Sandi's Lament: New Orleans - Days 3 and 4 (GART

Squirrel!!

It's official - I hate New Orleans!

The final straw that caused me to loathe this city was trying to catch a streetcar early this afternoon. Across the street from the resort is a streetcar stop. The hotel staff swore that it was the best way to get around the city and yet, I find that it is the most inefficient public transit that I've ever come across. Today, I had decided that I was going to take a ferry across the Mississippi River to see the town of Algiers. I headed out to catch a streetcar which would take me to the ferry. I waited over 25 minutes for a streetcar to show, which was then packed to the gills and I couldn't get on it. When I complained about the wait, I got a blank look from the driver who shrugged at my complaint. I was so angry that I just walked off, returned to my room where I spent the remainder of my afternoon - reading. I refuse to give this city one more bit of my time. Yesterday, as I was about to get on the streetcar to head back to my hotel, the driver said for me to hang on a second before I got on and she grabbed her bag and left the car in order to go to the bathroom. Now I get that drivers need bathroom breaks, but seriously, she left the streetcar filled with passengers and a line of waiting customers to take a 15 minute bathroom break. This kind of crap would never fly in cities in New York, London, Paris, or any other major metropolis. I hate the laissez-faire attitude of the workers in this city.

That's just one of the many complaints I have about New Orleans. I do not get the charm of this city. I don't understand why people come here every year on vacation. I never want to set my big toe (let alone the rest of me) in this city ever again. This city is fine for people who like to go out and party, but that's not where I am today. Perhaps 20 years ago I would have appreciated this city, but there is nothing here that really interests me. I have no desire to drink or eat myself into a stupor, or shop, or to hang out in a bar listening to jazz/blues - much of which is crap. That's about all there is to do in this city. Okay, there are a few other things, which I have done over the past couple of days, but seriously, not much.

Yesterday, I woke to gray overcast/rain threatening skies. Therefore, I decided that it was a museum kind of day. I didn't feel like traveling to the art museum, so I went to the National World War II museum. The museum "focuses on the contribution made by the United States to victory by the Allies in World War II, and the Battle of Normandy in particular" (Wikipedia). My favorite part of the museum is the award-winning 4-D film, Beyond All Boundaries, which gives the visitor an overview of the war on every front. The film was produced and narrated by Tom Hanks and took over 5 years to produce. It was a great way to begin my visit to museum. There's a lot to take in at this museum - I spent 3 hours exploring the museum. Even then, I didn't see everything.

After visiting the museum, I headed over to Cafe du Monde, where I lucked out to find a very short line. Cafe du Monde is an iconic New Orleans cafe known for café au laits, chicory coffee and beignets since 1862. I order myself some beignets and a hot chocolate (I don't like coffee). The beignets were good and reminded me of the zeppole that I grew up eating. Basically, it's fried dough covered with powdered sugar. They weren't even all that hot. I'm glad I had them, but they are not worth waiting hours. I would have been really annoyed if I waited in a long line for them. Plus there was the slow service - it took 10 minutes before a server came to wait on me and 20 minutes to receive my order! This is at a time when they weren't all that busy. What is service like when they are?? (Add this moment to the list of things I hate about NOLA.)

My favorite house.

This morning, I decided to visit the Garden District, an area that was originally developed between 1832 and 1900 and is considered one of the best-preserved collections of historic southern mansions in the United States. I found a self guided walking tour online and saw some beautiful mansions and visited one of the oldest cemeteries in New Orleans. A few of the mansions on the tour are currently or formerly owned by famous individuals: Sandra Bullock, Nicholas Cage, rockstar Trent Raznor (Nine Inch Nails), John Goodman, Archie Manning (Eli and Peyton Manning's father), and, of course, Anne Rice. In fact, there were several former Anne Rice homes on this tour. The cemetery in the Garden District is Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and has a few famous residents. Perhaps the most famous tombs of the cemetery are the fictional ones. Among the fictional characters who are buried here are the family of Mayfair Witches from Anne Rice’s Witching Hour book series and the vampire Lestat from Rice's novel Interview with a Vampire. In 1994, Interview with a Vampire was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and all the cemetery scenes were filmed at Lafayette Cemetery #1.

And so ends my time in New Orleans. Thank you! I'll be glad to see the back of this city when I head out of town tomorrow. I plan on making a stop at one of the plantations about an hour outside of New Orleans, before heading to Texas. My next stop will be San Antonio. I can't wait to see The Alamo and The Riverwalk.

You can check out all my Garden District walking tour photos on my GART photo site.