Way Down South in New Orleans - 2
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2010
1
6
21
Trip End
Oct 02, 2010
New Orleans, Louisiana
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
After a leisurely late breakfast, the day began with an early lunch cruise on the Mississippi, on paddle steamer Natchez, an authentic recreation of the 19th Century steamers that carried passengers all up and down the mighty river.
We had lunch on board, and learned a lot about the history of the city and in particular the river around it. The boat is a great way to see the river and the city from a river viewpoint. Highly recommended.
After lunch and a short wait in the very pleasant Lousiana sunshine, we boarded a bus for a trip around the city itself. Our driver, Sylvester, was very knowledgeable about the various points of interest, and the history attached to them: the various neighbourhoods or districts, the cemeteries (we visited St Louis Cemetery no 3), and the various areas that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, some of which have not been rebuilt, or are still in the process of rebuilding.
Also on the itinerary was a large park on the outskirts of the city, which among other things contains a bandstand (albeit a fairly posh one), where John Philip Sousa used to perform his wonderful marches.
The trip passed along the shores of Lake Ponchartrain, the third largest lake in the US. We couldn't see the other shore, but could see the road bridge that crosses it, (5km in length) stretching over the horizon.
After returning to the city, we took a short wander to Lafayette Square where a free evening concert was underway by Anders Osborne, a noted local musician whose music was vaguely reminiscent of Steve Miller Band or ZZ Top, and who has had a top five single in the charts and cowritten others. It was good honest down south rock and blues.
After our fill of good honest down south rock and blues, we got our fill and more of another local specialty, a restaurant called Mothers (http://mothersrestaurant.net/), on Poydras Street, and we needed the walk back to the hotel to let our stomachs know we still love them - as Sly, the busdriver said, "If y'all comin' to be on a diet, y'all better not be comin'. And I can see why.
