We started this day with a coach tour of the city - all of the city, not just the French Quarter. Our tour guide was Oz (short for Oswald).
Not long after the tour started, we passed this streetcar:
Like the Red Cars in Los Angeles, the streetcars in New Orleans have almost entirely been decommissioned, and replaced by busses. There are only two or three street car lines remaining - and one of them stopped right out in front of our hotel. We never rode the street car, though, because it didn't go anywhere we were going.
Incidentally, there really is a street in New Orleans named Desire, and there really used to be a streetcar that went there, and Tennessee Williams really did get the idea for A Streetcar Named Desire while riding on that car. There no longer is a streetcar named Desire, but on our 2001 trip, I took this picture:
Sadly, "A Bus Named Desire" just doesn't sound as dramatic.
New Orleans is a city built on a swamp, and much of it is below sea level. This means that burying the dead underground is not a particularly good idea. So New Orleans cemeteries are full of aboveground mausoleums:
Some famous people are buried here. For example, here's the final resting place of Anne Rice, New Orleans resident and author of Interview With The Vampire, among other works:
We also got to see Ms Rice's house (or one of them):
A number of famous people have lived in New Orleans at some time in their lives. We've already mentioned a few; the ones with statues in Armstrong Park, and Anne Rice and Tennessee WIlliams. This Wikipedia page lists a whole lot more of them than you'll want to know. Here are just a few other notable names:
Wait a minute... that last name on the list - Edgar Degas. The French painter? The guy who painted all the pictures of ballet dancers? Yes, that Edgar Degas. He was born in France, and lived most of his life there, but his mother was from New Orleans, and he lived in New Orleans for about a year, staying with his brother. Here's the house he lived in:
The house is now a bed and breakfast.
After lunch, we went to a Mardi Gras museum. After admiring several rooms full of elaborate Mardi Gras costumes:
...we then sat down for a performance and informative presentation about Mardi Gras (w) by Carl Mack:
In his younger days, Mr. Mack was an entertainer. These days, he runs a talent agency and a costume design company - and a Mardi Gras museum.
I had always thought of Mardi Gras as a single day - the day before Ash Wednesday. What I learned on this trip is that in New Orleans, Mardi Gras is not just a day, but a season. The festivities begin about two or three weeks before, and continue right up to the day itself. Social clubs, called "krewes," will put on fancy costumes like the ones in the pictures, and go parading through the streets, tossing gifts to the crowds. Traditionally, the gifts they toss are colored beads, like the ones hanging from the tree across from our hotel. Some krewes, however, get more inventive. Mr. Mack told us about a krewe that took old women's shoes and decorated them, and tossed them to the crowds. Not to be outdone, another krewe tossed decorated bras! (Thanks, I'll take the beads.)
One thing that I had often heard of, but never quite understood, was the "second line (w)." In a New Orleans parade, the first line is the main section of the parade, typically including a brass band. The second line consists of people who follow along behind the parade. The second liners will usually be dancing along carrying multi-colored parasols. In fact, at the end of his presentation, Mr. Mack had us all get up out of our chairs, and each of us grabbed a parasol, and we all went second lining around the room. I wish I had thought to step out of the line and take a picture.
After the presentation, we went into a room full of pieces of Mardi Gras costumes that we were invited to try on:
After the museum, we stopped for drinks at a bar near the museum called The 3 Legged Dog. It had a sign outside saying "Sorry, we're open."
We then went in search of dinner and music. Traditionally, Bourbon Street (w) has been the primary tourist street in the French Quarter. As I said in my 2001 trip log:
Bourbon Street is something of a non-stop party. Music pours out of the clubs, and people walk - and stagger - up and down the street. The street is lined with music clubs and "adult entertainment" establishments. There is much noise, much liquor, much revelry. In a way, it's fun. In another way, it's kind of sad.
It's still like that today, only more so. And more than one tour guide told us that if we wanted good music, we should skip Bourbon Street, and go to Frenchmen Street, just outside the Quarter. So that's where we went. We started at a club called The Spotted Cat, where we were entertained by a quartet consisting of a clarinet, a guitar, an upright bass, and a baritone sax. Sadly, we weren't impressed. We then had drinks at another bar, and then had dinner at Adolfo's, a wonderful Italian restaurant. After dinner, we went downstairs to a bar where a guitarist was playing. Unfortunately, he went on a break just as we got there. We waited a while for him to come back from his break, but he took so long that we got tired of waiting and left, and went back to our hotel.