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Fast forward to sometime in the early 80\u2019s and I made a customer call in New Orleans.\u00a0 As I recall I stayed downtown \u2013 probably at the Sheraton which is just across the street from our hotel.\u00a0 I was fortunate enough to attend a Pete Fountain show (Al Hirt showed up as well).\u00a0 That was the good part.\u00a0 The bad part was that I walked down Bourbon Street and it was terrible.\u00a0 No good music and mostly tee shirt shops.<\/p>\n
Fast forward, again, to this trip and I again walked down Bourbon Street and it broke my heart.\u00a0 Every corner had drug addicts, prostitutes, and panhandlers.\u00a0 The streets were dirty, and the streets and sidewalks were in terrible condition.\u00a0 About half the businesses were closed and those that were open were not at all related to the old French Quarter.\u00a0 Canal Street is the street that runs in front of our hotel.\u00a0 It a main thoroughfare and has lots of streetcars and active businesses.\u00a0 That said, almost every corner on this street also has the same people problem that exists in almost every part of the French Quarter I walked to.<\/p>\n
So much for the bad part of our visit here.\u00a0 Now for the more positive items.<\/p>\n
Monday, we went on a paddle boat ride on the Mississippi River.\u00a0 We paid for the Cajon dinner on the boat and it was great.\u00a0 The boat went up and down the river for a few miles.\u00a0 At first, I figured that the boat was a fake paddle wheel vessel.\u00a0 Not so.\u00a0 It is a recreated actual paddle wheel with modern diesel\/electric propulsion.\u00a0 I spent a lot of time looking at the mechanics of the drive system.<\/p>\n
Daughter Lisa works with a surgeon who is very familiar with this area.\u00a0 He gave us a few tips on places to go.\u00a0 Wednesday, we went to a \u201cunique\u201d restaurant called Jacques-Imo\u2019s (website)<\/a> recommended by Dr. Schoen.\u00a0 Without question I use the term \u201cunique\u201d advisedly. I have attached a picture of the front of the building and you might be able to read their slogan:\u00a0 \u201cWarm Beer – Lousy Food – Poor Service \u201c.\u00a0 Of course, it was anything but that slogan.\u00a0 It is a crazy upscale restaurant where you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the dining area (another photo).\u00a0 Their specialty is \u201creal Nawlins\u2019 food\u201d.\u00a0 Pat had Shrimp Creole and I had Crawfish Etouffee.\u00a0 We took a taxi out to the restaurant (several miles from the French Quarter) and rode the streetcar back.<\/p>\n Going through the kitchen to get to the dining area<\/p>\n Ok, I have mentioned streetcars twice so far in this post.\u00a0 The transit system has an extensive streetcar system in the downtown area.\u00a0 These are actual streetcars — as opposed to trolleys — since they run on rails.\u00a0 Most of the lines have relatively new cars.\u00a0 However, the historic St Charles line is a must ride.\u00a0 Here is a bit of verbiage from the website:<\/p>\n \u201cThe dark green St. Charles streetcar is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. \u00a0\u00a0Vintage streetcars built by Perley A. Thomas Company still run along a 6-mile crescent from Carondelet at Canal Street in the Central Business District through the oldest and most majestic section of Uptown New Orleans, around the Riverbend to Carrollton at Claiborne Avenue\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n All the streetcar fares are $1.25.\u00a0 Quite a bargain.<\/p>\n St Charles Streetcar<\/p>\n We rode the St Charles line Wednesday morning, and it was an amazing trip.\u00a0 It turns out that that is the same line we took on our return trip from Jacques-Imo\u2019s that evening.<\/p>\n This post is getting a bit long, so I will continue with more details in the next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello from New Orleans, LA Part 2 Saturday August 27, 2022 (Fourth post of this travelogue) Before I start in with this post, I need to make a correction to the first post.\u00a0 When I mentioned the HGTV TV show … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Jacques-Imos-e1661623496168-259x300.jpg\")
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