View From A New Orleans Street Car

Wednesday the original plan was to visit a couple of plantations but they were an hour's drive each way plus time at the plantations plus the tour charges so enthusiasm waned. We decided to tour the city by street car instead. We drove to the ferry, crossed the river, and walked to the Canal St Street car stop. The ferry is $2.00 or $1.00 for seniors.....and you don't get change so make sure you have exact change. 

We actually walked back and forth several times between two stops because one stop showed the Riverfront Street car on one side of the platform and Canal Street on the opposite side. We finally figured out that the one we wanted was just up Canal Street a ways so back we went. Kat and Barb figuring out the right charge. Regular price is $1.25 and seniors are $.40. The price for an all day pass is $3.00 for everyone so we all decided to do that even though most of our group are eligible for the $.40 price. You don't get change on either the ferry or the street car.

Vicki studying routes and Liz ready with her camera.

The houses aren't the only colorful buildings in New Orleans.

Even though they share walls, the building fronts are unique.

Canal Street was not quite as scenic as we hoped.

When we got to the end of the line, we had to change streets cars so we were glad we got the pass as we planned to ride other street cars

We saw a mixture of neighborhoods.

Lots of churches everywhere.

Not Harley Davidson but the sign was pretty similar.

Others were touring the city too.

Pretty house all boarded up.  Hard to tell if this was leftover from Katrina or not. One of our tour guides told us that as long as you paid your taxes and mowed the front yard, you could let your Katrina damaged property sit there unfixed. Not too nice for the neighbors that did fix their places.

The street cars run on rails on each side of this boulevard.

Barb and Kat jumped off the street car at Royal Street and headed over to Hard Rock Café in the French Quarter to pick up a couple of Tshirts. Then they met us when we got off the Canal Street car and walked over to catch the St Charles Street Car to the Garden District. Someone told us that Canal Street divided the "Americans" on the Garden District side from the "Creoles" on the Vieux Carre or French Quarter side.

St Charles Street starts out with some businesses.

And then you get to the area where many of the beautiful houses are located.

Lots of churches here too.

So many different styles of architecture.

A lot of people got off in one location to walk to one of the large cemeteries located in the Garden District. We got off and intended to walk along St Charles Street. The conductor wouldn't leave until we crossed back over to the other side to follow the group going towards the cemetery. He told us if we walked in the other direction, no one would ever see us again.

We were originally going to have lunch at Camillia Grill which was recommended by several people as having great breakfasts. We were a little surprised to see that they only have counter seating and, since it wasn't breakfast, we decided to try the place next door.

Batture......we sat out on the 2nd floor balcony.

The food was delicious and the service was great. The waitress brought us warm loaves of bread with butter along with our drinks and we didn't have to wait long for our food. Mary Jane and I split a shrimp po'boy and we had more than enough to share.

Most of the street car drivers were great at interfacing with tourists and helping you figure things out. They stand or sit on a chair that twirls around.

The Audubon Zoo

Huge trees everywhere so Katrina didn't get these beauties.

So, back at the ferry dock on the New Orleans side, I found some info about Algiers Point which is where the ferry arrives and departs from on the other side of the river.

This is the Aquarium of the Americas. The Zoo, the Aquarium, and the Insectarium are all part of the Audubon Institute.

Lots of barge and ship activity here on the river. It was another great day.