New Orleans - tour

Downtown New Orleans and the flood-wall of the Mississippi near the river walk area.

I got to play tourist while my husband attended a course.  Wikipedia has this about New Orleans; but it is just not the same to read about it as it is to actually see things for your self.  So I thought what better way to do it than by going by a known tourist company.  I ended up deciding on the Grayline Super tour of the whole city.  I've had tours of the French Quarter but never one of the whole city and wanted something different from what I've done before. Needless to say I really enjoyed it and was so grateful the weather was so beautiful.  You could not have asked for a pretty day if you tried.

Here are some of the images I left with. (I must admit I took a whole lot more than these but most of them were too blurry or had reflections from the window to use.)
    After hurricane Katrina we all learned how important the levy system was and also keeping the flood walls or the retaining walls from failing.  I had been to New Orleans before but never really paid much attention to them.  Now one of the first things the tour bus talks about is them and makes sure you notice them.  They are massive and it would be very fascinating to see them closed and actually working.  Today was not the day for that, in fact the river was really low and I got some pictures that are in a different post.

One of the most popular places to go is the Jaxs brewery building.  It is now a arcade shopping mall with lots of good restaurants to eat at. When I need a break from touring I went in there. 

Here's the Moon river walk.  It is on top of the Mississippi River levy.  

One of the most famous places to stop and relax is Cafe Du Monde (wiki/Caf du Monde  ) where they serve dark roast coffee and beignets.  I've had the beignets before and have enjoyed them but avoided them this time because they are too sugary for me and I shouldn't be eating them. I must admit though its something everyone should try it at least one time. 

This was a famous house for something but now I can't remember what.  Might have been one of Anne Rices's homes that she made famous in her Vampire series.

This was a bed and breakfast place that had lovely feature in it.  One of the things I know about New Orleans is that the yards tend to be small and people do like turning them into sanctuaries to escape to after they come home.

Here's the front view of the house and is pretty typical of the houses in the area.

I loved the iron gates and fences that are so popular in the area.

This was an intersection of two popular streets.

This was a typical shot gun home.  There is not much to the front of the house but as you can see the homes can go way back and can be quite big. 

This home is also famous for something or other but once again my memory fails me.  The one thing I do realize about it is that it is raised up and you can see that by looking at the red steps.  A lot of home are now like that to avoid the flooding in the area. 

Another view of it.

And here's another view of the interesting roof.  I really liked it. 

One of the things that New Orleans is famous for is its cemeteries because they are like no other ones in the world.  Parts of New Orleans is below sea level and as such the water table is extremely high.  In the olden day when they tried to put the coffins into the ground they would literally float up and out of their graves.  That would spook people out.  There solution was simple - build mausoleums above the ground and put the coffins into them there.  Because space was limited in the area too they got to the point were they would put multiple members of families into a single crypt.  New Orleans has a rule that they crypts can only be opened after at least a year and a day has gone by since it was last used.  That was so the body had a chance to decompose and the smells wouldn't be so over powering since it does get hot in the summer.
    The cemeteries are quite interesting and the tour lets you stop and check them out. 
We stopped at St. Louis Cemetery #3

This is what the entrance looks like.

I went in and saw this one that I really like. 

It was so striking to see the angle in the blue blue sky.  A different angle for the angel. (that's hard to type and say)

I was surprised to see this statue of Mother Teressa.  Apparently this area was a plot for the religious order she was in.

Statue of Mother Teressa, St Louis Cemetery #3, New Orleans LA

Some more interesting things there.

This one looked like they even had their pets buried there too.

I did like seeing this memorial to all the American Veterans. 

We were only able to stay there for a short while before it was time to go to other parts of the city.  One of the main things about the city is that it has canals running through it.  These canals are important for draining the waters when it rains.  I like the way they made them into beautiful places. 

One of the area's was turned into a city park that covered  a lot more area than central park in New York city.  Here's what Wikipedia says about City Park (  New_Orleans_City_Park   ).
The park is famous for its live oak trees that are so massive.

Live Oak in City Park - New Orleans

Frequently these oaks get so massive the branches literally end up resting on the ground.  When they do they form these wonderful shaded areas and give you the feeling of being under a natural canopy.

Oak branch resting on the ground in Central Park - New Orleans.

I thought this was an interesting structure.  It used to be used to hold dances.

City Park Peristyle, New Orleans

The tour bus stopped here.  Its a local cafe where most of the people got off to get a drink or an ice-cream cone. I wasn't in the mood for that stuff and went wondering around instead.

One of the things that caught my eye was this structure.

Popps Bandstand

It's called Popps Bandstand and at first I thought the guide said 'pop' not realizing it was named after someone - I should have known better.

As I was trying to get a good angle for the photo - I could help but notice a mother and her young daughter have so much fun dancing  under it.  I didn't want to disturb them and so I just let them do their thing and enjoyed seeing them be so carefree and have so much fun.  I made me remember times when my boys were young and we would do fun things like that.  I hope they always have found memories of that day just like I do with my children and the visits to the park.

Here is another oak tree that is covered in spanish moss.   It was so pretty and restful, and I could understand why the family chose that spot for their picnic.

The children had a lot of fun climbing on it and playing around it. 

Another image of Popps bandstand. 

Popps Bandstand - City Park New Orleans, LA

Finally the mother and daughter got tired of dancing and headed off the bandstand area.

You could tell this park was built awhile back.  I loved all the architectural feature it had on its structures. Like this fern stand on the edge of the bridge.

They had a lot of palm trees growing in the park too.  I just loved the texture these palms had for their trunks.

This was one of my favorite areas to see.  I thought it was so calm and peaceful there.  There were people sitting all around it and I was amazed I was able to get this image with no one in it.  I think this is the Bayou Metaire.

The bayou in Central Park - New Orleans

I

Some more views of it with the spainish moss hanging down.

Another picture of the architectural feature on one of the bridges.

The New Orleans Art Museum.

We couldn't stay long at the park - there were people needing to get back so they could go on the riverboat cruise and tour.  We took a different way from which we came and we got to see these modern day canals that are used to empty the city of its rain water.

We ended up in the garden district and also went along St Charles Avenue. 

It was weird seeing rail-tracks go down the streets like they did.

One of many churches they have in the city.

I loved seeing all the old architectural  features on some of the buildings.

Loyola College

Traveling along St Charles avenue we saw some houses all decked out for Halloween.

This is some famous house but I forgot who's it is now.  It sure was pretty.  While we were traveling in the area we noticed that there were 3  or 4 movies being filmed at the time.  Their big moving vans were blocking a lot of what we would normally see.  New Orleans has become quite the place to make movies and you'd be surprised at all the ones that have been made there recently.

Another house ready for Halloween

This was built by the same person who designed the Eiffel tower in France and was suppose to replicate a part of it.  I just wished we could have stopped and gotten a better look at it.

Finally we were headed back to the downtown area. 

As far as the downtown is concern its your pretty typical American city downtown complete with skyscrapers.

New Oreleans is famous for its Superdome and no tour would be complete without going by it too. (wiki/Superdome New Orleans )

I loved the way they had these big looking cans of Zatarans.  Anyone who's lived in Louisiana knows that Zatarans sure can help you when you want to make a quick and Cajun tasting food dish. 

New Orleans Superdome

That's it for the city tour but not for the trip.  I'll be blogging more. 

Years ago in 2007, I went to New Orleans and got these two pictures.  I always liked them and don't want to loose them so I'm putting them  here.