City Park, More Streetcars, Garden District, Lafayette Square, French Quarter
November 5, 2024
Day two in New Orleans saw an improvement in my feelings about the city. I guess French Quarter wasn’t for me?
I left the AirBnB just after 8:00 again, this time heading to New Orleans’s famed City Park.
City Park
City Park is a 1,300 acre public park situated between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain build on the remains of Bayou Metarie, which was filled in during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (By way of comparison, Central Park in New York is only 843 acres.)
The park offers an abundance of free parking so I decided to take advantage of that and use it as my kind of home base for the day.
I entered the park off of Esplanade Ave which becomes Lelong Dr as you enter the park. This road takes you directly to the New Orleans Museum of Art, around which is a massive roundabout. I exited the roundabout and made my way to the Tricentennial Parking Lot which happens to sit directly adjacent to the City Park Police Department and a second Cafe Du Monde location, so you KNOW I had to stop in for a second helping of coffee and beignets.
As I approached the coffee shop, I took note of the flora and fauna about. I first noticed how low the old oak trees were to the ground. The trunks of these trees are exceedingly short, and many appear than the branches themselves sprouted right of of the ground rather than off of a main trunk.
Next I noticed some ibises running around, pecking at the ground with their long, sharp beaks. I’ve never seen an ibis in the wild so that was interesting for me to see.
I got to the coffee shop where at this location, they offer counter service, rather than the table service I experienced on Day One. I got my order then once more sat on the patio, sans music this time, right next to Popp Bandstand.
After I was done with my breakfast, I headed over Langles Bridge toward the Historic Oak Grove, which includes McDonough Oak, which is estimated to be over 500 years old. Many of the large, heavy branches of the old tree are propped up with crutches to aid in bearing their weight.
I saw many more trees of impressive stature, many with similar supports hoisting their massive branches, and almost all of them draped in lacey Spanish moss. I walked around the bayou taking pictures of the swampy views. I found this new-to-me ecosystem fascinating as it was unlike anything I’d seen before. Even Disneyland’s recreation of the bayous of the area do nothing to recreate it in real life.
I found my way to a bridge back over the water and happened upon a large pavilion in the park. On the water’s side of the pavilion were cement steps leading up to it from the water, each set of steps flanked by lion statues.
Across the road from the pavilion is a small miniature golf course. I walked past that, past the van parked on the curb near Cafe Du Monde and back into the coffee shop to use a restroom. Upon exiting, I stopped by the gift shop and picked up a couple of trinkets to take home. I dropped them at the van then started making my way back toward the park’s entrance where I’d driven in, this time on foot.
I noticed a sculpture garden run by the museum but it was not open yet. I passed it then headed toward the massive roundabout, passed in front of the museum and toward the park’s Big Lake.
On a boardwalk over a small portion of the water was a small crowd intently watching something in the water. As I turned my attention to whatever had grabbed theirs, I saw the peering eyes of an alligator gliding silently through the water toward a startlingly still area of the lake.
In the water right below the people watching was at least three turtles swimming about in the shallow waters. Something caught the gator’s eye, whether is was the turtles or us, and it changed course heading toward us.
About 20 feet from the boardwalk, the animal stopped, just peering at us with the eyes perched on the top of its head. At times, that was all we saw of the scaled creature, and at other times, the spines on its back would arch up out of the water, or the topside of its tail would break through. All the while, the amphibian remained otherwise motionless, just staring at us while we stared back. Secretly I was hoping it would come closer so I could get a better picture of it, but alas, this was the best I could get:
After my best efforts had been exhausted, I continued on my way out the park to a nearby streetcar stop.
St. Charles Streetcar to the Garden District
As I arrived at the station, there was already a streetcar waiting there. As I boarded the car and tried to show my Jazzy Pass to the driver, she reminded me that rides that day were free for election day. I made my way to the back of the car and waited for us to move along, which we did in short order.
Before long, we stopped at an intersection that I do not believe was an official stop on the route. I grew a little concerned when, without a word, the car operator opened the door, got off the car and walked across the street to a coffee shop right on the corner.
I sat alone in the car for a good five minutes or so, intrusive thoughts telling me to hop in the driver’s seat and make my way to where I was going. Instead, I sat, wondering how long it took to get a coffee from this establishment. I never found out though as the driver came back out empty handed. It’s a mystery, what happened in there…
Anyway, we continued along a bit further, steadily increasing the passenger count as we went, then, again, without warning, the driver got off the car and had a minutes-long conversation on her phone. I assume it’s against regulation to use your phone while driving the streetcars and she didn’t want to be caught on whatever surveillance cameras the RTA has installed in their streetcars, so she got off to talk. Bizarre, but, OK.
We kept going, knowing my stop was approaching: Canal St. and St. Charles St.
As I disembarked at that stop, I saw my connecting streetcar, route 12, the St. Charles Streetcar, already parked at the stop where I needed to catch it. I did have to cross the busy Canal St to get to it, but luckily there was already a line of people waiting to board so I knew I had a little time.
I got to the end of the queue and when I got on the streetcar, I was surprised that there was still seating available. I found a seat next to an open window and settled in for a ride.
The route took us down St. Charles, around Tivoli Circle, and back onto St. Charles. The route continues along the curve of the Mississippi River before terminating at Carollton and Claiborne. I did not make it that far though. Instead, I got off in the Garden District.
The Garden District is known for its massive mature trees surrounding historic homes. Some of the homes I stumbled upon seemed to be entirely too unwieldy for a single family residence, yet I am convinced that there are some extremely wealthy people that own these mansions.
One such home had a 12 foot Jack Skellington perched in its front yard and was still dwarfed by the massive structure.
I walked down a smaller side street and saw lots of smaller, more reasonable homes lined up, though some in some pretty outrageous colors, to be expected in New Orleans, I suppose.
The trees were lined with massive oaks, some with branches drooping so low over the sidewalks that I’d have to duck under them.
I snapped a few pics then started making my way up to the streetcar stop on St. Charles.
Lafayette Square and Lunch on Bourbon St.
By this point, my feet were killing me, after having already put on over 13,000 steps on Monday and pushing well into the five digit count by this point on Tuesday.
I made it to St. Charles and Eighth St where I waited for the next car to come pick me up. After a few minutes, a car showed up, I hopped on and we started heading back up St. Charles. We went through Tivoli Circle, then up Carondelet where I got off at Girod St. I walked a block over to find Lafayette Square, a public open space in the Central Business District.
I’d spied the square on the trip down to the Garden District and took note to stop there on the way back. I made my way down Lafayette St and found myself at the square in no time.
In the center of the square is a statue of, you guessed it, Henry Clay, who had a very, very loose connection to Louisiana through a relative of his wife’s. Quite frankly, I’m not sure why this gentleman is represented in Lafayette Square.
Up the square from the statue of Clay is another bronze statue, this one of, naturally, Benjamin Franklin. Because when I think “Benjamin Franklin”, I definitely don’t think “Philadelphia” or “Boston.” No, I think “Louisiana” which does not even appear anywhere on Franklin’s Wikipedia page- not even a mention of this statue.
I find it bizarre that the square’s namesake, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is not represented in the park, save for the plaque upon its entrance at St. Charles and Lafayette St.
There is an abundance of terrific foliage throughout the park, and provides a spectacular green space in the midst of the concrete buildings surrounding it. I could definitely see myself taking lunch breaks in this park if I worked anywhere near it.
Surrounding the square are indeed several wonderful buildings, including the John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building Fifth Circuit, Gallier Hall (New Orleans’s former city hall), and the Federal Reserve.
I snapped some pics on my way back out to Carondelet St where I waited a few minutes for the next streetcar. It showed up soon enough and I hopped on to make my way back to French Quarter.
As I got off the car at Carondelet and Canal Streets, I Googled a place nearby to eat. Sure, there was a Hard Rock Cafe on Bourbon St but that doesn’t scream New Orleans cuisine to me. I looked a little further, finding some eateries with not spectacular reviews, then I happened upon Olde NOLA Cookery, a place with nearly 4 and a half stars on Google. This was the best I could find in the immediate area, and with my feet hurting as bad as they were, that was the best I was gonna get.
I made my way in to the place that was a much more divey atmosphere than Drago’s which I’d visited the day before. I certainly felt more comfortable here.
I was greeted by a server who I told I would like water. Lots and lots of water. She gave me the day’s special, which I can’t remember the name of, but she sold me on it. It was a blackened fish over a bed of rice and smothered with crawfish etouffee. Options of adding fried shrimp, gator or crawfish tails were available, which I opted for the crawfish.
The dish arrived and, in this location, I was not so concerned with the presentation of the dish. I did come on a hot plate and was presented fine, a bed of rice topped with blackened fish and the whole thing smothered in etouffee.
The only thing missing was the fried crawfish tails I’d asked for. My server caught the oversight and brought me a bowl of the morsels that I promptly dumped on what was left of my dish.
As I was about to finish eating, I ordered a to-go plate of etouffee with shrimp for Brandy. When it and the bill arrived, I paid then hoofed it back up to Canal St where I waited for a streetcar to take me back up to City Park.
It wasn’t long before a car came an picked up the mass of people waiting there. Again, even with all the people that boarded, there was plenty of seating left.
I knew the ride would be plenty lengthy to give my barking dogs a rest. Sure enough, by the time I got back to City Park, I had just enough left in me to make the walk back to the van. I got in, again cranked the AC, and made my way back to the AirBnB. I decided then and there that I was going to take a day of rest Wednesday, thereby making my three day Jazzy Pass worth only one day’s worth of rides (remembering that Tuesday’s rides were all free.)
Conclusion
This day fit more into my expectations of New Orleans but there’s still a little something, romance or something, missing. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great day, but very little about it made me favor this trip over many of the other experiences I had over the summer. I’ll go more into it when I wrap up the entire trip on my final NOLA post, but for now, check out the pics from my Day Two adventures on my Photo Diary, and stay tuned for my next post, which is something I’m super, duper excited for!
I can’t wait!
See you soon!!
-Phil