New Orleans (March 26 & 27)

THURSDAY (March 26)

We drove through Pass Christian, MS (home of Robin Roberts – Good Morning America) and on to New Orleans via Mandeville so that we could cross Lake Pontchartrain on Causeway Bridge, the longest bridge over a body of water in the world.  We had to pull off the highway north of Mandeville to wait out a torrential downpour that dropped visibility to near zero. 

It being a Saturday morning, traffic into the city was light.  Although the GPS got befuddled once, getting to the Sheraton New Orleans was uneventful. The Sheraton was not an imaginative choice of hotel, but thanks to Starwood points, the price was right; and on the Club Floor no less.  [NOTE:  We had considered staying at the Sheraton Four Points right on Bourbon Street.  For multiple reasons including clientele, noise and accessibility we opted not to stay there.  When we walked by it, our concerns were validated.]

Having been able to check in early, we left the bags in our room and went in search of lunch.  From the front door of the hotel we spied the Palace Café across the street.  Although it looked a bit tacky on the outside, anticipating a full dinner that evening, we thought it would do for a sandwich or some such thing.  What a surprise when we got inside.  It was great in all respects.  The décor was so classic that the restaurant was about to close for the rest of the day so that it could be used to film a scene for an upcoming movie called “Beyond Deceit” starring Al Pacino.

Having eaten more than planned and enjoyed every bite, we wandered the French Quarter for a while.  Rain arrived, becoming steadier and heavier.  Eventually we headed back to the hotel where we had coffee on the 40^th floor while watching activity on the river.

For dinner we went to Lüke where we had a great meal.  We found it a bit noisy at times, but full of life.

FRIDAY (March 27)

We took a 3.5 hour Greyline tour of the city.  It was nothing special, but a good way to see a variety of sites with accompanying commentary.  

House where Fats Domino lived when a child.

Post-Hurricane Katrina FEMA "X" on a still-abandoned home

Throughout the tour we saw some wonderful residential architecture.

We stopped at one of the city's famous cemeteries - St. Louis Cemetery #3.

We had a coffee beak at Morning Call in City Park.  The coffee shop is famous for its beignets.  A beignet is a pastry made from deep-fried choux pastry served in a paper bag containing a lot of powdered sugar.

We strolled through the Museum of Art's sculpture garden located in City Park.

Mardi Gras having just ended, there were still strings of beads adoring many trees and even the occasional statue.

After the tour we wandered over to Bourbon Street.  It was quite ‘lively’ at 2 PM.  We followed it back to Canal Street and our hotel.  

A short time later we were headed out again, this time to take the Algiers passenger ferry across the Mississippi River.  On the far shore we went through the mandatory disembarking, immediately re-boarding for the return trip, the concierge at the hotel having discouraged the idea of wandering around there.  On the return trip the steamboat NATCHEZ – the last steam-powered riverboat on the Mississippi – passed by us.

We wandered along the waterfront, then caught a trolley car that took us to a stop close to the hotel.

For dinner we walked to Tableau in the heart of the French Quarter.  Everything about our dining experience was good.

We returned to our hotel via Bourbon Street.  By now the throttle was wide open – music blaring from competing bars, people hawking all sorts of things and a wall-to-wall throng of humanity wandering around in varying states of sobriety.  It was a great spectator show.