The French Quarter

We left the campsite in Mississippi, and it wasn't long before we were into Louisiana.  We stopped at a tourist information place just across the border, and then we stopped at an AAA office just a little further on, trying to figure out if there was a way to go down into New Orleans with our motorhome, and get parked so we could look around.  This is one of the problems with a motorhome - where do you park a big thing like this?  That's why you see big motorhomes towing cars behind - park the motorhome somewhere and then drive the car into the tight spots.  Anyway, we figured the best thing to do was to splurge (big bucks!), and go to an RV park that is right downtown next to the French Quarter.  So here we are parked in amongst dozens (well, at least a dozen) of big, big, big motorhomes (the kind that have two axels at the back, not just one! - those are the $million+ ones).  It's a wonder there were spaces available, as we didn't have a reservation, and it's a wonder they let this tiny motorhome in.  It is a completely fenced in park; there is a big high brick wall all around to keep the bad guys away.  They have WiFi, of course, so I'm updating my blog this evening, as well as getting caught up on all the news.

We arrived at around 2pm, so there was time to walk down to the French Quarter, which was only two or three blocks away.  We inquired about the safety of such a venture, and they told us it was perfectly safe as long as we got back before dark, but if we stayed down there until dark, we had to take a taxi back.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the narrow streets of the French Quarter, and made it back just around 5pm.  We had had enough by then, and had walked for more than a couple of hours.  Here's a collection of pictures:

There are lots of old buildings with fancy ironwork around them:

Lots of buskers, playing jazz, and all kinds of music:

This guy stood completely still for the longest time (much the same as the sort of thing  you'd see down in the inner harbour area of Victoria):

Then there's the Mississippi flowing by:

And it's hard to see completely in this picture, but you hope the levy holds, because the Mississippi is right up near the top of that grass in the background - and it's all up hill from the bottom of the steps to the top of the grassy area.  I missed getting a picture of the ship going by up above us!

Well, we are glad we don't live in New Orleans - it's really interesting to see, but a not a place you'd want to stay (although Doreen had fun looking in all the touristy shops).  And the people wandering the streets are a sorry lot.  We also saw lots of buildings and houses on the way in that were abandoned and falling apart, plus a lot of areas of obviously brand new houses.

This reminds me of something I've been meaning to comment on.  All along on our trip, from the west to the east and down south here, we've seen building after building that have been abandoned:  businesses that have gone out of business.  Something you just don't see in Canada.  This is not the effect of the weather, like Katrina, but just the effect of the recession in the USA.