We had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans April 15-20 for my sister's wedding on April 17. This post will be more about the city sites.We stayed in the garden district on St. Charles Avenue about 10 blocks from the French Quarter at the Avenue Plaza Resort. Since we were on the 11th floor we had a great view of the city. You can see the Super Dome in the picture taken from the rooftop of our hotel. Driving is a bit difficult in this city since streets don't run north/south, they follow the curve of the water around the city so it's important to learn some basic streets or areas to understand directions. We borrowed a GPS unit and it did come in handy.
We were able to visit the french quarter and as usual there was a festival of some sort. During our afternoon out, David and I ate beignet's at Cafe du Monde, roamed the shops, watched the street artists, and tried on masks.
One of the best parts of the trip was the tours we took. It allowed us to see an overview of the city though the down side was flying right passed an area that sparked our interest. We sailed the Mississippi on the Natchez, a wooden paddle wheel boat. This tour provided information about commerce and the importance of the New Orleans Port for this country.The other tour was by bus through the city to show the French Quarter (old city), the street with Cajun houses on one side and American homes on the other with the "neutral zone" or median in the center. That was an interesting reminder about prejudice and that it comes in all forms. We made two stops, one at a cemetery where the people are buried above ground. The next stop was the City Park which was fabulous. The live oaks are evergreens, some have ferns on the branches called "resurrection fern" because they resurrect after a rain and look green for 9 hours and then lay dormant again. They have added a playground near the "walking oaks" and they are a favorite of kids for climbing. I think the trees and some of the interesting house architectural styles were my two favorite things about New Orleans.
The boys had many first experiences. For the first time they rode a bus, sailed on a boat, and traveled in a street car.
Though not pictured, we drove across the longest continues bridge, 23 miles, across Lake Pontchartrain on two days. There is something about the expanse of water and the clicking of the tires on the bridge added to very tired boys that caused them to fall asleep each time we crossed it.
