Tourists on the Mississippi, the French Market, and a pen

 

A rainy Tuesday and a slow start took us onto the Steamboat Natchez, the ninth vessel so-named. The boat is a modern stern wheeler built in the style of the traditional riverboats, but as an excursion boat. It can carry 1,200 people and does three runs a day. It was interesting to see the city from the water and learn a bit of river and city lore.

St. Louis Cathedral from the river

A wider view of the city

Jackson monument and barracks

After the mid-day cruise we wandered the French Market area, mostly shop(pe)s with little redeeming social value, but there were a few stores a few that featured the work of local craftspeople.

Dinner, possibly our best here, at least thus far, was at Sylvain. Interestingly, we learned yesterday that this was one of the restaurants that bought produce from my former student Rob’s collective. My bolognese was fresh and inventive in its use of flavors, more a light crudo sauce than the traditional long-cooked Tuscan meat sauce. Sharon’s black drum was more inventive yet, and we capped the meal with Bourbon Pecan gelato.

After dinner we wandered back to a shop that had been closed all week but looked interesting and I got myself a nicely discolored jade Moore L-95 with a nice flexy Maniflex nib.