New Orleans - part 2 - Saturday 20th October

Woke up when alarm went off & got out of bed.  Had a long shower, got dressed, did a quick check of facebook, had a couple of pop tarts for breakfast then headed out the door to get to the river by 11am for my steamboat tour.  Arrived at the dock a bit early, boarding started at 11am with departure at 11.30am, so I walked around for a bit and got in the boarding line at about 10.50am. Got onto the steamboat "Natchez" walked around & decided to stand at the back by the paddle wheel to watch it as we departed.  We finally departed about 11.40am & headed off down the Mississippi River.  There was a live jazz band onboard and a buffet lunch was included in the ticket price as well.  I had just a little bit of the lunch offered - red beans & rice, jambalya and okra & tomatoes - the red beans were a bit spicy but the rest was all good.  I then went down and saw the engine room as we stopped & turned around to make our way back up the river to the dock.  It was very relaxing and quite interesting.  The "Natchez" is apparently the "last authentic steamboat on the Mississippi River".

Lovely day to be 'steaming' down the Mississippi River.

The paddles are turning but we weren't going anywhere.  Surprising that one rope was enough to keep the boat in place.

Now why can't there be more 'graffiti' like this?  Very nice thing to see.

Big boats on the Mississippi.  It is 2 boats side by side, not 1 huge boat as I first thought.

Look, it's Little Toot!!  And his Mum.  :-)

One of the banks of the ole Mississippi.

Part of the engine room.

And a diagram on how the engine works, just in case you're interested. 

Inside the upper deck dining room.  The live jazz band are at the very end in front of the big windows.

Ulrich keeping an eye on the paddle making sure it doesn't break.

After my trip on the steamboat it was back to more modern transport and on to the bus for the "Super City" tour which went around the French Quarter, the Garden District, the Warehouse District, past one of the cemeteries, out to the edge of Lake Pontchartrain and past some of the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.  It was a very interesting tour, the tour guide was very knowledgeable & rather funny which made it very enjoyable.  One of his more memorable quips was as we went thru the Garden District he pointed out the "unique trees here that grow mardi gras beads".  I didn't get off at the cemetery stop as I was going on a cemetery walking tour the next day.  Also, I had a window seat & didn't want to lose it, as had happened to me before.  The history of this place is amazing & wonderful.

One of the 'fancy' houses in the Garden District.  I think it is someone important or notable's house but I can't for the life of me remember who.

Another 'fancy' house.

At the edge of Lake Pontchartrain. In the distance you can see the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway which is the 2nd longest 'bridge' over a body of water in the world.

Another gorgeous building.

All ready for Halloween.

Even some of the trees are getting into the Halloween spirit.

One of the houses author Anne Rice lived in while in New Orleans.

Statue of Joan of Arc. Or as our tour guide put it Joany on the pony.

I got dropped off outside the French Market Flea Markets and wandered around looking at all the stuff on offer, and most of it was the same from stall to stall, which was rather disappointing.  After leaving the flea markets I slowly made my way back to the hotel & since it was nearly dinner time decided to have something to eat at the Popeye's I saw earlier.  Again, a bit disappointed, food was good but nothing to write home about.  I then stopped at one of the larger souvenir shops to  buy a bag to put all the stuff I had bought in for the trip to Austin, as I was not going to get to a post office to send it back to my friend in LA.  I found a very useful bag for a very good price, bought a couple more souvenirs then went back to the hotel.  Once back in my room I checked facebook, sorted & renamed photos and updated my blog.  It was early to bed (about 11pm) as I had to be back at the dock by 8.30am for my walking tour the next day.