Welcome to the Big Easy. We were out early this morning for breakfast. As we crossed Canal Street, we encountered a "gentleman" urinating into a trash can (sorry no photo). It is really a bad situation here. There are a lot of homeless and almost NO public restrooms. Of course if there were the homeless would make them unusable for anyone else. Still it is sad.
Our plans were to visit the Garden District. On our previous trips to New Orleans none of us have been to that area. Taking advice from the consignor at our Condo, Wyndham La Belle Maison, we decided to purchased a one day trolley pass. The cost - $3.00 per person.
After breakfast it was a short five minute walk to our trolley stop and with cash in hand it took only seconds to purchase our pass and board the trolley for the 15 minute ride which would have taken 40 minutes to walk.
The ride was pleasant with few other passengers at this hour. The only downside was the requirement to wear a mask. It became more obvious why on our trip back a few hours later. It was standing room only for a while.
After leaving the trolley, it was a short walk to begin our self-guided tour from an app I had downloaded to my phone. I have only shown a few of the beautiful houses we saw. The Garden District was created in the mid 1800 by Yankees who moved to New Orleans and were not accepted into the Creole Society. There are many interesting stories about the houses.
This is my favorite house. It was the home to Anne Rice, the gothic horror author of the Vampire Chronicles. These stories were started in the mid 1970's and are excellent reads. Rice said she loved New Orleans and received many inspirations from living here. It is rumored that the house is haunted and it has been on the market several times since Rice moved, so perhaps it is. The Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is only a few blocks away.
This little beauty is being renovated and can be yours for only $9.5 million.
We next visited Lafayette Cemetery #2 since it is the only one currently open to the public.
It's no wonder that Rice got inspiration from here...
By the time we got back to the French Quarter, around 11:30 we were hot and exhausted. Having walked several miles in 90+ degrees and 60% humidity. We decided to rest a while and have a late lunch, early dinner around 2:00 PM. We went with what we knew was good, Acme Oyster House, located about 8 minutes away just off Bourbon Street. Below those massive pieces of fish were about a dozen small delicious oysters, a like number of shrimp and sweet potato fries. Yum, yum.
Afterward, we walked the length of Bourbon Street.
Kay waiting to get some of the famous Café du Monde beignets.
We expect to go out once more tonight after it cools off a bit, to just walk around the riverfront. Our plans are to leave New Orleans in the morning around 6:00 AM. It's about a 6.5 hour non-stop drive to Atlanta to return the rental and pick up Carl's car for our return trip to Canton. We want to miss as much morning traffic in New Orleans and afternoon traffic in Atlanta as possible.
I hope to make one more post with a summary and last thoughts, but it might be a few days. I hope everyone has persevered through my wandering muses has at least been slightly entertained.
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