Streetcar adventures

1/21/18  Streetcar named.....lost

Today was fun. Just so everyone can rest easy (and I don’t even know if I’ve talked about this yet) our water is running and we dodged the bullet of broken pipes. Plumbers are busy in the neighborhood. Folks on the east bank are still told to boil water but they don’t seem to care. Between the lax laws about drinking (togo cups at all the doors), questionable need to close establishments due to health concerns (boil the damn water), no level sidewalk anywhere (never mind ADA), and parades can spontaneously materialize at any time blocking traffic until over (motorist seeming to take this in stride) this is one laid back city.

Per our usual morning routine, Herman and I go walking on the levee two blocks from the house. Usually alone, I let him run free while I saunter watching the barges and cruise ships jockey for position on the river. Of course, all new to him, Herman runs along until a scent catches his nose. It’s a good four steps before his back end has figured out his front end has made a hard right! As a wingman, he is failing me as a babe magnet but we know the names of every dog in a 4 block area.

Sarah and I went into town today. Caught the pedestrian ferry to the base of Canal St. A 5 min ride for $1 reduced fare since we are old.  Thought we’d take the streetcar to the end of the line. Easy to catch the Canal St line. At 40 cents (again for being old!) pretty reasonable but we opted for the $3 all day pass. Just flashing the pass is much more convenient than juggling exact change. Folks with Nebraska t-shirts and fanny packs asking me directions. Do I LOOK like a local?? With no agenda and no where to be until March, I can easily lean against a street lamp looking cool. Then, trying to get off the streetcar, the doors won’t open. Am advised by someone more local than me to wait till the light comes on over the door. 

We decide to check out the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. It just happens that one of NO’s premier restaurants, Toutes, shares the same building. Well, it was time for brunch anyway. Mimosas accompanying biscuits with crab roe butter and grilled head-on gulf shrimp over andouille grits and smothered with tomato salsa was just what was needed after a hard streetcar ride and to fortify ourselves for the museum. 

Yesterday was fun too! We forgo the kids’ parade in Algiers to participate as we thought was necessary, The Women’s March. Joining throngs of women, and men, and a lot of kids we listened to speeches from a variety of female political figures: the mayor, the first woman to hold this position, has yet to be inaugurated pending investigation re inappropriate use of funds (hey, this is still Louisiana!), and a female head of NO health and welfare department, the first transgender woman to hold public office. The 3 mile march wove us into the French Quarter at which point Sarah and I peeled off to get hydrated at Crescent Brewery and sample their savory crawfish cheesecake. Politics, booze and food. Only in New Orleans.