4 Days in New Orleans

April 1-5, 2025                                                                   Most Recent Posts:
Bayou Segnette State Park                          The Museum Saved the Little Room
New Orleans, Louisiana                                   Gulf Islands National Seashore

I got to Bayou Segnette State Park after only 110 mile drive from Gulf Islands National Seashore but it was 6 lanes of traffic with zooming drivers.  Coming into the state park I felt like I was going into a military installation.  The check in station required Winnona to climb a ramp and sit at the top.  The other side exit did no such thing.   When I asked why this was so elevated the surly attendant barked “pipes”.   Whatever that meant.

Driving to the campground also felt like a military installation and when I got to the campground the trees had not been trimmed and were constantly scratching the sides and top of Winnona.

The site I’d been assigned had a tree overhang that was just not possible so I called Mr. Surley and he reluctantly gave me another site that was behind me despite the fact that most of the sites I could see were empty.  So I drove all the way around the campground and back to site 38.

There I found a wonderful couple Mike and Christine from Canada.  When I pulled up to start to back in and got out to look and make sure I was positioned correctly given how mirror challenged I am, they came up to ask if I needed help.  Mike drove his father’s milk truck from the time he was 14 so he offered to back Winnona in and in one smooth operation did just that. 

The next morning I was up bright and early for my first day in New Orleans.  I drove about 15 minutes to the Algiers Ferry where I could park for free and pay $1 for a Senior Day Pass which would allow me use of the ferry and all street cars for the day.   Much better than driving into New Orleans and looking for parking I thought.  As you can see, the ferry was nearly empty going over.  Not so coming back at 5 or 6 pm

First look at New Orleans.   St. Charles Avenue

Since I was early for my first tour at 1:00, I hopped on a virtually  empty St. Charles Street car and rode it to the end and back to get a feel for the city.

The line began service in 1835 prior to electrification in 1893.  It was powered by steam engine or horse.   It is the oldest continuously operated street railway line in the world.

We picked up passengers to standing room only as we went along.

After my return,  I walked around the French Quarter area.   This square has a statue of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founder in 1717 of New Orleans.  It is ringed with pricey townhouses.

Many street musicians.

Many mule drawn carriages.

At 1:00 pm I met my food tour group at New Orleans Creole Cookery.   In all we visited 5 different restaurants where we had Jambalaya, Gumbo, Crawfish Etouffee, a Muffuletta and Pralines.   There were 4 of us in the group with Nail (in red) as our guide.

This is the food tour mascot and we all had our pictures taken with him.  I’ve forgotten his name.

It was a great way to sample the city’s restaurants and cuisine.  No need for dinner at the end of the afternoon.

As if I hadn’t had enough to eat, on the way back, I stopped at the famous Cafe Du Monde for beignets.

I walked some of the food off on the river walk on my way back to the ferry.  Over the days I used it, I always seemed to show up both coming and going just as the ferry was pulling away from the dock.

In that case I would sit along the river and watch.  I particularly enjoyed the paddle boats.  But I did not take a ride.

When I returned to the campground, I found it looked like this with piles of sand everywhere.   I felt sorry for anyone coming in now and having to back in around these.   In my opinion, the best thing about Bayou Segnette Campground was its proximity to the Algiers Ferry to New Orleans.

My second day in the city I did a morning tour of the French Quarter.  This had a larger number of people and the best of the 3 guides I experienced.

He knew a great deal of the history of the city and its architecture.  Notice the cathedral in the background.  More on it later.

I’m a great fan of the decorative  wrought iron throughout the city.

Some of the doors right on the streets as above opened into lovely recessed courtyards.

On the earlier tour, the Faulkner House was pointed out and afterwards I walked back to see it more closely.   A plaque on the wall said that in 1925 Faulkner wrote his first novel here, Soldiers Pay which I’ve never read.  The building was erected in 1849 on a site formerly occupied by part of the yard and buildings of the French Colonial Prison.

Appropriately, now the ground floor is a bookshop which just pulled me right inside.

From there I started my beignet taste testing.   I’d tried Cafe Du Monde yesterday, today Cafe Beignet.

They come 3 to an order for $5.

The wind, never absent,  picked up even more as you can see from my hair and I was again early for the return ferry so I sat on the walls of the garden directly beside the ferry dock.

My final day in New Orleans began with beignets for breakfast.  This time at a different Cafe Beignet since I had liked theirs yesterday better than Cafe Du Monde.

You can order the usual powdered sugar ones or opt for pecans and caramel or chocolate drizzle.

Since my final tour, one of the Garden District, was not until 3:30 in the afternoon, I had most of the  day to check out other things.

Cathedral Basilica of St Louis King of France was completed in 1851, built over the foundations of a colonial 1727 church.  It has been New Orleans center of worship for over 280 years and is the oldest active cathedral in the United States

Looking to the rear of the church

Statue of Saint Joan of Arc

The gorgeous Bible belonged to St Louis IX, King of France.  It was copied and illustrated 1226 and 1234 in Paris.    The original Bible is in the Cathedral in Toledo in Spain.  Because of its uniqueness the Toledo Cathedral allowed it to be copied in 2000 and it was presented in 2007 to the St Louis Cathedral.

Looking to the front

So much gold, so ornate.

From the holy, my next stop was the profane.  I visited the Presbytere Museum  Mardi Gras Exhibit   It was overwhelming with so much information.

One of my favorite exhibits was this Elon Musk figure from the Lonesome Dove float 2023

I have never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans so I found the parade throws that are tossed from the floats to the crowd quite fun.

But for me, the best part of this extensive and heavily documented exhibit was the simply amazing costumes.    I can’t even imagine how heavy these must be.

This was a very clever parade route creation made entirely from legos.  I know my grandson Colin would have loved this.

How do you keep this on your head?

I know, a lot of costume pictures.   This is only a fraction of the pictures I took and the costumes on display.

I can only imagine the size of the float to accommodate this costume.

Time for lunch.   I went in search of another Crawfish Etouffee which was my favorite of the food samples from Tuesday.   I found it at the iconic Mother’s Restaurant.

Seemed both a good and bad sign that the line was winding down the block.

But the line moved quickly and once inside you walked along the food prep counter, got to the cash register, ordered, paid and picked a table.   Mine is the one in front with my hat on it.   The food was brought to me and I ate it before taking a picture.  I’m very sorry since again it was delicious.    The Crawfish Etouffee is my favorite food from New Orleans.

Time for my final tour.  I hopped on the St Charles Streetcar which runs between these lines of palms to the Garden District and beyond.

Lucky again to have a seat.

The Garden district is famous for its 19th century homes and gardens.
The area was originally part of the Livaudais Plantation, became part of the city of Lafayette in 1833 and was annexed by New Orleans in 1852

Our first stop was Lafayette Cemetery #1 which set the tone for the tour.  It is one of the oldest city-governed cemeteries and was named after the former city of Lafayette. The cemetery is known for its above-ground tombs, featuring family vaults and society tombs. It is also a popular filming location, appearing in numerous movies and TV shows.

And from there on,  the tour was far less about the architecture I was interested in and almost wholly about which stars and sports figures owned houses here…Peyton Manning, John Goodman, Beyonce and JZ, the vampire novelist Anne Rice who owned 6 homes here at one time or another and sometimes multiples at the same time.  I felt like I was on a homes of the stars tour.  Nothing about the history, or the architecture of the homes just who owned them.

All three of my tours were led by men and this one, Matthew, was the least knowledgeable at least in what I was expecting to hear.  Again there were only 4 of us on the tour.

I didn’t record whose house was whose.  I just took a few pictures of how large and ornate they were.   They were lovely but I was really wanting to know about the architecture.

Actually, my favorite thing on this tour was the gigantic tree.

I’ll end with a magnificent wrought iron fence.

I was very glad I took the tours though I could have just walked around the garden district on my own for all I learned.   It’s the luck of the tour guide draw.

Moving on to family visits in Texas tomorrow as I slowly make my way to Albuquerque New Mexico and The Gathering of All Nations.