Welcome to Nola!

Among the many distinctive tourist meccas I have ignored through my youth and middle age is New Orleans.  I finallly got here at age 62, in a rainstorm, two days ago.  That night there was a crackling thunderstorm...over an inch of rain in an hour...and dawn Saturday broke to fog.  It gave the French Quarter a soft, mysterious effect.  Blow up the pix for better detail.

Andrew Jackson rides high in the morning mist.  The statue dates from 1848, three years after Old Hickory died.  He's still revered for thrashing the British in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans.  Even late in the 19th century the battle would not have taken place...the US and England had signed a treaty in Europe a few weeks earlier ending the War of 1812, but word had not gotten back to Nola.  No telegraph or undersea cable, much less more modern forms of communication.

This is Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, now a tavern.  Dating from 1772, the building was a headquarters for Jean Lafitte and his brother's business enterprises.  Jean Lafitte was indeed an enterprising sort, of a type not unknown today...he was a pirate, privateer, entrepreneur, military man, smuggler, and spy.  Quite a versatile fellow!

This is the French Market, next to the river.  You can obtain almost any type of food or goods here.  This weekend there was also a food fair, where you could get all sorts of goodies and drinks.  I got fried chicken and Abita beer.  BTW the open container law in Nola is simply that you can't carry your drink around town in a glass container...plastic or paper is fine.  It's quite liberating to stroll around town quaffing a beer.

The Cabildo, a stately hall built by the Spaniards in the 1790s when they controlled New Orleans.  This was where the paperwork was signed that first transferred Nola from Spain to France in 1803...when he was stomping on Spain...and later that year to the US after Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from Napoleon.

St Louis Cathedral, fronting Jackson Square.  The church was built in 1794 and extensively remodeled in 1850-51.  Pope John Paul II visited in 1989.

Now I'm in the Garden District, the upscale part of town, about two miles SW of the French Quarter.  This typical fine home is Archie Manning's crib.  He and his wife Olivia raised three boys...Cooper, Eli, and Peyton.  All of excellent character and like their dad, uncommon athletic ability.  Cooper's career was cut short by injury in his late teens, but the other two turned out well.  Younger folks don't remember, but Archie himself was an excellent QB who had a long career...I reckon he was about as good as Eli.  But unlike his sons, he never played on contending teams.  He spent most of his career with the Saints when they were Baaaad. 

The Garden District is lush with flowers and huge old oak trees, which have gnarled the sidewalks.

This mansion was occupied by Union forces during the Civil War.  Later, Confederate president Jefferson Davis died here in 1883.

An exceptionally fine Garden home.

Commander's Palace, a New Orleans landmark since 1880.

Lafayette Cemetery, across the street from Commander's Palace.  Like other local graveyards, most graves are above ground due to the low elevation of the city and the dampness of the climate.  Actually the Garden District is 5-15 feet above sea level, but much of the city is below sea level and the ground tends to liquefy.  This part of town was not seriously damaged by Katrina due to its favorable elevation.

The St Charles streetcar.  Best way to travel from the Quarter to the Garden District.

As an old sailor, I enjoy getting out on the water.  So I took a steamboat cruise this afternoon.  We cruised up and down the Mississippi, listening to a nice jazz band and sipping libations.  It was scenic and relaxing.  Here's downtown Nola with a tug.

The Domino Sugar company.  New Orleans has long been a sugar manufacturing center...thus the Sugar Bowl.  This factory looks quite ramshackle from the boat...at first I even wondered whether it was abandoned.  But absolutely not...it refines and ships huge quantities of sugar daily, from little packets for your coffee to 500 pound bags.

A petrochemical plant.  Louisiana is, as the narrator said, an industrial state.  There are a lot of these plants.  Their emissions are an issue...there are many of these facilities on the river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a stretch of river known as Cancer Alley.

Just a curiosity...this ring was caused by our steamboat doing a U-turn.

Another steamboat...the Creole Queen.

When docking, the captain of the Natchez leaves the bridge and stands on this platform on the bow, issuing instructions to the crew through a megaphone.  Obviously a traditional practice that still works nicely.

Here's our steamboat, the Natchez.  It's about 40 years old.

As we docked, the Norwegian Jewel set sail for the open gulf.  Looks like the taggers got it!