We wandered down to the French Quarter on non-fat Tuesday.
It was hot and humid. We had to go into a couple of bars while we were wandering around
We got tired of walking around so it was easy for the mule carriage guy to talk us into a tour. Horses don't like the climate, but mules are ok with it. The mule's name is Freckles. The tour was only 30 minutes or so, but worth it.
When you picture the French Quarter, you picture second floor balconies with wrought iron railings. This is the first iron railing put up in the city. After this one, everyone else had to copy it. I don't remember the lady's name, but her initials are in the design.
And because every fad has to be taken to ridiculous extremes, this is the famous corn fence. It's very tacky. The picture doesn't do the tackiness justice.
Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded New Orleans. Because this was 1718 and in the middle of a swamp, they didn't have the ability to build dikes and things to hold back the water, so they built on hills and solid ground. That's why when Hurricane Katrine flooded the rest of the city, but the old city (and French Quarter) did not flood.
Most buildings in the French Quarter date back to 1822. They oldest building was built in 1922. Not flooding helps the old districts. You can do whatever you want on the inside of the buildings, but you can't touch the outsides. The most you can do is prop things up so the buildings stay up. You look at some of them and wonder how they stay up.
You never know what you will get when you take a tour of New Orleans. The carriage was going down Peters Street along the river when a naked lady came out of a little strip mall. She was very angry and yelling. I couldn't make out what she was yelling about. The tour guide said that was nowhere the weirdest thing he has seen. Also, somewhere deep in the French Quarter, we saw a camera crew with a blond lady in front of them. It looked like they were filming a news report. When we got next to them, the lady was talking to the camera about giant sharks in the city. Maybe they are filming another sequel to Sharknado. If so, you may see us in the background going by in a carriage.
New Orleans is hot and humid. The city has some smells. Vomit, urine, weed, and stale alcohol were the most prevalent. Signs of last night's partying are everywhere.
Here is proof that we made it to Bourbon Street.
I have a lot more pictures from the French Quarter on the Louisiana photo page.
I don't have all the descriptions out there yet.
Natchez Riverboat
One thing everyone told us to do was to take the Natchez riverboat cruise. It's an actual paddle wheeler that goes up and down the Mississippi. There is a problem. If you look under the CH, you can see where it caught on fire. They were welding in the engine room and started a fire. They are doing all the repair work just across the canal from our trailer.
Boudin (Boo-Dan)
If you visit New Orleans, try the boudin. This is New Orleans spiced pork sausage. In San Francisco, Boudin's was pronounce Boo-Deens. The San Francisco version is wrong. We had boudin balls which are sausage coated in breadcrumbs and fried. They were delicious. So far we have had jambalaya, boudin, and beignets. The jambalaya wasn't up to expectations. It was from a bar so that was probably the reason.
Beer News:
One of the bars we went in to was the Crescent City Brewhouse. They brew their own beer on the premises. I had a hazy IPA and Jan had weissbier.
New Orleans laws are based on Napoleanic laws. That's why you can take alcoholic drinks outside. When you order at a bar, they ask if it is to go, that way they know if they need to give you your drink in a plastic cup. Those laws are also why a naked lady can walk around the streets and it's not anything new. It's also why women can flash their boobs for beads and not get arrested.
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