Today was a full day of exploring. This morning, we took the street car (don’t call it a tram around locals). This was our idea of a cheap tour. For $1.25 each, we rode across town to city park and saw lots of beautiful houses on the way.
We got off at the park to let Morgane play. Then we met a nice lady with a beautiful Golden Retriever named Latte. She told us where we could eat and also said that the average age of a New Orleans house is 99 years old.
After lunch at an excellent Asian restaurant, we took the streetcar back to our hotel. The streetcars have seats for the drivers at both ends. When they get to the end, they just flip all the seats so they are facing the other way and off they go.
Ghis had a nap while Morgane and I went out walking. I wanted to see the Mississippi River so despite a bit of rain, we walked in that direction. The first thing I saw by the river was the aquarium, so we decided to go.
It was fun and Morgane got to pat stingrays and a little nurse shark. There was a tank that was like a tunnel that we walked through. There was also a room with a giant aquarium and you could sit on the bleachers and watch it like it was a giant TV.
Then we walked through the French Quarter because I had heard that there was a free concert at happy hour. We didn’t find much (maybe because of the rain), but I did like seeing this area. The buildings and streets are beautiful, even in the rain! We met up with Ghis at Cafe du Monde where we heard an accordion player.
It started to get dark and we walked through the narrow streets up to Bourbon Street. Ghis laughed about how people told us that New Orleans is dangerous. It doesn’t feel that dangerous to us. Bourbon Street was full of bars with live music and local drinks like the powerful grenade. There were also a lot of girly clubs and we were glad that Morgane didn’t seem to notice.
By the time we got to Canal Street near our hotel, I was sick of being out in the rain. It was really pouring! We looked around for some affordable, good food, but gave up and ended up splurging on an upscale dinner.
Morgane was ecstatic to see a kid’s menu. She inhaled her parmesan cheese and butter pasta. She didn’t like the side order of zucchini, so I told her to eat the yellow ones. She didn’t clue in that they were also zucchinis as I made up an elaborate name for them. She said they tasted like nothing.
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nicer. We have one last day to explore before we head into cajun country – Lafayette and Baton Rouge, I think.