Most of our trips are on budget,one of them is our recent New Orleans summer trip.
We spent two whole days,walking through the historic streets of New Orleans.
In order to save few extra bucks we always try to use the public city transportation,so weekdays are mainly preferred.
Big tourist cities have frequent bus services so did New Orleans and they have streetcar service too.
Day 1
Reached New Orleans 7am in the morning after having breakfast,we started our tour.
We traced out first streetcar stop with the help of a locale.It was St.Charles streetcar line perhaps the oldest continuously operating streetcar in the world!
As we boarded,the mahogany seats, brass fittings and exposed ceiling light bulbs drew my attention.We took 1 day pass know as Jazzy Pass in New Orleans.It is always a good idea to buy day passes because they are inexpensive and makes traveling lot easier.
It was our first time so the bus routes were not very clear,we got down on Canal street.We traveled through the stingy streets of most famous French Quarter to reach our destination,Jackson Square.
It was 8:30 in the morning and there was absolute silence in the Quarter, the bars,nightclubs,pubs,restaurants were lacking their glamor under morning Sun as if they were being robbed off last night.
We had a long walk through the streets,when at last we reached Jackson Square.
It was really a nice place surrounded by magnificent St.Louis Church,State museums,Muriel's and other brick red building with hanging balcony planters.
The museums were still closed,we spent our time taking pictures of the large buildings with amazing architecture.My husband tried to capture St.Louis church,the horse statue and the canyon in one shot.He did it!
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| St Louis Cathedreal |
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| Cafe Du Monde |
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| Live Statue |
The museums started to open their gates for the visitors at 10am.
We went to The Presbytere,the museum displayed videos about hurricane Katrina,their survivors and victims. The tour was real informative package apart from that it also showcased carnival attire.
It was noon when we stared for our hotel,it was Parc Saint Charles hotel on the Charles avenue.
At 6pm in the evening we hopped in Charles streetcar and took a city tour. Swaying along St. Charles Avenue through a tunnel Live Oaks, the streetcar passes dozens of antebellum mansions, historic monuments, Loyola and Tulane universities, the sweeping grounds of the Audubon Zoological Gardens, shopping centers, fine restaurants and hotels.Now also i can feel the essence of that evening when the sky was half lit and the mansions on both sides of the street glittered like jewel.I would recommend St.Charles streetcar line tour to make the trip memorable and worthwhile.
Day2
It was a bright sunny morning when we left our hotel for Algiers free ferry ride.We witnessed some of the best views of the original city of New Orleans via a Canal Street Ferry ride across the Mississippi River, and learned why New Orleans is called the Crescent City as the ferry traverses the river's natural crescent to historic Algiers Point on the West Bank.
We were dropped off at Algiers point where we saw the statue of Jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong.It was really hot at that time of the day so couldn't stroll the Jazz Walk of Fame along the levee but didn't missed the glance of Algiers Courthouse.
I read somewhere before taking the tour that Algiers point was once the site where the enslaved Africans were held, were rested, cleaned up, and ferried across the river to the French Quarter, where they would be sold into a lifetime of slavery either locally or up and down the length of the river to the new French landowners.
We took the ferry crossing the Mississippi river to the mainland.
After experiencing the mighty river we boarded Riverfront streetcar to Frenchmen market.
For over 200 years, the historic French Market has been an enduring symbol of pride and progress. While the Market has existed on the same site since 1791,with each new sunrise on Decatur Street, history repeats itself: always the same, yet impossible to predict.
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| Frenchman Market |
It was noon and I could feel the hunger urge ,when a restaurant menu ,pasted on its window for the passer by, drew my attention.The word was alligator,at first I couldn't believe my eyes where in this earth a alligator is being served.Earlier I had just read but in New Orleans,I witnessed.
After taking few hours of rest in the afternoon,we reached for Harrah's Casino in the evening.
It was our first time entering a casino,lot of people trying their luck,some just for fun others spending nice evening playing.We spend an hour trying to understand the mechanism,overall we had a different experience.
We ended our day we a nice spicy dinner at an Indian restaurant in New Orleans!
