New Orleans, USA, 2nd to 3rd November 2014.

From Sedona I flew to New Orleans where we were to stay for ten days. I’m expecting around thirty posts on New Orleans to follow this one and they are listed in the Canyonlands/ New Orleans Itinerary.

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Out the window of the plane approaching New Orleans, this is the Mississippi River.   There are four large tankers heading upstream and a tug pushing a flotilla of barges heading downstream.  We are of course in the delta of a massive river system so there is a lot of low-lying water near the river.

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The Bayou with what has to be New Orleans city in the distance.

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The next day we went for a walk along Royal Street in the French Quarter, one street below the more famous Bourbon Street.  We came to this place where an old building had entirely collapsed.  Fortunately it was abandoned at the time and no-one was inside.

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If you click on this image for an expanded view, you will see the metal posts with horse heads.  In the days before motorised transport, these were in fact hitching posts for horses.

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As we proceeded further along the street, there was a lot of street theatre and music.  This is the Royal St Windin’ Boys (notwithstanding their female band member).

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This is probably Jenavieve Cook.

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There are a couple of musicians in the distance and closer is perhaps a kind of mime artist.  He was still, frozen in place for a small eternity.  I took this with a long telephoto and would have put something in his bucket but he had packed up and gone before I got there.

The woman in the middle is giving a very convincing rendition of a young woman engrossed in her mobile phone.  She doesn’t appear to have a bucket to accompany her performance, though.

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There were a number of charming quiet courtyards leading off the street.  This one led to a couturier.

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This one led to a shop selling paintings and photographs.

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Here we have a car with interesting accessories in tastefully contrasting colours.  I think it must be a preventative measure in case there is a sudden mid-afternoon hurricane and a couple of feet of water gushes down the street.  In that case, the car would be less likely to be swept away.

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