And On We Roll... Until We Stop!

We did go for a run through the French Quarter and over into the Warehouse District on Wednesday morning. It involved some stopping and starting to cross some of the larger streets but it was pretty fun. Jumping from sidewalk to street and back again to go around trashcans and people and leaping bad places in the concrete or potholes in the street.

Watching GA Tech lose!

We had lunch at the French Market at this great place called Meals From the Heart. They had plenty of healthy and/or vegan options and Rob said the crab cakes were the best he had had the whole trip.

Then we walked over to the other side of Jackson Square from the Market to the Louisiana State Museum. Our entrance included an exhibit on Hurricane Katrina and its after affects – it was very well done. Lots of first person accounts of the events and plenty of artifacts. We skipped the Mardi Gras exhibit upstairs in that building so we could go over to the Cabildo and go through the exhibit on the history of Louisiana. The Louisiana Purchase was signed on the second floor of this building. We had to rush through the second half of the museum because we spent too much time reading all the details and it got to be closing time. That's the problem with being History Nerds.

After several days of lots of walking and standing around in museums, we decided to take it easy for the evening and went back to the apartment. The Corner Market across the street had a little deli counter in the back, so we got beans and rice from there for dinner. It made a great dinner along with a bottle of wine we had brought from Lafayette!

A frock for purchase

We got up early on Thursday morning to get to the City Park by 8:45 to meet the Kayak tour company to take us on a tour of Bayou St John. We rode the streetcar to get there and because of its schedule we arrived about 8:15. It was much colder closer to Lake Pontchartrain and much windier! After a phone call from Sonny with the tour company we decided to postpone the tour until Friday due to the wind and cold.

It was too early for the art museum to be open and too soon for a return streetcar, so we walked back to the French Quarter. It was a 4 to 5 mile walk, but the alternative was to stand around in the cold for an hour waiting for the streetcar. Besides, it meant we could eat more!

Island Rookery

We got back to the apartment, I put on warmer clothes and we headed to the St Charles Avenue streetcar to ride it over to the Garden District. We just wanted to see a little something different. We walked around Audubon Park, which has a bird rookery on an island in the middle of one of its waterways. The island was full of water birds we did not recognize and some of them made lots of noise.

At this point we were getting really hungry so we tried to take the streetcar back toward the French Quarter but alas, we did not have the right change! The kiosk that takes the money only gives change in the form of a credit you can use for future rides and our change would have been far more than we could use up in two days. So once again we walked.

What Am I? Coopers Hawk?

We were on a very residential section of St Charles Avenue with few to no businesses. When I was close to chewing on Spanish Moss we finally found a restaurant and it even had a veggie sandwich! Once we had been fed, we dropped down a few blocks to walk along some very quiet streets with lovely big houses. We even saw some kind of bird of prey patiently waiting for a squirrel to saunter out of a crepe myrtle so the bird could have some lunch!

View of French Quarter

Once we made it back through the Warehouse District and to the edge of the French Quarter, we jumped on the free (for pedestrians) ferry and rode over to Algiers Point across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Algiers Point is about as old as the French Quarter and has lots of historic houses as well. The top level of the ferry had great views up and down the river as well as of both river banks.

We planned to eat dinner (yes we ate a big, late lunch, but so?) at a place called Carmo in the Warehouse District, but it didn't open until 5:00 pm, so we dropped into The District to sit down and have a beer. After all that walking I had a Guinness for strength!

Dinner was delicious! May have been my favorite meal on the trip, though I thought that several times along the way. They even had a vegan tiramasu.

We headed back to the Home Away From Home for another early night since we planned to get up early to try for the kayak tour again.

Friday morning was much nicer than Thursday. I had dropped into a place called Uptown Anglers to buy some pants since I didn't bring any and found a great pair, on sale no less! So I was toasty warm and the sun was shining.

Make way for ducklings!

So we did the streetcar drill, arriving about half an hour early again due to the streetcar schedule. We got some coffee and a coke and sat on the bank of the bayou in the sunshine watching the world go by. It was very pleasant.

Our guide arrived, unloaded the kayaks and we were off! Sonny told us some of the history of that area of New Orleans – we were in Mid City. According to him, the area around the bayou, which is the access from the Gulf through Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans that does not require going up the Mississippi River, was actually settled before the French Quarter. Due to all the twists and turns of the river, New Orleans is actually 100 miles upriver from the Gulf. The Bayou St John provided a back door into the area.

Beautiful day on the bayou!

We saw several important historic houses from the bayou. We also saw some gar breaking the surface, lots of ducks, a hawk, turtles and at least one parrot. We were on the lookout for an alligator, but never saw any sign of one. Sonny is 6^th generations New Orleanean, so we waved to lots of people on the riverbank. We got out at the top of the bayou and crossed the dam to look at the lake. They are building new, better levees following Katrina. These levees are much higher and more robust.

After our exertions on the bayou we walked down to Cafe Degas on Esplanade Avenue. The co-owner of the kayak tour company also works there and recommended it. Another delicious meal! The chef made a scrumptious veggie medley for me that included half an artichoke, asparagus and super yummy mushrooms, among other things. Rob had a cheese plate and bisque and soft shell crab and dessert! After lunch we walked back up to City Park and went through the sculpture garden. Then it was back to the streetcar.

Egret

When we got off the streetcar on Canal St, we saw a Second Line wedding procession turning off a street and onto Canal! It was so much fun to watch!

We went back to the apartment and got packed up for the very early morning trek to the airport. We had planned to go down to Frenchman Street to hear some music, but all the fun and activity of the week caught up to us. We decided to make it an early night instead. We did have a bottle of wine left, so we opened that, had some spicy picked okra and red beans and rice from across the street at the Corner Market and went to bed.

We are on the final homestretch to Salt Lake now and can see snow on the ground from the airplane window. The forecast in SLC today calls for an inch of snow on the valley floor. Our systems may go into complete shock after yesterday's NOLA weather.

Though we did a lot and saw a lot, we didn't do and see many other things. We would very much like to go back. I think next time we would stay in Mid City near City Park. Things are a little slower there and we can get to the French Quarter quite easily. Mid City reminds us of Savannah and some of the neighborhoods farther from the river there.

Unpacking!

There is a half marathon in New Orleans in March!