New Orleans

This is my as-promised post about my actual trip to New Orleans.

Joe and I stayed in the French Quarter, essentially smack-dab in the middle of the city. We stayed one block off of Bourbon Street, which is party central. Spring break meets Las Vegas: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on Bourbon Street. New Orleans has no bar closing time, you are free to walk the streets with an open alcoholic beverage, and people puke, defecate, pass out, beg, and some even live on these streets. Therefore, every morning at like 5 or 6 AM the Department of Public Works strolls the streets and pressure-washes all of this human waste into the curb and gutters. Very dirty French influence, eh?

Needless to say, I hated, absolutely HATED the nighttime scene there. Sorry, it's just not very 'Ashley.' The city is pleasant and there's lots to look at during the day time....but as of 5 PM, I just personally have to evacuate from the city.

Joe and I still strolled the streets at night to catch pictures of everything, and I was personally so uncomfortable that we were back in the hotel room just sitting there watching TV by 9:30 PM.

Here are some photos snapped of New Orleans at night:

I was ready to leave that night, but I figured to give the city another try when the sun was up - therefore, we stayed through to see the city on Sunday as originally planned.

So we got up on Sunday and ate probably the best continental breakfast I'll ever find again:

I think the icing to my breakfast cake was parked right outside the window at my table: this lovely Volkswagen Jetta (made me think of you all breakfast, Chris!!) :

After the meal we walked the streets to take photos of what everything looked like during the day. It was MUCH better, since the whole city was hungover and passed out somewhere, so Joe and I owned the place. Here are some of those photos:

Cafe Du Monde - the world famous coffee shop that makes beignets. This particular restaurant has been featured on the Travel Channel numerous times - and it's standing room only with waiting lines at every entrance.

Cool New Orleans Police Department sidewalk cruisers - taking on the crowds and streets 4WD style!

Creepy statue guy - all painted and clothed in bronze coloring. He'd stand still to act like a statue, and then lunge as you'd walk past, to freak you out. He was acting like a baseball player, throwing pitches at you as you walked past.

Second creepy statue guy - he danced like a robot allll day long. Here he is between songs.

For Jared - a New Orleans French-style Walgreens. :)

I think the 'Homeless Assistance Collaborative' van really completes this photo.

Louisiana Superdome - the main refuge for all the New Orleans citizens. It borders the seediest part of town.

The above photo is of our hotel courtyard - outdoor pool. :)

A peek at downtown New Orleans.

The 'good' part of town.

After walking the town, we jumped up to take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city. The carriage driver was a narrator, and gave us a commentary of what we were seeing as we were riding past it.

Parallel-parked horses!

The carriage ride.

Our horse, 'gassing up' for our tour.

The following photos depict what was explained to us on our tours:

Hot dog stands - found all over New Orleans.

Some famous cathedral in New Orleans - it's been rebuilt three times in its 270-year lifespan due to hurricane maulings. Recall that the whole city is only 4 feet above seal level - MUCH different than the high altitudes Heidi or Colin are experiencing out west in Seattle!!

The doorstep of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's New Orleans home. They're allegedly due back in town next week. Our tour guide was acquainted with the house and apparently has had coffee with Pitt in the past. Nicholas Cage is another celebrity that lives in this city; he bought a famous haunted house in the city and throws "crazy awesome parties" for the locals.

A well-renowned hotel in the New Orleans area that is several hundred years old. If you look closely you'll see that the front wrought-iron fence is actually carved to look like corn husks. Wives tales say that the hotel's original owner built this fence for his wife, who was an Iowa native and was homesick. So, he put up something to resemble the corn fields she pined for.

Really, the tour was my favorite thing to do all weekend. Joe and I figured out that each carriage was independently owned and operated, so therefore each carriage driver had different history and stories to tell. It would have been worth it to ride on every carriage, just to hear it ALL.

Needless to say we didn't have time for that - just time for some huge ice cream sundaes from a Marble Slab Creamery in town prior to getting a taxi to the Amtrak station to head back to Jackson.

I close this (apologetically) loooong post with a photo of the interior of the train station....including all of the exhausted/tired/inebriated passengers that boarded the train with us:
The Amtrak starts in New Orleans, and travels all the way north to Chicago. Our passengers ranged from Jackson folk just like ourselves, to Memphis folks, all the way north to Chicago folks.

4 hours to Jackson, and I was jumping back into the Beetle at the Jackson train station. My last weekend spent in Mississippi had just come to a close.