The weather today was mainly sunny with a high of 18c and a low last night of 5c.
We drove down to New Orleans today to see the sites. We never thought it would be so hard to park a motorcycle but we drove around for up to 1 hr. trying to find a spot. All the lots down town had lots of vacancies but as you entered there was a large sign stating motorcycles are not allowed. We could not find out why. We ended up going into the parking garage at the Hilton which was quite close to the French Quarter.
This train was passing after arriving at the Hilton it must have had 50 - 80 pieces of armed forces equipment on it.
We walked along the shore of the Mississippi and saw this tugboat at work.
We then went to the Cafe Du Monde which Cathy found on Google and is famous for its beignets ( a square donut covered with icing sugar and their Cafe au lait blended with chicory which Cathy said was good. I went for the reliable hot chocolate. This cafe was established in1862 and is still on the original site.
After our snack we crossed the street to negotiate a 1 hr. buggy ride which took us through the French Quarter and to the oldest cemetery in New Orleans "St. Louis Cemetery No. 1"
Are journey took us past the St. Louis Cathedral with Jackson Square in front of it, named after Andrew Jackson who latter became a President.
We noticed a lot of construction in the city, getting ready Super Bowl 2013. On average they are closing three streets a day after finishing the previous three.
The cemetery was very interesting. This cemetery is dated back to the 1800's. It contains the crypt with the Voodoo Queen - Marie Laveau who was a re noun practitioner of Voodoo. It also has a crypt owned by Nicolas Cage the actor.
The Voodoo Queen crypt with offerings and "X's" marked on it to indicate the wish came true.
Nicholas Cage"s Crypt
Crypt is purchased by a family and when a person dies the body is placed into it and closing up. The crypt can not be reopened until 1year and 1 day. In this period of time the crypt due to the weather conditions will reach a internal temperature of up to 1000 degrees cremating the body. If another family member dies during this period of time they are placed in a temporary crypt. After the time frame is up the the original crypt is opened and the bones and ashes are pushed to the back and the other body is placed inside.
More pictures tomorrow.
