When I left Berwyn, the cherry trees in front of the condo and the magnolia viewed from the balcony, were in full bloom.
Cherry trees in front of Berwyn condo
View of Magnolia from balcony
I took the Metra train a block from my condo to Union Station where I was to board the Amtrak. What a fine building!
While waiting for the train, I met two sisters from the state of Washington. We were all staying in the Garden District. They suggested we might run into each other. I thought this unlikely but I saw them again when I waiting for the ride for the swamp tour and when leaving City Park. They were going from Washington, to Chicago, to New Orleans, to San Antonio, to Colorado, to San Franciso and then home all within 30 days for $400.
They still call the train from Chlicago to New Orleans The City of Chicago. I booked coach. I wasn't able to sleep in the seat but on the Observation car, I found that I could almost stretch out when I used two seats together with another placed on an angle.
The sunrise woke me up on the observation deck. Approaching New Orleans, we passed a least two hours of swamp. When I looked down I could see animal footprints in the mud next to the tracks.
I saw hawks, cattle egrets, ducks, heron and black buzzards. In the south the Magnolias were spent, only one or two blossoms left.
My hotel was next to Coliseum Square where I would go most days to smoke a cigar. The oak trees looked as if they were designed for the sole purpose of providing shade.
The St. Charles street car was a few blocks from my hotel so, expect for one bus, this was how I got around. Noisy but fun. They can be dirven from the front or back.
In the Lower Garden District, when you pass wisteria, the smell stops you in your tracks.
I passed by a gardenia bush on the parkway and picked one for my room.
Technically, I stayed in the Lower Garden District and I could have walked to the World War II Museum and Lee's Circle but the street car was right there and for $3.00 you could ride all day.
The Lower Garden had great architecture: shotgun homes, double galleys, victorians, creole cotages.
The guide book said it was dangerous to tour cemeteries on you own but I was naughty. LaFayette Cemetery was within walking distance.
I like that they provided the stone vases. St. Loius Cemetary Number 1 was two street car rides away but very interesting. There were many sites in disrepair but I saw two family groups grooming a grave site.
When I left St Louis cemetary, I noticed that Old North Church was open and I went inside and sat in back. There was an open casket funeral taking place. People turned around and stared at me and I left before anyone could ask me how I knew the deceased. The next day I realized I lost an opportunity. If I had waited across the street, I might have seen a famous New Orleans funeral procession.
I think I walked most ot the French Quarter and ate a Mufalatta in the French Market. A spent a lot of time listening to street bands. Here you will find store front places to buy cups of liquor. If Manitoba has the strictest drinking laws, New Orleans has the most liberal
Street band in the French Quarter
New Orleans has a lot of public art. The Sculpture Gardens in City Park is free. City Park claims to be bigger than Central Park.
I expected the Swamp Tour to be in the bayous but the captian of the boat explained that it was canals dredged by oil companies that we were passing through. The canals would eventually silt up. He was able to call the alligators to him in much the say way we called the cows to come home for milking in Wisconsin: "Come on, come on etc." Then he tossed ice cubes into the water. They responded to the vibrations. Captian Joey said that he gave tours this last winter in 28 degree temperatures. We saw red eared turtles, bull tongue grass flowers, green herons and palm cypress with Spanish moss hanging from them.
For the swamp tour, I waited for a bus with a doorman in front of a hotel on St Charles. A black Catepillar made it's way across the sidewalk. The doorman cautioned me not to pick it up. He was at a outside party when one fell out of the tree onto his arm. He brushed it off but there were sores where the catepillar landed and his arm became numb. A nurse was at the party and used scotch tape to remove the poison.
Mardi Gras World is quite a bargain. For twelve dollars, they pick you up from Spanish Plaza. You get a guided tour and then can wander around taking picures and watch the craftmen work on next year's floats. You can go out on the deck and watch Mississippi River traffic.
I had some examples of softer southern speech. When I asked the guard at the World War II Museum if I needed to check my bag he repllied, "You don't look like a terrorist." When I entered St. Louis Cemetary the security guard greeting me with "How ya doing sweet cakes," A sign near my hotel said, "Private Property, Others will be towed." "Others" is so much more gentile that "violators". On my way to the zoo at 9:00 a local bar welcomed me with this sign.
I recommend the Audubon Zoo. I got in free because it was Mother's Day. They had live music. They have a white tiger that is a mutation, not an albino. The Swamp section is good but the best is the Maya Ruins where they exhibt their jaguar and spider monkeys.
I walked along the Misssissippi River and watched them load the Natchez.
There was information about streamship travel. It was only 50 years that steamships ruled transportation. Then the railroads took over. One placard mentioned a female steamboat captain. I think If you are going to be a female steamship captain, you should be named Blanch Leathers. If I ever have to go into a witness protection program I want to be Blance Leathers.
The ride back was less exciting. The train passed Yazoo, Mississippi with mountains of lumber, junk and old tires. We had gotten a record amount of rain since I had been gone.
One week was just about the right amount of time for me to see New Orleans.
