NOLA

Ok, so we're now in New Orleans, LA. We are heading across the Mississippi (I think we crossed it 5 times in two days) to stay in what's known as the West Bank, which is across the river from New Orleans. This is the Huey P. Long Bridge, named after a Louisiana governor. Apparently in Huey's day cars were much smaller because as you can see, we didn't fit in one lane very well, so we took up two.

There is a ferry that takes passengers from the West Bank into downtown New Orleans. It is free for pedestrians. We're on the ferry and Brooke is posing quite nicely for the picture.

So, the first thing on our agenda is to ride the St. Charles Streetcar which runs from the downtown to the Garden District, where you find beautiful homes along the way. This is our car. Anybody ever seen the movie "A Streetcar Named Desire?" (Don't raise your hand, it's a rhetorical question) Well, I've never seen it (an old black & white classic, I'm sure) but I understand it centers around one of these streetcars. Anyway, back to the travelog. We passed some of the most beautiful, grandest homes I have ever seen. I have only included one shot on the blog, because uploading pictures is taking way too long. It's coming up....

A view inside the streetcar. These aren't just for tourists. Locals use them, too. It's cheap transportations as we only paid $1.25 to ride quite a ways into the Garden District.

Here's one of the old homes I was mentioning earlier. Multiply this by 50 and you'll get more of the picture.

Bourbon St. Hmmmmm.....what all do I say? If Las Vegas is Sin City, then Bourbon St. is it's worn-out older sister. Bourbon St. is a narrow street in the French Quarter, nestled in downtown, surrounded by tall buildings. It is wild, crazy and LOUD! There are policemen stationed throughout, so we felt very safe, but as the sun went down the nightlife went up.

We did enjoy sitting in a courtyard and listening to a live jazz band playing some old fashioned favorites such as "Summertime" and "Bill Bailey won't you Please Come Home!".

Here's a shot after dark. We had had enough by about now, so we walked to catch the ferry back to the West Bank, where we stayed at a State Park. Thus concludes our visit to New Orleans. It was worth a visit, definitely as it is such an interesting city. I used to say that San Francisco held the honors of the most interesting city. I think New Orleans is right up there.