New Orleans Part Trois

Hello!  I separated my trip photos into 5 files so as not to overwhelm you - this is file 3.  :-)  These are our last days in New Orleans, we were there from Tuesday until Sunday morning when we checked out of our hotel and rented a car for more adventuring.  My next installment will show you two amazing Plantation homes.  The last one will show you our visit to Lafayette where we lived for 5 years and our first two children were born.  I wanted to show Amy the house where she was born.  :-)  We begin today by boarding a tour bus that picked us up right in front of our hotel.  We head out and passed by Jackson Square - all the carriages line up here awaiting customers.

One of my favorite things in the French Quarter are these carriages.

I'm snapping photos as we roll along.. here is Tujague's - next to Jackson Square, across from Cafe Du Monde.. 

The black tour bus driver regaled us with all kinds of stories and showed us a LOT of things most people never see or hear.  These are 3 brightly colored houses that I loved.

He took us to see the above ground tombs that are used in New Orleans as the water table is so high you can't bury people in the ground.  Whole families are buried in these and I will spare you the details he told us of how that is done.  :-)

He told us the families pay for upkeep of the crypts and if you fall down on the payments they are left to deteriorate.

Another tree dripping in Mardi Gras beads.  He took us to show us the worst devastation of Hurricane Katrina, an estimated 80% of New Orleans was underwater, up to 20 feet deep in places.  The hurricane didn't do the worst damage, the failure of the levies did it.  The levies were controlled by electric pumps, unfortunately the electricity was out and so the damage was done.

We came back through the garden district and then through the big city part of town and headed back to the French Quarter where I spotted this colorful building.   

Up next was to walk and walk to find a good Po Boy restaurant for lunch so we could cross that off our "to do" list.  The one we were heading to had a long line so we went back down the block to one with a shorter wait.  I just love the old brick arches and architecture here.  My daughter and sister Denise ordered a beer.  Cheers!

I had a shrimp po boy - not the easiest thing to eat!

We walked and enjoyed seeing the artists in Jackson Square.

It was the best weather while we were here and the artists were out in force.  

I took a rest on a cast iron bench and enjoyed the greenery through the wonderful iron fence.

To my left I admired the work of this artist, a woman.  I love the bright colors she used in her work.

My daughter bought one of her watercolor paintings, so I got one similar.  :-)

It shows all the wonderful things, the church, the square, the jazz musician and the restaurants.  :-)

I then strolled around the corner and found a small oil painting of the Natchez that I got a good price on.  Don't you love it?  These were my only two purchases and I do love to support the arts.

This is Muriel's where we had dinner on Saturday evening.  Our hotel actually surrounds this restaurant, the entrance is to the left of Muriel's and our room is in the yellow part to the right.. that was our balcony right next to Muriel's balcony.

While we waited for our table we had a drink - Denise and Amy had a "Honey Child" made with 2 blackberries and crushed basil leaves and Roberta and I had a "Pineapple Plantation" crushed mint Mojito style drink but made with pineapple juice, it was yummy!

I showed the girls the third and hidden courtyard at our hotel - Place d'Armes.

I was charmed by the Maidenhair Ferns that had taken up residence on the second tier of the fountain.

We walked through the square on our way to see a yarn shop I'd heard about.. the band was playing great jazz, I wish you could hear it.

The yarn shop - I thought the name was clever.

Wonderful yarn everywhere - but I didn't buy a thing.  My bags were already too full and let's face it, I have enough yarn at home. :-)

A clever idea for displaying yarn.. little cardboard barrels stacked up on top of each other.

Our last evening in our room and I snapped a photo of the windows out to the balcony to remember it by.

Our last dinner in New Orleans, Denise took us to Mulate's where they have a band playing every day - the wonderful Cajun music of the area and a dance floor where people go out and swing dance.  I loved it there!

It was a big fun place full of music and people enjoying themselves.. what a great place!

I ordered "stuffed shrimp" - which is funny as it's not stuffed at all - they press stuffing around a shrimp, then bread it and fry it.  It was yummy!

Lastly I wanted to share three photos that my daughter took when she and my sister Denise walked down to Bourbon Street in the evening on our last night.  It was hopping just like during Mardi Gras and people were up on the balconies throwing beads just like off the floats in the MG parades.  She had fun!

She also got this of Cafe du Monde in the dark walking back from the Steamship Natchez boat cruise.  Can you believe it's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

And this shot of the shadow of a statue of Jesus onto the church.  Isn't that neat?

And so.. we spent our last night and checked out the next morning early to go to the airport and rent a car.  We then headed to "Plantation Alley" and toured two amazing plantation homes.  That will be my next post.. I think you'll like them.  My last post will show you more fun things.  We're on our 2nd full day at the beach and we're just relaxing and taking it easy.  I'll show you some fun beach photos soon - but here is just one from yesterday - our view from our caravan/trailer of the Pacific Ocean on a warm sunny day.

I hope you're having a super weekend!  Thanks for visiting!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)