New Orleans cont. 2

On Saturday I again had transportation duty to the airport. We went out for a nice breakfast of French toast with brie and caramelized pecans...was it ever rich...This time, however, we had a little more time to explore some more. We went by cemetery in the Garden District. Then we headed off to Slidell to go on a swamp tour. That was a lot of fun and we saw quite a few small alligators, a couple of larger ones, a great blue heron, a great egret, and lots of other interesting things. The guide gave us lots of information about what happened to this area during Katrina but also a lot more information about the area itself. Dropped everyone off at the airport and then headed back to the St. Charles house, had some chicken and turned in to read.

Sunday morning I was on my own. I stayed in bed for a while and finished a book I had been reading, got myself up and out. today I decided I was heading to about three or four different cemeteries. I went to the Lafitte cemetery which is just outside of the French Quarter. This cemetery had more damage to it than any others I had seen. In this picture you can see that some of the marble slabs have come down. Evidently there was a lot of looting of the wrought iron here, as well as other ornamental things.

Here you can see that there has been some fill in where the door area broke open. Caskets were floating around.
You can see some of the aging process. Dirt accumulates and seeds settle in.


Here is the front of one of the tombs.
From there I went to more upscale homes for the dead. You can see row after row and each row backs on to another row with a small alley way between the two of them. This is a huge cemetery. I took lots and lots of pictures of angels which are all on my big camera and I didn't bring my card reader with me.
There is even a pyramid!
And here is the front door.
These things are huge!
After wandering around three cemeteries I headed back to the French Quarter and sat myself down at the Cafe LaMonde for about an hour. I just sat back, listened to the street musicians, took some pictures of people, and just enjoyed the ambiance.

This area is a feast of sensations. Visual, auditory, smells, whatever you want there is over stimulation of the senses. There is a constant hum of voices which sometimes break into raucous laughter but then subside to a gentle roar. But if you really focus, you can turn in just to the music. jazz, blues, it just blows your mind! When you walk down the street there is lots of different music coming out of the various bars and clubs around.

Finally I decided to take one of those mule driven tours in a wagon and really enjoyed seeing all around the French Quarter. Bourbon St. is not the place I want to be and I was glad we went through in the wagon. Lots of people drinking in the streets, many people drunk and lots of beer flowing.

Again, I took lots of pictures of shutters and balconies but they are on my big camera.
Had a great dinner of fried shrimp and then, stuffed to the gills, I headed back to my car and caught this view. On a power tower, there were tons of birds flitting around but I don't know what kind of birds they were.
This morning I am off to explore a different area. Just one more day, today, and then I am off toward home again.