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The next morning, we brought our hotel room complaints to management and they gave us a very good discount on the room, over 60% less than what we had originally paid for the room per night… not a bad deal at all.
After resolving this issue, we went to the dining room to have breakfast. We decided to have a hearty breakfast knowing that we wouldn’t have time for lunch. We also made dinner reservations for 7:00PM. A good thing as the City of New Orleans is packed with tourists ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We had no interest in mingling with thousands of people in the streets on New Year’s Eve, which is why we had planned to stay just one day in New Orleans.
In hindsight, a good thing we didn’t stay longer as Amtrak later told us that they were canceling trains due to the shortage of personnel who were out sick with Covid-19 (mainly the Omicron variant).
In the dining room (photo above), there were some interesting lights with funny names in old French, except for two that have American Indian names. We asked the waiter about the meaning of these words and he told us they were locations of sites throughout Louisiana. I made a collage of these lights (below).
Bayou Goula is a name derived from the Choctaw language meaning “river people”. A community on the Mississippi, also known for the explosion of Steamboat Brilliant in 1851 which killed many people.
Vacherie means cowshed in French. A small community on the Mississippi home to the Oak Alley Plantation, where you can see several historic plantations. Recently it was used as a film location for the TV series True Detective.
Venice. It is the last community down the Mississippi accessible by car, hence its nickname, The End of the World.
Grosse Tête means big head in French. It is a very small village located near the Grosse Tête river.
Pointe à la Hache means axe point or cape in French. A small community on the Mississippi which has been hit by multiple hurricanes throughout the years.
Belle Chasse means beautiful hunting in French. It is believed that it was so named due to the richness of wildlife which the initial French colonists observed when they settled in the region. Today the town is home to various US naval air units.
Mamou. A small community located in the heart of Cajun country. The origin of its name is not sure, but it is believed that it comes from the legendary Indian, Chief Mamou. The town is famous for its music and musicians, and bills itself as “The Cajun Music Capital of the World”.
The French Quarter has been so extensively filmed and photographed that it was as if we had already seen it. In spite of the tourists and the typical touristic shops, it is interesting to see at least once. However, like Jim said, it is more like an amusement park now and a lot of its charm has been lost. Overall, New Orleans appears to be an over-rated location and one day is more than enough to see what needs to be seen. Nevertheless, I’m glad I finally got to visit the French Quarter. There are a lot of interesting characters – tourists and natives – strolling through the streets of the French Quarter.
Jim couldn’t resist taking a photo of this tee-shirt in one of the window shops. He didn’t buy the tee-shirt but he probably should have.
As we were leaving the hotel we stumbled upon a jazz band parading through the main streets of the French Quarter.
We really enjoyed photographing the buildings of the French Quarter. Most of them are very well maintained. There are even “beauty contests” to vote for the most traditionally beautiful buildings in the French Quarter.
We took our sweet time to window shop and bought a couple of souvenirs. I bought my usual coffee cup to add to my “collection.” I like to have a different coffee cup in the morning. This one is very colorful, filled with energy and enough to get me going in the morning!
The one thing we really wanted to see was the Lafayette Cemetery which has also been featured in many movies and TV shows, however, it has been closed to the public for over two years for renovation. We still decided to take a street car so we could at least walk around the cemetery and its neighborhood. Glad we did as we still could take some photos through the gates
Watch the slideshow below of selected photographs of the cemetery (click on the arrows to navigate)
The cemetery is slowly being taken over by the trees and their roots. The overall impression is rather desolate but when the sun rays pierced the clouds, the illumination brought an eerie beauty to the cemetery and its surroundings.
After coming back from Lafayette Cemetery we strolled the streets of the French Quarter as the evening activities were just starting. Since our dinner reservations were a bit later and we didn’t have lunch, we stopped at the Bourbon House for some oysters and white wine. It was delicious!! The oysters were grilled in a white wine-based sauce and spices out of this world… wish I could replicate the recipe (but it’s a Chef’s secret!).
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