Exploring the Big Easy

Saturday, December 11, 2004 - Streetcars and Markets

I ate the bread pudding for breakfast,

Bread pudding

and we went down for the orientation at 10. We got cranberry juice to drink (there were free bloody mary's and margeritas but we didn't want any) and a piece of king cake (sickeningly sweet).

They told us about some restaurants which were good places to eat (Central Market, Uglesichs, Mother's and Port O Call), explained the cuisine, and we learned about how the locals talk.

Mother's Restaurant

We saw Mother's from the tour bus but never got to eat there.

It took a little while, but I finally got used to calling them STREETCARS. Because they are NOT trolley cars. That's a GREAT faux pas (French for 'bad idea'). But there are other, less obvious specifically New Orleans idioms.

• Dressed = Sandwiches served with lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise i.e. -"the works"
• Makin' groceries = Buying groceries
• Neutral Ground. = Median or grassy area between the paved areas on a boulevard where the STREETCARS run.

Streetcar Rails in the Neutral Ground

• Parish - -Louisiana has Parishes not Counties.
• The Parish refers to Chalmette, a suburb outside New Orleans.
• Police Jury -- Like a City Council, but has more legal authority
• Twinspan = twin bridges connecting the Northshore at Slidell with New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain.
• Uptown = Area "upriver" from the French Quarter

Here are some pronounciations:

• Banquett (ban' ket) = Sidewalk-- originally French meaning a small bank along the road
• Calliope Street (Cal' i ope) (The ope said like rope--no "e" heard) Don't ask where "Cal-lie-o-pea" is, nobody will understand what street you're looking for!
• Fais do-do (Fay' dough dough) = A Cajun dance party, after the children have gone to sleep
• Gris gris (gree gree) = Voo Doo good luck charm
• Lagniappe (lan' yap) = Something extra that you didn't pay for--thrown in to sweeten the deal--like a baker's dozen .
• Muffuletta (Moo Fa' lotta) = Round, fat sandwich filled with salami-type meats, mozzarella cheese, pickles, and olive salad.
• Pirogue (Pee' row) = Flat-bottom canoe
• Tchoupitoulas Street (Chop a two' les) (tricky to say AND spell)
• Vieux Carre' (Vooo ca ray') (View ca ray') French for "Old Quarter", this is a term used for the French Quarter including world-famous Bourbon Street

I had made a list of tours I wanted to take, and one of them was a city tour. I have been to New Orleans before (albeit 44 years ago) and I remember a little bit about it, but Bob has never been. So I asked the front desk to book it for me in a small van so that it could get into the French Quarter rather than one of the big greyhound type buses. She required a cash down payment. I also want to do the battlefield tour which takes you on a paddlewheel riverboat down to the site of the Battle of New Orleans, and a Swamp Tour and a Plantation Tour.

We walked down to the check cashing place on the other side of Canal to buy a three day pass (called a Jazzy Pass) for each of us on the buses and trolleys - oops - excuse me. They aren't trolleys, they are street cars.

Detail of the Ritz Carlton

Ignatius J. Reilly

A statue of Ignatius J. Reilly was in the window of the Chateau Sonesta which was formerly the D. H. Holmes Department Store. It was made famous, or infamous by John Kennedy Toole’s 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces." Ignatius J. Reilly is the main protagonist.

Statue of Ignatius J. Reilly

Bourbon meets Canal from the Neutral Zone

Then we got on the Canal street car (which have just been replaced this year)

Streetcar up close - Canal Street Line

The Canal Street Line (#42-45) runs from the foot of Canal Street at the Mississippi River, along Canal Street, to Carrollton Avenue. An extension of this line runs to New Orleans City Park for access to the New Orleans Museum of Art. These cars and the Riverfront line cars are red. The Riverfront line runs along the Mississippi River from Esplanade Avenue, at the far end of the French Quarter, to the Convention Center. The streetcars run twenty-four hours a day, except during Mardi Gras parades. During peak hours, they come along about every five minutes. The seat backs reverse, so you can adjust them to face your companions. To stop the streetcar, pull the overhead wire.

Conductor

The conductors are usually happy to call out your stop if you tell them where you want to go.

Front of the Shops at Canal Place: Under the Wyndham

This is a shopping mall with a lot of exclusive or expensive shops including 301Canal Street Saks Fifth Avenue 504-524-2200

Harrahs from streetcar stop

Since gambling is illegal in Louisiana, Harrah's offers gaming instead. It is available 24/7, so it goes on at night too. We considered going there for dinner, but just never got to it.

Harrah's

We went down to the riverfront area and transferred to another car and rode down to the French market. Had we been paying cash for this it would cost $3.00 for the two of us except that as old people, we could have paid just 80 cents.

Streetcar Conductor changing the line

Fort St Charles Sign

On October 25, 1769, under General O’Reilly, Spanish Governor of Louisiana, were executed French patriots and martyrs: de Lafreniere, Marquis, Noyan, Caresse, Milhet, Villere having died previously.
New Orleans Colonial Forts

French Forts (1708 - 1765)
Very little was built until 1729, when a palisade was built around the city, with small blockhouses at the corners, and a moat was begun but not completed. More elaborate defenses were constructed in 1754 and 1760. A moated embankment with nine bastions encircled the city, known as Condé's, Kerliree's (Kerlerec's), St. Louis, Choiseuel's, Orleans, Bayou Redan, Berry's, D'Abbadie's, and Charles' Bastions. This enclosed area is now known as the French Quarter.

Spanish Forts (1766 - 1803)
The Spanish soon abandoned the poor-condition French works. In 1792, the Spanish did some building in order to defend against the French including Fort St. Charles, previously French Charles' Bastion, located at Esplanade and North Peters Aves.

Hotel

Parking Sign

NO Parking
____________
Ordinance 38-239
Prohibits
Parking
On Median
(neutral ground)
And
Adjacent to
Median
Curb
D.S.

Median where there is No Parking

When we had our orientation lecture, they told us that the French Market would be open every day, but the weekends - particularly Saturday - would be better. I often go to the Big Pine Flea Market in the Florida Keys. They have everything from seconds on clothing to binoculars, antiques and jewelry to tomatoes. And I like to browse among the stands - it is interesting even if I don't buy anything. So I thought the French Market would be something like that. I was disappointed. We spent the morning walking through the 'flea market' which wasn't nice funky things that I expected, but was jewelry and souvenirs - most of it new.

Wallets and souvenirs under cover

Bob by a stall with artwork

Even though the website says: Vendors from all over the world bring their merchandise to this open-air shoppers' paradise in the French Market's Community Flea Market. Handmade clothing as well as fine silver and jewelry can be found in this eclectic setting open 7 days a week I felt that what was for sale was all samey schlock - nothing of interest even if someone were to give it to me. All new stuff. I couldn't find anything I would want to have as a souvenir or give someone.

Beads and more

large dragons and pottery

Street outside market

The Farmer's Market section was much more interesting where they have various kinds of food Unfortunately, this section of the market seems to get smaller each year. There was also some food but it was mostly very expensive.

Farmer's Market entrance

Another view of the farmer's market

We did buy some pralines here from the Evans stand which were excellent (and soon disappeared).

Praline Box

Another Box and individual praline

But Bob prefers to use a regular market with more reasonable prices when he actually shops for food.

Leaving the French Market

There were bands playing for tips and various performances also going on.

We Play For TIps

Benches in Latrobe Park

This is a small park which is adjacent to/integrated into the cafe that is next to it. When we saw it, there was a musical combo playing there.The park honors Benjamin Latrobe, designer of the city's first waterworks.

About the time my feet gave out it was noon, and I spotted the Cafe du Monde across the street - this is a famous place that Rachael Ray (Food Channel) ate breakfast in on $40/day - they do beignets 24/7.

Dog waiting for his master outside Cafe Du Monde

So we went in

From the inside looking out

Menu board at the Original Cafe du Monde

Me taking my picture in the mirrored wall

Bob in the mirror

and had lunch which I didn't know was possible. I had a

spinach quiche ($5.99)

and Bob had a

Decatur club sandwich ($6.99)

and we had cranberry juice to drink, plus I got three beignets for $1.50 as dessert. I thought they tasted like funnel cakes.

Beignets

Our bill

Beads, Masks and T-Shirts

I took this picture as I was walking by the shop. It is a typical souvenier shop in the French Quarter, selling beads, post cards, T-shirts and other Mardi Gras stuff. I have no idea what the name of the store is or even exactly where it is. I just thought the mannequins in the store were funny

Bob standing on sidewalk

I took a picture of Joanie on a Pony (Joan of Arc - Maid of Orleans). Because Jeanne is so important a symbol for French people, I was quite interested to find in new Orleans the exact original replica of the statue that stands prominently in Orleans, France : it was presented to the City of New Orleans as a gift from the people of France by President Charles de Gaulle, in 1959, during his state visit here.

Joan of Arc statue on Decatur St.

Then we went in and browsed in the Central Grocery which is supposed to make very good muffulatta. There was a line around the store waiting for them.

Central Grocery Storefront

Muffulatta prices

hams and other non perishables - Central grocery

Counter inside

Fountain sculpture near French Market

Musicians on the Levee - they look cold

Then we got back on the streetcar,

Bob at the Riverfront Streetcar Station

Back on the streetcar

and I intended to go out to City Park and perhaps take a carriage ride (they mostly use mules for the carriages because they say that mules withstand the heat better). But enroute I saw an art fair, so we got off and walked through that.

Booths at the fair

Although there are paintings and art visible in the picture, there are only two places where I can see a label which would indicate what the vendor's name was. One of the artists is Kathleen Olson Grumich of Nouveau Deco Inspirations who paints on silk clothing, and the other is Hidden Women of the Sea. But there were many other artists here at this little street fair, along with a jazz band. This was much more like what I had expected from the French Market and did not see. Hidden Women of the Sea makes jewelry out of those broken glass pieces that are smoothed by the sand and the sea. Their website says that they are three friends, and they make pendants, earrings and such items.

Musicians on break

I would have bought something there, but I lost Bob (temporarily) and he had the money. So when I got back home to Maryland, I tracked down the artist on the internet and bought something from her.

Kathleen Olson's silk scarves

Neutral Ground "Uptown"

Then Bob walked to a regular grocery store (Robert's) across the street

Robert's sign

and bought some tea and bread and margarine, and we hopped back on the next streetcar back to the hotel. Bob doesn't think much of the streetcar's hard wooden seats.

Canal Street streetcar - route 42 cemeteries

Picture taken from the Canal Street line

Hairspray showing at the movie theater

Streetcar tracks from the Street Car

We were really too tired to go out for dinner, so we went across the street to the Half Shell again I had a

Shrimp Salad($14.95)

which was HUGE, and seafood chowder which came with a scoop of rice in it.

Seafood Chowder

Bob had a house salad and the BBQ shrimp, which basically was whole shrimp (heads and all) in a kind of spicy sauce.

BBQ Shrimp

We shared a bread pudding for dessert. The total bill was $43.65 plus tip.

December 12, 2004 - Sunday 1st part - City Tour

I had booked the city tour for Sunday, but when we looked at the weather, we found that it was supposed to get very cold on Tuesday. So I decided that it would be good to do all the boat stuff before then because otherwise it would be way too cold.

I was down to the front desk by 8:50 to be ready to book the Battlefield tour and the swamp tour at 9 (when the front desk person came in) before our city tour picked us up at 9:30.

Bob came down about 9:25, and I was just finishing up (paying the cash for the deposits), so quickly took my wallet back and left it in the room (leaving a notice on the door that we didn't want the room cleaned) got my coat and waited in the window seat section. I was careful to book this tour in a small van rather than a big bus so that it could get into the French Quarter.

After the little tour van picked us up, he took us to the old Ramada (which is now the Park Plaza) to finish paying. I went up to the ladies room

Hotel stairs flanked by poinsettias

New Orleans is apparently a hard drinking town.

The NOPD says: "New Orleans is a 24 hour city with an open container law. The drinking age is 21. The police are tolerant of drinking in public in the French Quarter as long as you do not have an open can or glass container. Bars and restaurants will give you a plastic "go cup" when you leave their establishment. Obnoxious intoxicated behavior and urinating in public are not tolerated and you can expect to be arrested immediately. While we want you to have a good time in New Orleans, you must remember that we have residents whose peace must not be disturbed. You can drink in public but you cannot become intoxicated, damage property, injure anyone, or sleep on the property of others. "

I had no idea that anyplace other that St. Mary's County MD (where I am from) offered Go Cups. I don't know what Go Cups in New Orleans are, but in St. Mary's, they are plastic cups with ice, and you get a miniature at the drive-in window of the local bar. I was somewhat amused to see this sign on the back of the ladies room door at the Ramada/Park Plaza hotel.

Ladies Room Warning Sign

The tour was $40 each. It was to last 2.5 hours, and he did a good job about explaining the New Orleans history and architecture - raised houses, shotgun houses, camel back houses etc.

1515 Poydras (formerly the Gulf Building),

1515 Poydras located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 29-story, 341-foot-tall skyscraper.

The famous architecture in New Orleans is in the French Quarter (really Spanish architecture but who's going to quibble). The narrow buildings with wrought iron decorated balconies and courtyards, the shotgun and camelback houses have been pictured many times. But New Orleans is a living city, not a museum like Williamsburg for instance. So there are various architectural styles, and there are newer buildings some of which (like this one) are equally beautiful. I took this picture from the tour bus, of a hanging scaffold on this building (probably a window washer).

1555 Poydras St

The 22-story building is owned by East Skelly LLC and managed by Jones, Lang, LaSalle Americas Inc. Hebeisen Associates was the architect. I'm not sure what kind of company East Skelly LLC is except that it is based in Chicago. It's not just a pretty face. In 2002, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA awarded 1555 Poydras its 18th annual “The Office Building of the Year,” or TOBY, awards (which recognize for excellence in building operating standards, tenant and employee relations programs, energy management systems, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, emergency evacuation procedures and training programs for building personnel) in the category of buildings 250,000 to 499,999 square feet

Vietnam Veterans's Memorial framed by flags

This bronze statue on the Poydras Street side of the Superdome is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It reminded me of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington D.C.

Huge clarinet on the Holiday Inn from tour bus

Gallier Hall

Gallier Hall was discovered to be infested with termites and had to have extensive treatment and renovation.

Parade viewing stands on Gallier Hall steps

Even "off season", Mardi Gras is a big part of New Orleans. This picture - taken December 12th 2004 - shows the stands being built on the steps of the Gallier Hall to get ready for the Mardi Gras parade The next Mardi Gras was to be February 24th 2005. Of course the official Mardi Gras celebration always begins January 6th. In addition to serving as a place for a reviewing stand, many important people in Louisiana history lay in state in this building - in the distant past, Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard, in the more recent past, New Orleans music legends Ernie K-Doe and Earl King to name a few.

Soule College

Next to Gallier Hall is the building which housed the now defunct Soule College. Founded by Colonel George Soule (1834-1926) in 1856, the college was the oldest business and commercial school in New Orleans. It closed in 1983. The college was located at Buckner Mansion, 1410 Jackson Avenue of the New Orleans Garden District.

Gordon Biersch

This apparently is a chain of breweries which has its headquarters in California. I haven't been here. The sign says that they brew beer on the premises, and the URL has a menu which looks quite reasonable

Riverwalk sign

Riverwalk is not a walk along the river as you might expect from the name. It is a shopping center type place.

Galvez statue

This is a statue to Bernardo de Galvez who was the Governor of Louisiana from 1777 to 1785 (during the Revolution). Galveston Texas was named for him.

The plaque on it says

The government of
Spain donates this
statue to the city of
New Orleans to
commemorate the
bicentennial year of
the Independence of the
United States to which
the Spanish Government
so decisively
contributed.

Ferry terminal

Window with tour bus reflected in it

Note the metal plaque on the right - it covers the end of a reinforcing beam

Windows detail

Carriage at Jackson Square from the tour bus

Reflection of bus seat back in window as we pass Cafe du Monde

Old U.S. Mint

The Old U.S. Mint holds the distinct title of being the only mint to produce American and Confederate coinage.

Decatur St.

Entrance to the museum of the Old Ursuline Convent

The Old Ursuline Convent is the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley. Constructed by French Colonial Engineers under the auspices of the crown, the convent was designed in 1745 and completed in 1752-1753. The museum is opened for self-guided tours

Balconies

More modern wrought iron

Shotgun Houses in New Orleans

Shotgun house

Our guide explained typical architecture, like the Shotgun House - one room wide, with all the rooms are in a straight line from front to back. Theoretically if you fired a shotgun into the front door it would go straight through and out the back door. But practically speaking the doors of the rooms may not line up.

The Architectural Patrimony site says:

The rooms of a shotgun house are usually of a good size, approximately 14 feet square and have high ceilings. They usually have some decoration such as moldings, ceiling medallions, and elaborate woodwork. It is a wooden frame structure, with drop siding on the front and lap siding on the sides and back. Decoration includes fancy brackets supporting the overhang, quoins at each corner and segmented arch shutters covering the door and window openings... built on a solid brick foundation wall in the front covered in plaster with two cast iron vents. Brick piers along each side support the rest of the house... The fireplaces down the center of a double house provide support as well. The shotgun is typically raised 2 1/2 to 3 feet above ground level in deference to the New Orleans climate. Black slate typically covers the roof...
Shotgun houses were built from after the Civil War through through the 1920's.

The Camelback House has a second floor in the back of the house only. It has a very similar plan (the house is one room wide), except for the addition of stairs to the second floor. The "hump" can contain from one to four rooms.

Shotgun camelback house from the tour bus

Camelback house

Detail of New Orleans architecture

From under the expressway

Man on a ladder

We saw the corn fence in the St. Charles district (but I didn't get a good photo)

Garden District Victorian

Milton H. Latter Memorial

The Milton H. Latter mansion is a public library.

In 1859, architects Henry Howard and Albert Diettel designed this house for Cyprien Dufour and his wife, Louise Donnet. M. Dufour was a prominent attorney and essayist, who served over the years as New Orleans District Attorney, assistant Attorney General of Louisiana, state senator and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1851. The Dufours sold the home to Albert and Arthemise Bouligny Baldwin in 1870. Mr. Baldwin was a leading businessman and philanthropist. The Baldwin family remained in the house until 1912.

Dufour-Baldwin House

Wrought Iron Fence

Other Buildings in the Garden District

House with historic marker from the tour bus

and went to Cemetery #3 where we could get out and walk around.

St. Louis #3 cemetery sign

Tombs lined up along the street in St. Louis #3

One of the cemetery roads

I was taking a lot of photos for cemetery documentation

Tomb for Little Sisters of the Poor

Tomb furniture

Tomb

Space between tombs where someone could hide

Our city tour took us to St. Louis Cemetery #3. I didn't know it at the time, but the cemetery that people usually visit is St. Louis Cemetery #1 which has a high rate of crime associated with it. There are plenty of places to hide due to the monuments being above ground, and then the miscreants can jump out and mug or rob people. Perhaps that is one reason that we went to #3. I did not have any idea that I should stay with the group to be safe, and the guide did not warn us to do so. But I didn't see anyone there other than our group. So maybe there was no problem, and maybe I was just lucky.

Monument to the Gallier family

The guide explained the procedures. In the big mausoleums there was not room for all of the bodies. So the un-embalmed bodies were put in the wall in what were called 'ovens' for a year and a day. After a year and a day, the heat of New Orleans would decomposed the body down to the bones. The bones could then be removed to the permanent resting place.

Our guide explaining the "ovens"

Fairway by the Ovens in the wall

Tombs in St. Louis Cemetery #3

Our guide down at the end in the aqua jacket

Guide next to a tomb

He made a big deal of the reason that the graves were above ground was because flooding would wash them up. I thought he was trying to make it really creepier than it was, and then realized that most folks don't have anatomists for fathers, and haven't spent their childhood in the Gross Anatomy lab where the medical students dissect cadavers like I have.

Aisle of Angels

Member of the tour group near a tomb

Individual tomb

As we were finishing up our city tour, and just before we went to City Park, we passed the Greenwood Cemetery and I took this picture from the bus. We didn't get a chance to tour it. This is the fireman's cemetery. It was founded by the Firemen’s Charitable & Benevolent Association (FCBA) in 1852 as permanent memorials to the volunteer firemen. This was the first above ground cemetery that was built without walls. In 1852, an epidemic of yellow-fever struck in the US. By 1853, over 8,000 in the city had expired from the disease. Greenwood’s one hundred and fifty acres provided a place to bury the dead. Twenty years later, Greenwood became home to the first Civil War memorial in New Orleans. A low mound marks the mass grave of six hundred Confederate soldiers. A statue of a Confederate infantryman resting on his rifle is on the top.

B.P.O.E. tomb Lodge No 30

..The fraternal order was founded in 1868 by a group of actors and musicians in New York. A majestic bronze elk stands guard over a burial mound blanketed with grass. A marble chamber beneath contains eighteen burial vaults. Its granite entrance employs the Doric style in its use of two fluted columns supporting an entablature. A clock with hands pointing to the 11th hour, symbolic of a ritual toast to absent members, adorns the pediment. Bronze doors seal the entry. The tomb was erected in 1912 by Albert Weiblen, a German immigrant and one of the most successful builders of tombs and cemetery monuments in the South.

Another photo of the cemetery from the bus

We ended up in City Park, but I didn't get a chance to do more than just walk around a bit. There was a play area for children, and I saw the Art Museum through the trees, and we saw some sculptures from the bus. There is also a Botanical Garden and various concert venues. But I have the feeling that City Park is more for residents than visitors.

Band Pavillion

City Park Bridge

Bayou in City Park

Reflected bridge

NOMA through the trees

We didn't get to the New Orleans Museum of Art, or the Sculpture Garden that is with it except that our city tour ended in City Park. Although come to think of it, we were there on a Monday and it would have been closed then.

Tinken Center

We could get out and use the bathroom or we could have had lunch at the snack bar

Counter with park employee