The azaleas were blooming everywhere!  They are worth a trip to see–sort of like seeing the trees change color in New England in the fall, or the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. in the spring.

The trees were huge and gnarly. I loved the fact they had Mardi Gras beads hanging from them everywhere.

Here we are with the Levinsons.

I liked the red lights on this trellis. It was funky and fun.

Below are some of the buildings we saw in the French Quarter. They were interesting architecture and full of interesting designs.

We never did see who the VIP was in the motorcade.

I loved the wrought iron details.

I got a kick out of this–I know, my sick sense of humor–but it was a windy day so all these mannequins’ dresses kept blowing up.

Ummmm . . . not really interested. One of the B&B guests told us they tried it and it was rubbery– like eating over-cooked chicken-flavored calamari.

Lots the last at the market. These pralines looked delicious!

Anyone need a sparkly new bra?

I loved this. More of the beautiful wrought iron.

Beignets! Cafe Du Monde is open-air and very crowded. It’s not a place to sit and enjoy the day–you get in, you get out. I think at a less busy time, it would be a lovely place to sit, though. Oh, if you try the beignets, don’t inhale!  The powdered sugar dust is deadly. : )

We were so tempted, but figured most of our kids would object if we bought this for their kids. It was quite entertaining and anatomically accurate. The lady at the store said it was a top seller. : )

Below are various things we ran across as we wandered around.

Bob asked her for directions, but didn’t get far.   : )

View of the Mississippi River from the Moon Walk. The river is about a half mile wide and 200 feet deep at this point.

Jackson Square.

Entrance to the park on Jackson Square.

These musicians were fabulous. The lady with the clarinet was fantastic.

View of the city from the Moon Walk along the Mississippe River. Historically, the river flooded every year. When it did, it laid down deposits of mud so the land near the river is higher than the rest of the city. That’s why the French Quarter didn’t flood during Katrina.

Not a combination you see every day!  We tried the ice cream; maybe we should have had a bloody mary instead!

Here are a coupe businesses with discreet lines around them. The lines indicate how high the water got during Hurricane Katrina.

When people rebuilt, many put their houses on stilts. The side benefit is it created all kinds of useful space under the house. Here, they use it as a garage.

Here’s one of those X’s. It was made on 9/11/05 by a team that identified itself as CA3. It was an external search (“ext”) of the house. If any bodies were found, the number would have been placed below the “ext.”

Artist’s representation of leftover debris from the hurricane.

In the very poor neighborhoods, there are many houses that haven’t been restored. They are rotting away.

Another X. This house was searched on Sept. 21st, and they found no people inside–either alive or dead.

In this one, the natural gas was still on when they searched the building.

The close up of the X above is on this building. It indicates how high the water got–up to the second story.

Here are more of the houses that have been left to rot. It’s a problem in the city, because the rebuilt houses and the rotting ones are side by side. It’s a health issue.  In the second photo, you can see the holes in the roof that were made with axes by people in boats to rescue people who were stuck in their attics by rising water.

Can you imagine what it must be like to live next door to an abandoned house? It’s quite a problem and is becoming a political hot potato in New Orleans. Should the city tear these houses down?

Before Katrina there was no evacuation plan. Now, if there’s an evac order and you can’t get yourself out, you can wait at one of these statues (found all over the city) and the city will give you a ride.

Below are some picture of the beautiful city park and statue garden. New Orleans has the 5th largest city park in the US. It used to include a golf course but it wasn’t rebuilt after Katrina. In fact, the city had 7 golf courses before Katrina and only one still exists. It’s the same with the hospitals. After Katrina, more than half of the city’s hospitals could’t re-open because of damage.

Palm trees were rare in New Orleans before Katrina. But since then, they’ve become popular choices for people replacing the many trees that died during the storm or shortly after. Many died from the salt water during the floods.

The park is full of live oaks that survived Katrina. The Spanish Moss is thick in many of them. The Indians used Spanish Moss to diaper their babies and to pack wounds. Later, when New Orleans was settled, they used it to stuff mattresses.

I look like such a dork. Being allergic to the sun can really be a pain in the neck.

This is the coffee shop in the park and its open 24 hours a day. It also has live music most of the day.

This one’s for you, Abby! Don’t worry, I promise it doesn’t move and can’t get you!

A man of letters?

All the waterways are interconnected throughout the city. So, you can kayak through the scultpute garden.

Now, for more of the French Quarter.

We had a lovely dinner at Commander’s Palace. It’s off the beaten path, but it’s hard to miss–that turquoise stands out!

The house specialty—pecan encrusted white fish. It was really good.

I had the shrimp on cheesy/garlicky grits. Yum!

Bob’s strawberry shortcake. It was really, really good.

My bread pudding soufle with a rum-laced sauce. : )

We found our way to the WWII Museum. It was a rainy day and I didn’t expect much, but it was fascinating. The exhibits on the Japanese internment camps were especially interesting. I highly recommend you spend some time here if you’ll be visiting New Orleans.

It was hard to take pictures in the WWII museum so I don’t have many to show you. However, I thought this was interesting. The quality on my pic is good enough to read if you zoom in. Click on the picture so it enlarges, then take a look. It’s very interesting reading.

We enjoyed the park and the sculpture garden so much on one of our tours, we went back for more. It’s a restful, cool, peaceful spot. Here are some more pics from that visit.

We found a little baby diet coke.  It was so cute : )

This was Bob’s favorite. It has no visible support other than the ladder resting on the ground.

Of course, no trip to NOLA is complete without a visit to a cemetery. It’s not possible to bury people in New Orleans because its below sea level and there’s too much water. So, they put them in crypts. The cemeteries look like cities of miniature buildings. Some date back to the 1800s, or even earlier.

Doesn’t it look like the tree is melting frm the bottom and it’s overflowing its container?

These tombs are used by a family for generations. We found slabs for people who were burried here as late as 2013. Others go back to the 1800’s.

Message received: DON’T TRY TO GET OVER THIS WALL. Got it.

The side walks are treacherous all over the city. It’s hard to see the sights when you have to keep your eyes on your feet. We found one spot where the tree roots caused a heave in the sidewalk that was nearly 3 feet tall. This is a little one by comparison.

Back in the French Quarter, we found the police ready to roll.

We accidentally ended up on Bourbon Street trying to get to the street car. It was gross and skeevy, even at 4 in the afternon. We didn’t see any mounted police, but every street corner had a group like this one.