You can't miss the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis King of France, which overlooks Jackson Square. It is the oldest operating Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It was beautiful inside, but I did not take any photos, as mass was in session.
I loved seeing the horse carriages. The horses looked content. I smiled at them when I walked by. I didn't get a chance to ride in one, but you could take a tour around the French Quarter and the driver would tell you a little history about the different spots. I did get some history in at a couple of other tours. Walking was the best way to get around. Not very car friendly within the quarter, since the streets are so narrow.
Right across the street is the famous Cafe Du Monde. I did have a coffee and an order of Beignets. Delicious! And there are stairs that take you around and across the train tracks to the Moon Walk, which is situated right on the Mississippi River. I plopped myself on a bench and enjoyed the relaxed feeling of not having to be anywhere in particular.
Sunset. This is the left side of Jackson Square facing the Cathedral. You can see the little side streets. In fact, if we keep walking straight, we'll bump right into the infamous Bourbon Street.
This is Royal Street. It was the street I preferred to walk down when I needed to get to some other intersecting street. It's lined with antique shops, arts stores, restaurants, coffee shops, more street artists. Lots to look at.
There were several different street performers scattered around. This one caught my attention because she looked so calm and poised. Can you imagine being in this position for any length of time? I don't know how long before she would move to another location. She made it look so natural to be there.
On my first night, after dinner and a cocktail, I decided to go to Preservation Hall to listen to some music. It's a small hall with performances from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. every hour with an intermission in between. They don't serve alcohol or food. Just music. There are a few seats up front and to the sides and everyone else stands like matchsticks. I loved it. The bass player must have been in his seventies. All the musicians sounded great. Preservation Hall was created to protect and share Old New Orleans style Jazz.
You'll notice that when you walk down Bourbon Street, there are many variations of Jazz and Blues playing, including some rock. It's interesting to be surrounded by so much music and be able to listen and look in from the outside before deciding to go inside to sit down.
So that's a little taste of my first trip to New Orleans in the French Quarter.
2 comments:
Rebb,
Thank you for all the lovely photos. I didn’t know the French Quarter is such a large area with fine buildings. I’ve been to the Latin Quarter in Paris. Because the names are similar, I expected the similar looking place. The Latin Quarter to me was a small area where I had lunch in an open café. I could be wrong, but that was my understanding of the Latin Quarter, so I thought the French Quarter was similar. I have wild imaginations sometimes, so I’m often wrong.
By the way, did you hear people speak French?
The cathedral, horse carriages, jazz, and gumbo and drinks, I can tell you had a wonderful time. Please show more photos if you can.
Keiko,
I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. The French Quarter is said to be 90blocks. I hardly walked all of it, but there's a lot of walking to be done. The FQ is known as the Vieux Carre (VOO cah-RAY), which means "old square." Actually the architecture is mostly Spanish. The fires of 1788 and 1794 destroyed most of the French structures and the Spanish built it back up when Spain had control of the city. I've never been to Paris or anywhere in Europe, but I bet it has similar qualities. I think your "wild imaginations" are probably pretty accurate. I have seen New Orleans referred to as "The poor man's Paris;" and the "American Paris" (I think this was Mark Twain).
I did not hear anyone speak French, except for a few tourists--hehe. I was very surprised that I didn't have any trouble understanding people. The people developed sort-of their own way of speaking, a combination of Cajun and French, where the emphasis on parts of the words are different than even the French. For example Burgandy is pronounced BurGUNdy. If I had taken a tour into Cajun Country--the bayous and swamps--for sure I'd here that wonderful Cajun sound, but I saved that for next time.
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