Awake: 5:18am Temp 52 sleep 5+54 sunny…windy overnight @ New Orleans, LA.
Again, we drive our Suzuki downtown to the French Quarter & this time park @ one of those…pay for parking sites near the river boat docks; not cheap in this part of town, starting @ $4.00 for the first hour with added cost every hour after.
The Gray Line bus tour we’ve chosen starts @ 11:30am. By the time some (20) people are boarded, Silva, our lady driver/tour guide, introduces herself & briefly informs us of the areas of interest we will be covering for the next (2+) hrs. She’s been driving the bus & giving tours for the last (5) yrs. Turns out, she was absolutely fantastic; she could not only drive that bus like a pro but also was a non-stop oral guide to nearly each & every special building, café, & notorious mansion owners. She had stories about different Parishes; Katrina’s devastation & the wall that folded & flooded the area; Saint Charles Avenue & the homes of former Kings & Queens of Mardi Gras & other stately mansions; the world-famous exclusive Garden District; & Tulane & Loyola Universities, etcetera, etc. She was unbelievable! But wait, there’s more.
Our one stop was a walking Cemetery tour. New Orleans of course, has a very high water table & therefore, the tombs must all be above ground. We toured the St. Louis Cemetery # 1, “Cities of the Dead” &, as expected, Silva kept us locked into every word she uttered; “the tombs serve as monuments to the 18th, 19th, & early 20th centuries & they are part of the city’s unique heritage” she tells us. She mentions many famous & illustrious citizens of New Orleans that are in this cemetery, points out their tombs & interesting trivia.
Unlike many cemeteries where people buy a plot for themselves, here in N.O., the family buys a plot of ground & erects an above-ground tomb which is passed on for generations until all in that lineage are dead. As members of the family pass away, old bones are pushed down into the lower level of the tomb making ready for more. Each tomb has some method of opening a panel to make this possible. Most tombs were well kept, but some were in varying stages of disrepair, probably due to the non-existence of any more family members.
(3) yrs later & Katrina’s devastation was still very evident; water marks could easily be seen on the sides of homes as far up as the attic or roofline. Many homes looked good from a distance until one notices: windows are missing & then closer, the inside has been gutted with only the shell of the house remaining.
And so, we gave Silva a standing ovation for her outstanding (2.5) hrs of “telling us extraordinary & memorable things we didn’t know.” What a great tour we had!
Back to reality & 1st things 1st, we get our high dollar automobile out & away from that expensive parking lot ASAP & with some patient searching; find a legal vacant spot on the street to park with no fees.
Again we are a mere (2) blocks from the Basin Street Information Station so we ask the lady: “where can we board the Trolley that runs up & down St. Charles Ave?” She gets out the map, draws the line & away we walk. The St. Charles Avenue Streetcar, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Planning for the line began in 1831.
Riding the bus tour thru St. Charles Ave was so interesting that we wanted to do it again &, this time, by trolley. $1.25 for each one way. I had taken my hat off for picture taking & left it on the trolley @ the terminus without knowing; back @ our starting point, we waited for (15) min for that same trolley to return, searched the seats & found my coveted hat. Darkness is nearing so we walk back to our car, fuel up the Suzuki @ the Pick & Go gas Station; 12.6 gal @ $1.86 per gal. We return to our bus shortly after 7:00pm.
My brother calls from PA; we update each other on our respective activities; Don tells me they have less than an inch of snow on the ground.
Dinner: leftover stuffed peppers with hamburger & ground Italian sausage, whole wheat bread & mango slices.
We finish watching: “Churchill” part I.
Lights out: 11:28pm
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