The world is a stage. Or your oyster. Or both.

Upon recommendation from Rhoda the concierge we tried a pair of new spots across from our Julia Street hotel: Happy hour at Rebirth was a jolly hootful awakening; we sang and danced and swapped lies with bartender Claire and all-round-everything-but-most-importantly-oyster-shucker Manny. Laissez les bontemps rouler!

Dinner at Galliano. Alligator creole. BBQ pork belly. Fried green tomatoes with lump crab meat. Server recommended the pork chop laPlace. We hailed a wheelbarrow to roll us home.

Next morning beignets at Cafe du Monde. Oysters at Acme because we can.

Hop the streetcar to the Garden District. Lunch at Camellia Grill. Happy hour at Cooter Brown’s.

Head back to the warehouse district and couldn’t bypass an old friend who I stopped to visit. Of all the great advice bestowed by philosophers, saints and poets, and bards from Shakespeare to Twain, the words of this man may resonate most keenly now: “The only thing we have to fear…”