A nice sunny day in New Orleans, had breakfast in the hotel and decided to do the bus tour of the city.
The pick up point was only a couple of blocks away outside the Sheraton hotel. We got there in good time, bought the tickets eventually. The attendant's ticket machine wouldn't process my pre loaded currency card, so we had to pay cash.
The bus arrived and we managed to get a seat upstairs, they had a canopy which was good as the sun was quite strong.
Our guide was a guy called Charles, he was really good, very informative and humorous. I don't know how the driver managed to get the bus around some of the streets of New Orleans. Those that weren't narrow often had roadworks in them, making navigation very difficult. She managed though.
It was good to see parts of the city other than Bourbon St.
It is truly a lovely city, the Garden District with the old plantation owners summer houses was stunning. Some fantastic houses and a really nice feel about the area.
They also have a stop on the tour called Mardi Gras World. You can do a tour inside, see how floats and costumes are made then wander around the collection of previous floats, costumes etc.
Amazing place!
New Orleans is nearly 300 years old and surrounded by water, the main reason why it was and still is a major port for trade. It is steeped in history and has many influences. French, Canadian Indians, Spanish,British and of course American.
This is reflected in the architecture, food and language.
Everybody seems to be so laid back and friendly. They certainly do not hurry in this town.
We got of the tour at the French Market area, had a look around the market, then decided to grab something to eat.
We stumbled across the New Orleans branch of B.B.King's restaurant. There was a band playing blues, so in we went. The band, food and beer was really great, we passed away a good hour.
We were by the river walk, so we strolled along this for a short way. The weather was really humid, sunny but sooooo humid.
We got to Jackson Sq and decided to visit the museum to look at the Katrina and Mardi Gras exhibits.
The Katrina exhibition was really moving. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like during that storm. It did appear that the authorities underestimated the storm and then didn't know how to deal with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. It was amazing how quickly the situation changed and became critical.
Some great pictures, testimonies and footage of the whole event. I am sure it was very frightening. Unfortunately the people with the least to lose, those that were poor and lived in the worst areas, suffered the most. Tragic really!
There was also an exhibit about Mardi Gras, I thought it was just a parade like Notting Hill Carnival but it is so much more. It is steeped in history and tradition and some of the costumes and regalia used is unbelievable.
The modern parade covers 6 miles and everyone involved has to dress up. It looks like everyone has a great time!
After the visit to the museum we carried on walking along the river walk, had a beer and eventually made our way back to the hotel via the Hard Rock. It was so hot that we had to stop off and have a few drinks to cool down. We were tired after walking around all day and didn't really want to face Bourbon St later, so we decided to eat in the Hard Rock later.
We got there about 8.30, left about 10, stuffed and tired.
As we got into bed we saw on T.V that there was a severe storm warning and with that the thunder and lightning started! It passed very quickly and we finally went to sleep.
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