The paddle steamer Natchez leaves its berth in New Orleans for a cruise upstream along the Mississipi river.
A horse and carriage await passengers to go on a city tour - we decided to use Shank's Pony instead.
On the other side of the Park (on the northern edge) is the Church.
Welcome shade is provided nearby for weary travellers and café guests by the palm leaves.
Andrea rests her feet next to a stoned lady.
A steel monument to the jazz musicians of New Orleans (complete with metal pidgeons!).
In the covered section of the outdoor French Market ....
.... one of the stands had bottles of sauce with unusually honest labels ....
.... some of which were very topical.
Although the famous Mardi Gras celebrations were held a few weeks earlier ....
.... colourful masks, beads and jewellery were still on sale.
We are now into the French Quarter of New Orleans.
This lovely house was built by a businessman who made his money ....
.... in the sugar cane trade.
A nice garden tucked away in a courtyard, and one of many posts for tethering the horses up.
We must still be on the touristy route !
In the French Quarter of the old capital of the Spanish province !
A colourful house.
Rather him than me, trying to paint a balcony sill whilst perched on top of this ladder.
A flower-power bicycle ?
Another easy way to travel around the city.
The omni-present one-horse-power chariots are beginning to look very appealing to our weary feet !
It must be past lunchtime ....
.... because our attention is being drawn towards cafés ....
.... or more horse-drawn carriages.
It looks as if this lamp post has been drinking too !
OK, now that we had walked what seemed like every inch of the French Quarter, we decided to catch the Riverfront tram down to the Jackson Ferry - to cross the Mississippi and see the view back from the east bank ....
.... which would have been a good idea, if the tram had gone more than two stops after we boarded it !!
Never mind, it is only about two miles to the ferry terminal - but as we walked away from the Riverwalk area, the scenery rapidly deteriorated, with run-down factory buildings, and when we finally made it to the terminal, we had just missed the hourly sailing.
Plan B - let's walk another mile or two, to have a look around the Garden District. Although we had to walk through a visually-challenged residential area, a few colourful houses in good condition stood out, such as this one ....
.... and these two.
Once in the affluent Garden District, the houses were very grand and impressive ....
.... but the light was beginning to fade, so we took the tram back to Bourbon Street.
After sunset, this is the entrance to the Riverwalk Marketplace.
On the west bank of the Mississippi River.
- Explored French Quarter and Garden District in New Orleans on foot, back to Best Western Hotel, New Orleans (09:00 - 21:30, US $ 59,62 / Euro xx,xx)
