Sunday 23 March 1997 – New
Orleans: Fine & Sunny
Well the
suitcase finally turned up at 10.00 pm last night, unscathed as far as we could
see and I could go to sleep. We had been dozing off while we were waiting and
boy! did we sleep! Obviously making up for our sleep deficit we, or I, didn’t
wake up until 9 and Rab slept on until after 10. unheard of for the past 25
years or so – my usual waking time is about 5.30.
Even once we
were both awake we took things easy, so it was after twelve when we finally got
going. I had hoped to go on a Swamp Cruise, which was not high on Rab’s
priorities. To be fair, she did call the concierge to see what was available
and there was one which would have picked us up between 1 and 1.30. the thought
of going on an excursion that Rab was not keen on and missing the planned breakfast at Mother’s was not one I
cared to contemplate, so we decided to give it a miss. As things turned out, we
gave our planned breakfast a miss too. The line at Mother’s was a long one (Rab
says over one hundred people although I think that may be an exaggeration) and
we were not keen on waiting, so we pressed on, confident we would find a
suitable opportunity.
Some chance.
Most establishments stopped serving breakfast at 11 or 12 and it was after
12.30 when we started our quest. Of course there were plenty of places serving
food, but Rab again had the bit between her teeth and was determined to find
breakfast somewhere. At about 1.15 I revolted. Hot, tired, hungry and
thirsty I demanded that we find somewhere. And we did, Rab salvaged her pride
by choosing waffles with maple syrup and I had a Beef Poboy - small French loaf filled with beef and gravy.
That and a nice cold orange juice made me feel a bit more human again and
prepared me for the next leg of Rab’ travel saga.
That
involved us seeking out the St Charles Street Tram aka A Streetcar Named
Desire. Her intention was to travel the line through the Garden District and,
funnily enough, this idea was shared by many hundreds of other visitors to New Orleans. We finally
got to the nearest stop to our hotel (after dropping off our morning’s shopping
there) and found a horde of people ahead of us. They were lining up, somewhat
untidily, to board but it was clear that we would not all fit on the vehicle.
So we got smart and headed back up the line so we could catch the next tram
ahead of the rush. Wrong! The next tram was so full it didn’t even pause for
us. Back we trudged with our tails between our legs.
We finally pushed
our way aboard but there were no seats available so we had to stand at first.
Rab finally got a seat but I spent most of the outward journey standing, which
was really boring as I could only see the pavement (sidewalk I guess since this
was America)
and the fences of the glorious houses we were passing. Finally enough people
got off to give me a chance to rest my legs and feet and enjoy the view. There
are some terrific places out there, most of them two or three storeys high and
in very good condition, although some were in dire need of attention.
 |
| Cross stitch of Cathedral |
Coming back
was more comfortable and we enjoyed our afternoon. We made it back to town at
about 6.30, just in time to see the JF Kennedy Marching Band lead off another sheepish
bunch of convention-ing Americans down Church Street. How embarrassing! Having
finally tracked down the Gumbo Kitchen during our morning search for breakfast,,
we headed back there for our evening meal, to join yet another line. Now I
don’t lke queuing for food and I didn’t want to tonight, but Rab and the bloke
in front of us in the line said it would be worth waiting for – and it was. We
didn’t wait too long and the food was delicious. Blackened fish nuggets to
start and mixed Cajun tucker to follow – jambalaya, gumbo and shrimp creole.
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