NEW ORLEANS 3/30/2011

 We decided to stay an extra day in the Jellystone Preserve in order to spend a day in New Orleans.  The heavy rain, lightning and thunder had cleared off and it looked to only be a sprinkling type day, so off we went.  Traveling south on I-55 we drove across about 20 miles of elevated freeway above bayou or swampland.  It was amazing!  There were the dwellings that you see in movies of people living on the swamp. 

Then we arrived in the big city of New Orleans.  We were able to drive past the places we saw in the news during the hurricane devastation that took place here a couple years ago.  It was amazing at how many places we recognized from the TV coverage we had watched.  Amazingly too was that there was so little evidence of the damage we had seen then.  There was some, but very little evidence.

 We parked our truck in the Hilton parking lot and then walked and took a trolly to The French Quarter and French Open Market and spent our day there.  It was full of all the sights and sounds one would expect from this area.

We found the streets much narrower than we thought they were, but then this area was established in the 1700's.

We were lucky that we were there during a slow day.  I guess the drizzle kept people away.

 We had fun just walking the streets, meeting the people, looking in the hundreds of tourist shops and taking in the sights.

It was hard to imagine the bands and floats coming down these streets as we have seen in films about Madi Gras.  They were very narrow!

 We were also surprised that a section called bourbon Street was so vulgar.  There were porn shops, scantly clad and almost naked dancers in the doors to the bars.  It was worse than Las Vegas on the strip.  We did not take pictures here or linger longer.  There were other places to see.

This was the nearest Wayne could find to a man hole cover that said New Orleans... New Orleans Public Sewer District???

We ate lunch at The Gumbo Shop, a well recommended place by the people on the street.  We were actually guided there by a delivery man for another restaurant.  It was quaint.  Ann had a Cajun Sampler with Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya and Red Beans and Rice.  Wayne had a bowl of Sea Food and Okra Gumbo.  All good, but much milder than we thought Cajun food would be.  This was Wayne's second bowl of Gumbo here in the south and he has decided it is not his favorite.  The Shrimp Creole was mild and bland.  The Jambalaya was thick, like Spanish Rice and very mild.  The Rice and Beans was delicious!  We decided that we liked the Jambalaya that Wayne made several months ago much better.  It was soupier.

We were amazed that The French Quarter was a gathering place for run away teenagers attempting to find themselves, older individuals that still hadn't found themselves yet, street people, pan handlers and musicians that were playing for tips.  It was sad, the apparent lives some of these people lived.

But there were some that were vibrant locals that were hustling for tips.  These two innovative young men had tops of tin cans attached to their tennis shoes and were vigorously tap dancing for tips.  We stayed and watched awhile.  They were good, but it was more interesting watching the crowds that gathered to watch and visit with these two polite and well tipped youth.  This one in the black reminded me so much of your mother, Chip.  Her face, hand gestures, voice, mannerisms and such were so like your Mom.  I watched her for awhile just absorbing the memory of special times I had spent with Peggy over the years.  She was so interested in the boys and especially in their welfare.  She tipped generously.
I was amazed at myself later as I realized I did not go visit with the lady.  I usually do with people that look like someone I know.  I now wish I would have.

Tried to visit with this famous butcher, but found him stone silent.  Had a rather brassy personality.

Toward late afternoon we stopped for some beignets in this open air coffee shop.  The waitress that served us was a teenage high school student from Belgium that was here on a foreign exchange program for her summer break.  She was beautiful and very fun to visit with.

She took our picture for us.

As we explored the streets, there were many historical plaques attached to the outside walls of the buildings.  Essentially, this was a French neighborhood of houses, stores and such built in the mid 1700's  Each plaque described the history of the particular house.  This place, was a shocker to Wayne.  Think Eric Burden and the Animals.  Think 1964. There's the song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmdPQp6Jcdk  Below is the actual House of the Rising Sun, as told by a local horse and buggy tour guide.  There was no plaque on the building and in looking it up on Wikipedia, there is no confirmation of the place.  Who knows???

We also took the ferry across the Mississippi River and back so we could have a view of the skyline of the city.

New Orleans!!

 It actually was a wonderfully educational day.  Long and tiring, but fun too.  Got home to the trailer at Robert LA about 10:30 PM and went to bed soon after. Tomorrow, we leave for further easterly travels.