New Orleans - Glimpses of Mardi Gras

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Getting there
Our flight from Baltimore to Atlanta was delayed due to thunderstorms and hail around Atlanta, so after 4 hours of sitting on the runway with no real knowledge of what the situation was...we finally took off and landed in ATL, 10 minutes after the last flight to New Orleans had left. We found ourselves having to sleep overnight in one of the world's busiest airports. We tried to find a quiet section near our gate, and dozed off to sleep with the sounds of CNN and vacuuming in the background. The air conditioning was freezing, and it was so nice that one of the cleaners came up to us and offered us blankets for the night.

The Big Easy
We arrived to a warm New Orleans and our troubles melted away...although we still had to figure out the bus to our hostel. We took the local bus past Carrollton Avenue and walked along South Lopez St. to India House. The hostel was very chill, hippie-ish and reminded me of free-spirited hostels I stayed at in Latin America - complete with a large outdoor area with picnic benches, a little pond, and a pool! The house proudly displayed international flags outside and was painted inside with colorful murals of the rainforest and a bead-draped Krishna. Our room on the second floor had 3 sets of bunkbeds, and we quickly claimed our beds, dropped our bags, and ran out to explore the city.

Streetcars and the Mississippi
Our hostel was conveniently located half a block from the Canal Street streetcar, which came by every 10-15 minutes and was $1.50 per ride (or as we would later find out - $5 for a day pass or $12 for a 3 day pass!). It took about 15 minutes for us to arrive "downtown" - we passed many empty lots and boarded up homes, remnants of Hurricane Katrina, but the buildings started getting taller as we reached the business district.

To orient ourselves with the city, we hopped on the free ferry from the end of Canal Street to Algiers Point on the other side of the Mississippi River. The ferry mainly serves the commuters who live on that side of the river, and it offered a good view of the New Orleans skyline.

The French Quarter
We then headed along the banks of the Mississippi River toward the French Quarter - the old city: a compact 6 blocks x 13 blocks. Passing the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, our first stop was Jackson Square, whose centerpiece was the St. Louis Cathedral. The square was landscaped beautifully with lush gardens and mules with carriages waited outside the iron gates to take tourists around the Quarter. (We learned that they use mules instead of horses because of their greater heat tolerance.) We were feeling a bit hungry, so we walked towards the French Market to the famous Cafe du Monde (interesting run and staffed by Asians). 3 Beignets (French dougnuts) were $2 and came with heaps of powdered sugar (I wondered how many pounds of powdered sugar they go through a day?). The beignets were hot and delicious, though it was hard not to get powdered sugar all over... Walking east under the shaded galleries of the French Market, we stopped in the stores - there were a variety of candy stores, each boasting their pralines. We sampled Aunt Sally's pralines (the first of many stop-bys for samples! Chewy original was the best flavor!), and marveled at the variety of recipes for gumbo and crab bakes. The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in the French Market was offering a free jazz performance so we listened to the cheerful piano while learning about the history of jazz and its origins in New Orleans. We came across the French Market Place and flea market, selling everything from Mardi Gras beads and masks to feather boas and handmade jewelry.

We headed back west along Decatur Street, taking in all the interesting details on the old 3-4 story buildings and noticing the unique stores along the way. We decided to have lunch at Johnny's Po-boys, whose specialty was...po'boys (aka poor-boys) - a sandwich made with French Bread, so anything goes! I had the crawfish, which reminded me of fish and chips, but in a French Bread sandwich. I also tried the seafood gumbo, which was a bit spicy and peppery.

The National Historical Parks' Visitor's Center offered us a free walking tour, explaining about the history of the city and other unique facts. Afterwards, we continued weaving our way through the French Quarter then headed north towards the cemetery, which was closed. Oh well, another time. Having gotten an early start and not much sleep the day before, we headed back to India House...in time to watch the finale of American Idol. =)

The Garden District
To take advantage of our streetcar day pass (available at many stores in the French Quarter), we took the recently reopened St. Charles streetcar line took us through the artsy warehouse district east of Canal Street. We learned that Canal Street had previously served as a border between the French Quarter and the "American" homes built in the Garden District, a National Historic Landmark. (The Creole homes were east of the French Quarter, along Esplanade Avenue.) These American homes had been built as mansions with their distinct, adamantly non-French architectural flavors and housed the wealthy American entrepreneurs who came to New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase in the mid-1800s. We got off the streetcar at Louisiana Avenue and walked the Garden District, admiring the beautiful well-preserved homes and their colorful gardens.

Walking along Magazine Road, we passed several boutique and antique stores, and escaped from the heavy rain by ducking into a home-style Cajun cafe. The warm mashed potatoes and hamburger steak was delicious and made me not want to go back outside into the rain.

We took a bus (the day pass is valid on the bus as well!) and streetcar back to the French Quarter and walked around, running from covered gallery to the next to minimize being soaked by the pouring rain. We escaped back to Cafe du Monde for some soothing hot chocolate, then wandered down Bourbon Street, famous for its restaurants and bars. Royal Street, which runs south of Bourbon, was the host to the Wine and Food Street Festival and the rain did not deter hundreds of well-dressed socialites from browsing the art galleries along Royal Street. It was a funny sight to see they with their plastic raincoats paired with their wine glasses. We were contemplating joining the evening after smelling the food, but the $95 pricetag put us off. We did manage to look into some of the galleries. One of the coolest art galleries I've seen is the Painted Alive Body Painting Art Gallery. We met the owner/artist, who has won body painting competitions (didn't know there was such a thing), and his art was so innovative, depicting nature scenes and animals, as well as contemporary art. A great quote from the owner: "Should I be worried that my clients are dressed in plastic raincoats?"

On our way home for the evening, we stopped by Harrah's, the brightly lit casino at the end of Canal Street.

"Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was...gone?"
On Day 3, we went in search of the levees, heading north past the cemeteries towards Lake Pontchartrain. (Heavy rain the day before had postponed this outing.) I was glad we were able to see some of the cemeteries - also known as "Cities of the Dead" as they are built above ground due to the high water table. They were similar to the cemeteries in Buenos Aires, and many tombs had elaborate engravings and white marble statues, showing the affluence of the family.

We took a bus then walked the rest of the way to the lake (uphill!) and walked along Lakeshore Drive. Along the horizon, we could see a thin line that was the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway - 24 miles long - one of the longest bridges in the world, that just faded into the distance. The lake waters lapped up against the stairs of the levee wall and from our position at top of the wall, we could see the homes below sea level. We continued walking down Pontchartrain Blvd and attempted to find the site where the levee broke, however, all we could see where traces of the hurricane - waterlines along a wall, missing letters from signs, broken windows, a smashed in house...although most had been repaired to remove the evidence of Katrina.

Longue Vue House and Gardens

Returning to the City Park bus depot, we hopped on the Metairie road bus to Longvue House and Gardens, a National Historical Landmark built in 1942. The house was a private residence and expansive - it even had a flower arranging room and even another room dedicated solely for the purpose of gift (un)wrapping! The furniture was interesting and the building was innovative for its time - with built-in air conditioning, an elevator, curved staircases, and recessed lighting. Our guide told us the basement saved the house during Katrina, as the water filled the basement and spared the upper levels of the house from flooding. (It is rare for houses in New Orleans to have basements.) We later wandered the beautiful gardens - there were 12 distinct sections covering 8 acres - my favorites were the Spanish court and the hands-on Discovery Garden. We had an interesting experience as we suddenly heard then saw rain coming down the long garden court and ran for cover back at the house!

That night we went back to the heart of New Orleans - the French Quarter. We found Madame John's Legacy, built in 1788 - an example what the original New Orleans would have looked liked before the fires and rebuilding under the various colonial powers. We had our last dinner at the Gumbo Shop, where I had an amazing chicken & Andouille sausage gumbo in a cute courtyard. Our last walk along the Mississippi River, we caught a glimpse of the famous Steamboat Natchez making it's way down the river on its sunset tour.

Bye, Bayou!

Before calling it a night, we stopped by the Bayou Boogaloo music festival. We could see artisans' stalls set up for the next morning, and the opening night treated us to fireworks, live music, and a beautiful reflection in the Bayou St. John. Sitting on the grassy field listening to jazz and blues, it was great to see the locals of New Orleans come together and enjoying the cool night.

Leaving New Orleans, we had a great view of the swamps and wetlands, colored in gorgeous shades of blue and green... I would love to go back to New Orleans - 1. for a swamp tour/kayaking and 2. Mardi Gras!!!

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Photos

New Orleans Skyline
Old and New side by side

Cafe du Monde
Beignets!

Jazz
National Historical Park - New Orleans Jazz

India House
Our colorful hostel

Levee
Lake Pontchartrain

On the bayou
At the Bayou Boogaloo!

Comments

[r.]

aww, new orleans sounds/looks like a place i would've loved. congratulations on laboring through your first post. now hurryup and work on no.2!