By noon I was sitting in the Bon Ton Cafe in downtown New Orleans, a traditional restaurant which has operated for many decades. It's a comfortable place in a small storefront--the kind of place you've certain you've been before, even if you're not certain you've ever been there. The fellow I met for a business matter and I each had grilled drumfish and lima beans.
Priceline placed me at Le Pavilion Hotel, a very gracious boutique hotel with a faux classical exterior. I found myself immersed in work all afternoon, sitting at my laptop at a small mirror-table. I did not get free until nearly 6, when an attempt at a walk ended fairly quickly when the air proved chill. I went to the hotel restaurant, which had the decor, high ceilings and murals of a Georgian mansion gone delightfully awry, where a really courteous waiter brought me a "half local, half healthy" appetizer of a gumbo followed by stir fry as an entree'.
Today I will not have time to sight-see, as I have a hearing, but it's still nice to be here.