So my second day in New Orleans, it rained ALL DAY. So I relaxed in the morning and worked on this blog, but I didn’t get very far, because of the slow-ass internet at the Air BnB where I was staying, and my phone reception was bad as well. I got out in the late morning and went back to the City Park Sculpture Garden (in the rain) and got some more photos. Be warned that there are some nude sculptures in this post. There were a lot of those in the Sculpture Garden.
I had decided to try a cheaper route to the French Quarter this day after paying for four Lyft trips the day before. I made the choice to take the streetcar from the City Park area all the way to the French Quarter. I parked the car and made sure my phone battery was fully charged. I walked to the nearest streetcar stop, but went through (yet another) cemetery on the way there. This is a Masonic cemetery.
The New Orleans Transit Authority has an app in which you can purchase a day pass and check the app to see when the next street car is due at your stop. The day pass can be scanned directly from your phone as you board the streetcar. Extremely convenient. What is not convenient is checking for the next streetcar. It kept saying that a streetcar was due, but none arrived. So I stood there (in the rain) for 45 minutes during which four outbound streetcars passed going the other way. But hey, I wanted the streetcar experience. It finally arrived.
The streetcar experience.
On to the French Quarter (in the rain). This is the statue honoring Jean Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville, the founder of New Orleans. He was born in Canada, not France.
A lunch/dinner at Gumbo Ya-Ya. Their specialty Gumbo Ya-Ya Gumbo, and a Blackened Chicken Muffaletta.
More exploration of the French Quarter (in the rain). I stopped one final time at Cafe Du Monde for Cafe Au Lait and Beignets.
Jackson Square fittingly has a statue of Andrew Jackson.
This is a Catholic Church off Jackson Square that still has Masses.
On to explore Bourbon Street. Lots of live music, but again, a minimum of two drinks. No thanks, I’ll listen from out here…
Sometimes I wish I were a younger man, but I would be a few dollars lighter after visiting this place.
Getting near time to call it a day, so I headed back to Canal Street to catch the streetcar. I decided to duck into Harrah’s casino to use the restroom, and somehow I came out of there $40 lighter. And I dropped my phone somewhere in there. I discovered this when I walked out and reached for my phone to check the streetcar stops. Sudden panic! I walked back in and told the security guard I had lost my phone and asked her where the lost and found was. She had a phone in her hand and said “could this be your phone?” It looked like mine… she turned it over and had me punch in my access code. It WAS my phone! She said someone had just turned it in to her. Am I lucky or what? I wasn’t as lucky with the one-armed bandit. I’ll take it.
Canal Street at night (in the rain).
I took the streetcar back out to where I parked my car, and I was close to this place: Bud’s Broiler. I wasn’t hungry, so I decided to check this place out another time, possibly on a return trip to New Orleans.
Turns out I didn’t have to do that. My route out of town the next morning took me right by this place. I decided to have a burger breakfast. No, not on the diet, but it was good!
Good bye New Orleans! On to Houston!