JACKSON SQUARE AND THE FRENCH QUARTER

Monday, May 24 – We had another full and busy day of sightseeing. This time it's downtown New Orleans

and the French Quarter.

The French Quarter runs alone the Mississippi River.

It is about a mile wide and a mile long. It covers about 78 blocks and is the approximate city originally founded by the French. We drove over and parked (for $15....YIKES!) at the River Walk. Our first stop was the Cafe' du Monde for the famous beignets.

Beignets are French doughnuts made from fried dough buried in powdered sugar....don't wear black....LOL.

We then walked around Jackson Square.

We also enjoyed the local artists and street performers.

This guy was a great singer.

Jackson Square is named after Andrew Jackson who defended the city against the British in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. The statue of Andrew Jackson is in the center of the square.

Also, on the edge of the square is the Saint Louis Cathedral. A beautiful Catholic Church.

We then walked through the French Market. This area seems to be “up-scaled” since Katrina. The shops appear to be more tourist friendly and probably more expensive. I'm sure the new construction costs the retailer more to rent. Very few fresh fruits and vegetables. More jewelry, leather shops, and clothing.

We enjoyed the architecture.

From there, we took a long and HOT hike back the entire length of the Riverwalk crescent shaped sidewalk along the River to Canal Street to ride the street car.

We rode it north past Interstate 10 where we exited the car and caught the next train back toward the French Quarter. We were surprised to catch a car filled with high school kids. What the heck are they doing out of school at noon???? Just the street car two retired teachers wanted to ride. These kids were so nice that they allowed us to stand and hang on to several ceiling straps...ha ha! It wasn't the relaxing time we hoped for, to say the least!

We eventually exited at Bourbon Street, the sight of all the night life debauchery! What a difference daylight makes. All was quite in anticipation of the night to come. We did stop in Pat O’Brien’s for a couple of drinks. Marsha ordered their famous Hurricane, and Paul got the Cyclone. Both drinks were fruity alcohol drinks that hit the spot on a hot day.

We continued to walk down Bourbon Street to Canal Street and back to the Riverwalk and Jackson Square where we shared a “Lucky.” A Lucky is a famous Coney sold from one of the many street vendors. We then walked to the car and returned to the campground.

After a rain shower and a nap for Paul, we headed out for a “Sno-ball.” These seem to be a big deal around here, but we found they are the same as the snow cones we have up north. We also see they have drive-in daiquri stands along the road. We've been told it's legal because they don't have “open container” laws. Not sure about the accuracy of that!

Before we got back to the MH, Marsha wanted to see the pool. There is a long bridge we walked over before we got to the pool. The bridge was over the swamp land in the campground.

We did see our fist armadillo this evening walking along the tree line. Glad Bella (our cat) was in the MH! We also experienced our first ant invasion. We won! Seems the brief shower we had here in the park brought out the flying ants. The lights in the MH attracted them, and they crawled inside around the kitchen slide-out. Bella, our cat, alerted us by chasing them. We got out the spray and drove them back!

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all soon.