Photos From New Orleans 10/2008

I'm going to start with the best shot I took. It gets me out of order on how I wanted to tell the story, but what the heck, I'll lead with the good stuff.

From my perspective, the center of the French Quarter is Jackson Square. (If you're a Boozy Suzy, you might consider Bourbon Street the center!) I took this photo from the bank of the Mississippi River. You can see the St. Louis Cathedral in the center, museum buildings on the left and right, the gardens in the center surrounding a large statue of Andrew Jackson, and horse-drawn tour carriages lined up for hire on the bottom on Decatur Street.


From a plaque hanging by the Cathedral entrance:

CATHEDRAL OF ST. LOUIS
KING OF FRANCE
[A MINOR BASILICA]
In observance of the
American Revolution Bicentennial
1975-1976
This historic Church was restored through the generosity of the people of God of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The Most Rev. Philip M. Hannan
Archbishiop

Rededicated April 25, 1976 on the 183rd anniversary of the creation of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas with New Orleans as the See City.

Luis Penalver y Cardenas,
First Bishop 1793-1801

Here is a better shot of the museum building on the left, called The Cabildo (old city hall) where the finalization of the Louisiana Purchase was signed. The promenade in front is filled with artists and musicians during the day, and with fortune tellers and derelicts at night. It is the starting location of many evening walking tours.


I had Jambalaya Pasta at Cafe Pontabla (Chartres x St. Peter) for dinner one night. The restaurant is kitty corner to the museum building...you can see it in the pic above on the far left.


Cafe Pontalba was in this building along Jackson Square. These buildings reminded me of Quincy Market in Boston.


Here's looking into Jackson Square — named for Andrew Jackson. It was called the Plaza d'Armas centuries ago.


A better shot of the statue. I overheard a tour guide say it is one of the few statues of a mounted horse that is only standing on two legs.


The inscription on the base reads:

"THE UNION MUST AND SHALL BE PRESERVED."

Directly across from Jackson Square are steps leading up to the Moonwalk (named for former Mayor Moon Landrieu) along the Mississippi. The first photo in this post was taken from the seating area at the top. Cafe du Monde is hard by the stairs to the left just out of frame.


Looking at the Mississippi River upstream, then downstream.


And tighter in at the Moonwalk upstream where the Aquarium and Harrah's Casino are, then downstream.


This is the Steamer Snatches Natchez that offers paddle boat rides on the Mississippi. There are day cruises and dinner cruises. As I mentioned yesterday, on Saturday morning they play a lot of songs through the boat's whistles.


A couple of the large downtown hotels and office buildings.


This is a typical building in the French Quarter that was just up the street from my hotel. (I'm going to do a separate post with a review of the hotel. My review posts get a lot of hits.) It's a good example of what I was trying to explain yesterday. You can see "balconies" which are unsupported on the upper left while the "galleries" are supported with posts down to street level. Again, these are cast iron not wrought iron.


The House of Voodoo is a shop on Bourbon Street full of touristy trinkets. There were rainbow flags flying outside and a gay bar directly across the street.


I had the muffuletta here at Pere Antoine (Royal x St. Ann) for Sunday brunch.


Read my thoughts on New Orleans here.

And that, my friends, is a quick synopsis of my four days in New Orleans!