Bourbon Street...

Day 23, Feb 25th

Up about 8am this morning, finished packing the bags which were mainly sorted last night before we went to bed then headed out for a look around for a few hours until it was time to checkout and head for the railway station.

We left our room and headed for the unusual lifts in this hotel. I’ve never seen it before, so I guess it’s not that common, but there is a keyboard on each floor, including the lobby, where you key in which floor you want to go. A pleasant computerised voice will say ‘Floor 39, Car F’, so you wait outside lift ‘F’ and sure enough, within a few seconds it opens and in you get. There are NO buttons in the lifts themselves, it proceeds to take you directly to the floor you keyed in and out you get. Very neat, not particularly secure, anybody can key in anything as no room key is needed, but neat all the same...

We left the hotel and headed for the world famous...

...yep, Bourbon Street. Now I’m sure Bourbon Street at 9am is a far cry from Bourbon Street at 9pm, but even at this hour there were plenty of sights and characters to keep us amused. It is Mardi Gras time here in New Orleans at the moment (not the gay version, just plain old Mardi Gras) and just about every shop and house is decorated in the purple, yellow and green of the festival...

In the street which runs parallel to Bourbon Street but one block closer to the esplanade, there was a big gathering that we could see. I’m not sure what it was in aid of, but they had the road blocked and the sheriff’s were stopping traffic from going down there...

...well I think that’s what they were doing, lying back on their Harley Davidsons. But never fear, the NOPD constable on his moped is here to the rescue, he’ll control the angry mob...

...even if he does look like he just walked off the set of Police Academy 1.

We walked the length of Bourbon Street with the buildings gradually becoming less and less colourful the further along we got. We were now mainly in residential parts as opposed to businesses and restaurants. When we reached the end of Bourbon Street, we headed one block down towards the esplanade and headed back in the opposite direction. This street was marked by a row of splendid looking terraces which were apparently a hotel of some sort...

We also passed a rather unusually numbered home...

... I wonder if they send the kids to school via Platform 9¾?

I needed something to drink and it appeared my choices lay between...

I went the coffee...lol

We headed down to the esplanade for brunch where we had a cheap buffet breakfast which wasn’t particularly good to be honest, but we’ve had very few disappointing meals so far, so it was bound to happen. Whilst Diane looked in a few shops, I crossed onto the other side of ‘The Wall’ I spoke of yesterday which runs the length of the river to prevent flood waters reaching the city to get some shots of the river and a trolley car...

This is a picture of the wall and the sliding door which seals when it needs to prevent flooding. I had a close look and whilst no engineer, I could see how there were thick rubber strips on all edges which would prevent the water flowing thru...

Here are a few more random city shots as we walked backed to the hotel...

We returned to the hotel just prior to midday, gathered our belongings and headed to New Orleans Station. On the way to the station, we went down a street which will obviously be a part of the parade route for the big Mardi Gras parade tomorrow. There were temporary grandstands erected on both sides of the streets to give vantage points for spectators...

We got to the station and checked our bags to Chicago, let’s hope they all arrive. We headed over to the Magnolia Room which is for sleeper passengers. We had the code to get in, but when we opened the door, we found a small, relatively dingy room which was packed to the rafters. We elected to just sit with the coach passengers in the pleasant and spacious terminal...

We boarded the City of New Orleans (CONO) at 1:15pm for a 1:45pm departure. We were met by our SCA, a fairly young African American named William. Thankfully he doesn’t go by the name of Bill, I couldn’t stand another one...lol

We pulled out of the station ontime and headed thru the suburbs. We passed yet again many examples of homes and properties just vacant and decaying due to Katrina. We then passed a huge lot that contained nothing but thousands of empty yellow skips. I guess it would have been an absolute thriving goldmine 5 years ago as everybody in the whole city needed a skip to get rid of silt and rubbish which accumulated in the bottom floors of just about every home in the city. I guess the owner has just taken his riches and packed up, leaving behind thousands of bins to rust or maybe to be used next time a tragedy hits somewhere.

As we headed off north from New Orleans and thru upper Louisiana heading to Mississippi, we passed mile after mile of swamp land, home to the alligator. I saw 2!!!! Unfortunately you’ll have to take me at my word, I had no time nor opportunity to snap a shot. Just as we crossed into Mississippi, the train slowed down and eventually stopped. The conductor advised over the loud speaker that we needed to wait a few minutes for a freight train to pass. Eventually a massive freight engine slowly came into view beside my window. I waved at him to tell him to move his fat ass train out the way, but I guess he thought I was just saying hi....

Diane went down to the cafe car and bought a small snack for a late lunch as we were not eating dinner until the 8:15pm session. I took my laptop and all my knick knacks (camera, mobile, chargers for everything) down to the SSL (remember from an earlier blog? Sightseeing Lounge, I won’t be telling you again...lol). I updated my blog from a table in the SSL, with everything hooked up and charging on a power board I brought from Australia. It looked like I had setup office. Here are some pics of what the SSL looks like. This is the top level looking from the middle of the car, swivel seats in one end and tables in the other. The cafe car for drinks and snacks is on the bottom level...

As I said, dinner was 8:15, so about 7pm I went back to our room and opened a bottle of wine. Dinner was steak for both of us and bread and butter pudding for desert. I went back to the SSL after dinner to watch some poker videos I had downloaded before leaving Oz and finished off the wine. Bedtime was 11pm and another night back in the cramped Superliner top bunk.

Later...