERMAN" Razor by way of a calculator figuring out what the weather - in this case temperature - will be like for those not familiar with using Fahrenheit ………………

……………… while Steve indulges in sea food he was not able to convince any of us of having, especially not for dessert ……………

After the jazz brunch we suddenly realised that Steve was missing.

Guess were we eventually found him? Not "at" the aquarium, but right "inside" it, as this picture tries to make believe.

While the timing of entering the aquarium had been excellently timed to take place just before it started to rain, the exit from the aquarium in pouring rain was not "bad luck" as I put it but just "ill timing" according to Steve. What else could we do other than putting some money into the economy and acquire 5 raincoats for all of us.