The fifth day of our trip was the first, and pretty much day of the entire trip where we did not do hours worth of driving. In fact, since we did not do great distances on this day, but instead pretty much spent the entire day in and around New Orleans (technically, our hotel was in a neighboring suburb, I believe), then it permitted us to take a bit of a break in between, just to get out of the heat a little bit, and cool off in the air-conditioned hotel.
Yet, it proved to be a pretty busy day, nevertheless. First, we visited City Park, which is a great park, the biggest one in this city. In fact, it is bigger than New York's Central Park, which is saying something. And there was plenty to visit there. We walked around, first stopping at the Café du Monde right in the middle of the park. We sat and enjoyed some jazz music from the band playing there, and relaxed in the shade. It was fairly early, but it was already stiflingly hot.
After that, we walked around a bit. There was a pond with a stone bridge over it, and I remembered having seen a picture of it somewhere when I was exploring places to visit in the city. Indeed, the whole scene was beautiful. There were palm trees right alongside the pond, there were massive trees with Spanish Moss providing wonderful shade just steps away from the pond. And there was lush, green grass and attractive architecture. This was kind of what I was expecting to see from New Orleans.
Right next to the park, or perhaps it is a part of it, was the Sculpture Garden next to the New Orleans Museum of Art. There were some very interesting sculptures, and the landscaping was accommodating to focus on them. Again, though, the heat was not, and it was proving a bit too much for us. And so we went back to the hotel for a brief while to rest up and cool off before the steamboat ride along the Mississippi.
We arrived fairly early for the steamboat tour, and got seats facing the city. The jazz band was indeed there, but it felt to both my son and myself like they took breaks more often than played music. Still, nonetheless, it sounded good while they played. Also, it cooled off quite a bit. Perhaps it was because we were traveling in the middle of a wide river, and there was just a little bit of a breeze going. That, plus the fact that the sun had gone down, made it a lot more comfortable. We saw the Vieux Carré, especially St Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square, as well as the rest of the New Orleans skyline, both during the daylight and the dark of night, with the city lights. It was fantastic. I could not stop thinking of Mark Twain, being on a steamboat along the Mississippi River, although I suspect that I was probably the only one who was reminded of that, and probably for no particular reason, at that.
Once the boat came in and docked, my son and I walked to the Vieux Carré We arrived at Jackson Square (which was closed) with the impressive St Louis Cathedral, and snapped some night shots before heading towards Bourbon Street. One of the bucket list items for me was to go to New Orleans, of course, but one of the main things that seemed like a must, if not the main thing, was to take in the nightlife, and nowhere is the nightlife as crazy or famous as along Bourbon Street. There was indeed a crazy scene, and there was one woman I saw who seemed to have gone virtually naked, with a see thru dress that included what seemed like a shoestring to cover her ass. It was a bit strange to have brought my son here, but he is now a teenager, and it nevertheless is an experience, one unique to New Orleans. Again, neither of us had been to New Orleans before, and when you go there, Bourbon Street at night feels like a must.
Already, between the little bit of the French Quarter that we had seen the previous day and this night, as well as the airboat tour along the swamps and my son feeding alligators, and both of us getting to hold a baby one, as well as this evening's steamboat jazz tour, and of course City Park, we were beginning to really feel like we had seen a decent amount of New Orleans. However, we had yet to really explore the Vieux Carré, or the French Quarter, by day. That would come tomorrow, when we were scheduled for a guided walking tour. For now, we felt like we had enjoyed ourselves a decent day, and were pretty much ready to call it a night. It was getting late, and the next day would indeed be the final full day of our trip. Also, I would have an enormous amount of driving to do the following night, so it was time to get a good rest before all of that.
Café du Monde
City Park & Sculpture Garden
Creole Queen Steamboat Jazz Cruise Along the Mississippi River
New Orleans Night Shots:
No comments:
Post a Comment