A New Orleans Getaway: Day 4

Missed Day 1? Click Here

How about Day 2? Click Here

And, of course, Day 3? Click Here

By Saturday, our fourth and final day in New Orleans, Bossyboots and I were whooped.  We decided to mix things up a bit and get out of the busy French Quarter.  That morning, we boarded the Algiers Point ferry and locomoted ourselves across the Mississippi for some walking and a relaxing lunch.

Ferry time!  FYI the ferry is free and departs roughly every 20-30 minutes.  It just shuttles back and forth across the river, so if you're waiting, you can see where the ferry is at any given time.  The ferry is also brightly lit, in case you can't tell by our squinty eyes in the following photo:

We walked around for about an hour after disembarking the ferry.

The houses are older and really beautiful - they all had a lot of character, and they reminded me why I hate cookie cutter houses so much.

As a "city person" I get kind of excited to be in a place where you can see the sky and the grass appears in areas larger than 20 square feet.

You may or may not already know that there's a place called Mardi Gras World, where you can see lots of the floats that are used during Mardi Gras.  The large location that's open to the public is on the French Quarter side of the river, near the Convention Center.  However, they do have a tinier location where floats go to die on the Algiers Point side (not open for tours) ...

We met a little stray dog that decided he wanted to be our friend, and he followed us around for awhile.  He was a sad guy - he seemed to be sick, from the way he was acting and from his appearance.  His eyes were all gickly.  :(

We also ate lunch in Algiers before coming back to the city side: BBQ shrimp.  Very yum!  I forgot to warn my native Chicagoan boyfriend that true southern shrimp dishes arrive body-intact, head and all - so he was a bit surprised.  :)

After our excursion across the river wrapped, we ferried back on over to the city.  Hello, Scary Jester!

After baking in the sun for several hours, we were actually happy when a thunderstorm rolled in...

We just sat down under an awning and waited for the rain to pass!

I decided this horse's name was Fernando.

I had waited until the very last day to snag a voodoo doll for myself.  We happened on this little handmade doll shop, and I selected one with a droopy eye.  He's very cute, for a voodoo doll. 

Finally, it was time to pack up and fly home.  Still raining!

I do feel like I should review our hotel for you all.  We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites French Quarter, and... we loved it!  Our initial decision had been to save money on our hotel, so that we could spend our dollars on food and drinks.  When we arrived at the Country Inn, we were shocked to find that the room was more than adequate, the free breakfast was delicious, cheap beers were available many hours of the day, the pool was lovely, the staff was friendly, and the decor was attractive.  And there were free cookies.  Free. Cookies.  I generally stick to 4-star hotels because I'm a hotel snob, but this 3-star was great.  I would A-1 stay here again.

Our New Orleans trip was wonderful, and really, pretty perfect.  Everything was affordable - there was so much to see and do.  For me, I love to travel to places with a rich sense of culture and history, and NOLA definitely lived up to those hopes.  I couldn't help but this this would be a great place to come back to for a girls weekend, or time with friends, anything.  You should go!

So now you've seen what I saw in New Orleans - for those of you that have been to New Orleans yourselves... what did I miss?  What should I go/see/do next time?

Comments

[BillySue]

That dog looks like E-----'s dog! i figured i should keep his name secret to keep up with the flow of things!

I wish wish wish i had your camera! You could always come to me when you decide to get a better one! :)
..that doesn't mean i will give you a new and better one if you decide to get a new camera. It means give me your old one if you get a new one! i hope that made sense. :/

[BikiniBy30]

I would have snuck that doggie into my suit case and taken him home. He tugs at my heart!