Laissons les Bon Temps Rouler…

Despite a short night (view from hotel upon arrival on Friday, late evening, on left) we started early on Saturday morning, a warm, very humid morning. First appointment after breakfast: the National WWII Museum, a huge complex of different buildings, squares and exibition halls, just a couple of steps away from our hotel, with an iconic big new canopy (like big wings) on top, to be seen from far away. 

 

 

Even for "anti-war-fans", this is a highly interesting museum covering many aspects of the 2nd World War, from African-Americans or gay soldiers to the Atlantic and Pacific "stage", from the American to the German perspective. It tells the story of the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today through exhibits, multimedia experiences, and personal accounts.

 

 

After having learned an awful lot, we had a wonderful lunch at "Cochon" (which means "pig") in the  Warehouse District, in a renovated New Orleans warehouse. At Cochon, Chef Donald Link serves  traditional Cajun Southern dishes with locally sourced pork, fresh produce and seafood. House-made pickles, mustards and sausages, meats, etc. are on the menu here, as well as at "Butcher", sort of a "deli" and butcher store, next door. We enjoyed their boucherie plate (meats and sausages, pickles, patées etc.) and a nice arugula salad with goat cheese and pecans.

Well fed and feet rested, we took the famous green St. Charles Streetcar to get to our Garden District Tour. Though, we knew the „American sector“ - the neighborhood, where once the wealthy Americans settled –, pretty well from previous visits, we learned a lot from our tourguide DeAnna with Two Chicks Walking Tours. Unfortunately, as a result of the pandemic, all city-owned cemeteries were shut down (like Lafayette #1 across the street from Commander’s Palace - the turquoise building on the photo below), some are  only accessible with tourguides (St. Louis cemetery). Lots of famous people like Anne Rice, John Goodman or Sandra Bullock own houses in the Garden District or live here, properties are huge and houses gorgeous in many different architectural styles. Second photos shows a nice free little library in front of one of the houses.

Lots of walking in the sun … after the tour we walked back into town (streetcars aren't necessarily the fastest, most reliable means of transport, especially not on a holiday weekend!), and, needed a drink. We got our beloved IPAs - brewed to perfection and in a great variety - in the Courtyard Brewery in the Lower Garden District (pic on the left shows the inside), a tiny, simple, down-to-earth neighborhood pub & brewery without the bells and whistles. 

Before and after dinner at good, old Tujague’s in the French Quarter - the restaurant has moved and the menu changed, too - we explored the French Quarter with Jackson Square (pics below) and its musicians, palm readers, artists and other exotic people. A marching band was getting ready for their performance and a Second Line was forming. 

Shrimps & Grits (right photo) is a classic dish on N.O's menus. We had it at Tujague's and it tasted delicious!

Bourbon Street - a love-it-or-hate-it part of town- was really crowded on that evening because of Memorial Day Weekend. No change there.

The other photos show a food truck in downtown, we saw in the morning, a mural with a Mardi Grad Indian (attention Germans: „kulturelle Aneignung“!) and just for fun: the insignia of the city, fittingly in a little … state. 

 

On to New Orleans: Sunset Limited

Friday morning. It’s like a time capsule - being set back a couple of decades: train travel in the U.S.A. This time we took the Sunset Limited ( Los Angeles to New Orleans) to get from San Antonio to „The Big Easy“, New Orleans Awake at 4:20, up by 4:45 am, took an Uber to the railroad station (in the old days we would have walked), checked our luggage in in the station building (photo). Train was already standing there for hours and departed on time, at 6:25 am. 

The coach class car - where we had booked seats - was full and therefore (though seats are pretty spacious and comfy), we decided soon to move on to the lounge car, with an observation level to get out of the smelly, dark atmosphere of our car. From sunrise on, we were sitting there, enjoying the views, the airy atmosphere and - strangely! - not too many other people around. There were outlets for laptop/phone, though still today AMTRAK seems to be ignorant of modern amenities like WiFi. While there was free internet in the small San Antonio station, there is none on the train and none in the Houston railroad station (pic far below). 

We spent one hour in Houston and got out to exercise our legs a bit, to check out the train (1 baggage, 1 sleeper, 1 dining, 1 lounge/observation, 1 coach car) and the station building. A food truck with Mexican food was appealing, but since we had a backpack full of different goodies from IPW, we denied.

 

Cattle and vast pastures when we left San Antonio, huge industrial areas around Houston, then slowly getting more of a „Louisiana feeling“. Beaumont, Texas, almost on the border to Louisiana - a lot of oil and other industries. Then, rice fields coming up, which are lateron flooded and used as crawfish ponds. Towards the east rice is superseded by sugar cane, which is about 10-15 inches high by now. 

Only good memories when we stopped in Lafayette/Louisiana - where we have been at a grandiose music festival once - and in New Iberia (pic below), where good friends of us live(d) and where we stayed many times. Oil industry, swamps, rivers, little towns and (Afroamerican) settlements along the tracks, crossing the Atchafalaya River (below) At 8 pm it became dark, and it got a bit boring (or: we got really tired).

Train was slowly crawling into the New Orleans metro area, for whatever reason, and, we arrived about 1/2 hour late - no big deal with Amtrak! Despite old trains with outdated bathrooms, this train trip was in total more convenient and relaxing than a flight would have been, and, cheaper as well.

Arrived to the Higgins Hotel in New Orleans at around 10:30 pm - it's been a long day for sure, and, a shower was in high demand as well!

More than just the Riverwalk

Fortunately, we had planned another full day after the show, and ,that gave us a chance to explore the city a bit more. We had breakfast at Guenther Haus again with a friend of us (photo left, waffle with strawberries), then explored the Briscoe Museum of Western Art (photos below), and their outdoors sculpture garden!) and enjoyed the view (unfortunately with cloudy skies) from The Tower of the Americas (far below). BTW: San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the U.S.A.!!!

 

Already on Wednesday afternoon, we went back to the San Pedro Creek and the Westside and stopped at The Mercato, a Mexican marketplace/village (photos far below) and at the interesting Centro de Artes, with contemporary art of mostly Texan-Mexican artists from the area. 

Later on Thursday, after we had packed, we walked the North Riverwalk promenade to The Pearl, a beautiful 45 min. walk. Beautiful lush landscaping, attracting a lot of birds, turtles, butterflies, etc., along this promenade, we passed fancy condo buildings, the Tobin Center (concert hall) and the San Antonio Museum of Art before we reached The Pearl.

 

Black Heron

Tobin Center & Museum of Art

 

The Pearl is a more recently developed neighborhood on the grounds of a huge former brewery by the same name, founded in 1883 and shut down in 2001. The buildings are in excellent condition, old equipment was restored, and, e.g. the fancy 5-star historic hotel (The Emma) is well worth a peak (though room rates are certainly not fitting our budget - photo below). There are many restaurants, bars, a food hall, a plaza with water features etc. It was crowded, even on a Thursday! We had dinner at Sourleigh Brewery with a friend of us who formerly worked at San Antonio tourism and enjoyed our last evening in S.A. before we headed back to the hotel slowly along the promenade.

Good bye now, San Antonio - it's been a great time!