March 14, 2016
New Orleans, LA

Today we drove the 56 miles to New Orleans. The trip down I-10 showed us that there are still a lot of damaged houses and buildings that have not been rebuilt. We drove to 501 Basin Street where the Visitor Center is located. There we bought all day tickets for the City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off tour bus. This is similar to the tours we took in DC, Charleston, and Savannah run by Old Town Trolley however this tour bus was not a great experience. The buses were double decker with limited seating and only ran every 30 minutes and based on capacity you might have to wait another 30 minutes for a second bus....not good.

 

The route they take goes through the French Quarter, French Market, Jackson Square, Downtown, Astrodome, and Gardens. Since we just had the day, we chose to visit the French Quarter, French Market, and Jackson Square.

The architecture was very unique, just like you've seen in pictures and movies.

 

We spent most of out time on Decatur Street which borders the Mississippi River.

By the time we got to the French Market it was lunch time so we had our first taste of the local cuisine at The Gazebo Café.

Most of the places had some type of live music playing, of course, Jazz, Blues, or Dixieland.

We ordered the local favorites, Jambalaya and Muffaletta.

 

The Muffaletta is an Italian sandwich with cheese, ham, salami, bologna, and olives...and that was just a half order..... Both were very good.

Next to the French Market is Jackson Square which is a nice park dedicated to Andrew Jackson.

We couldn't visit New Orleans without stopping at Café Du Monde for Beignets...

They were really good and very messy...powdered sugar everywhere.

And of course no trip to New Orleans would be complete without a visit to a cemetery.

They were lined up to get in.... never expected that, and of course the live music. By the way the white pyramid inside to the left (you just see the tip) is Nicolas Cage's..... of course he's not there yet....the things you see and learn in New Orleans ;>)

We had a great time visiting the City and checking off another bucket list item.