January 28-30, 2016
The weather was a little warmer (compared to when we sailed away) upon returning to New Orleans following our 5-day Cruise.
Since we had a couple of days of vacation left, we decided to explore New Orleans. We found a parking lot in the French Quarter, parked then walked the short distance to the streetcar stop and hopped onto the Canal Street Streetcar.
Mardi Gras decorations adorn the buildings.....
...and there is a festive atmosphere everywhere we look...
...the iconic cathedral at Jackson Square. I just finished eating beignets! Delicious!
Wow! There is our cruise shop that we just disembarked from....it looks smaller than it really is!
I love all the enormous live oak tress with air ferns clinging to their large limbs.
After riding the Canal Street Streetcar to the end of its route, then riding it all the way back, we hopped onto a different streetcar and headed out to the Garden District. New Orleans Streetcar system is a great (and cheap) way to see the city!
We crossed the Mississippi River and spent the night in Algiers on the West Bank.
Tom lived in Algiers during his formative years and it was interesting to drive thru its neighborhoods and see where he went to Elementary, Jr. High, and High School. This photo is of the very nice ferry landing in Algiers. The walk-on ferry is a great way to get across the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
So the following day we parked our car at a lot near the ferry landing in Algiers (much more economical than the lots in New Orleans) and rode the ferry back across the River to do some more sightseeing.
We enjoyed strolling along the Mississippi River on the very nice Riverwalk.
We did a walking tour along the River, down past the Cruise Terminal, and to the Mardi Gras Museum.
We ambled thru the warehouse where they store some of the elaborate floats.
Later we enjoyed a Cajun food lunch at an outdoor café in the French Quarter.
We did not want to endure the mayhem that surrounds the Mardi Gras parades in Downtown or the French Quarter, so we opted to see a couple of parades out in the suburbs of Matarie/Kenner.
The floats were not nearly as elaborate as some of the older more established parades but there was a lot of spectators lining the parade route.
The Mardi Gras Parades in the suburbs are more family-oriented so there were hundreds of kids around us.
We watched the Krewe of Excaliber Parade, which did not begin at 7:00 p.m. as advertised, it actual began about 8:15 p.m.! Following it was the Krewe of Athena Parade but by the time it rolled along it was 10:00 p.m. and we were tired so we ducked out of the parking lot onto a back/side street and made our way back to our hotel in Kenner.
The following day we decided we were ready to be home in our own bed by nightfall on this day. I wanted to swing thru the small village of Singer, Louisiana on our way home and also go thru Rosevine, Texas to visit the grave of my daughter, Candace.
My family lived in Singer, La.
in the very early 1950's and that is where I entered school in the first grade when I was five years old. I have a few memories of living there but I have not been back there in more than 50 years so naturally it is nothing like my "childhood memories" of the place. It was a tiny settlement along the railroad tracks back then, it did have a train depot I think, but today there is even less there than I remember. My dad pastored the church there, and back then it was a smaller white wooden structure, and the streets were dirt!
We kept on driving, and soon crossed the Sabine River, making it back to Texas soil! No other place like it!
We stopped at the Rosevine Cemetery and placed new flowers on my daughter Candace's grave. Still hard to believe she is gone.
