Tripometer – 14,775 mi
Gas Gauge – 1152.255 gal
Location – French Quarter RV Park, New Orleans, LA
Lodging – $105
Cans of OFF – 4
This morning we got Ranger fed, walked, and stashed comfortably in the trailer and then drove back into the French Quarter only to quickly come to understand exactly how lucky we were last night to get a parking space along the street in the heart of the tourist district. We realized the folly of our actions almost immediately and turned that bus right around. Dropping the car back in the RV park, we hoofed it back to the French Market at the south end of the French Quarter up against the Mississippi. The French Market is one of the longest standing fixtures of the French Quarter and is populated with restaurants and flea markets selling a tremendous variety of things from t-shirts to gumbo. We perused the market for a half hour or so until our bellies told us it was time to eat and then spotted a wine and cheese shop offering an amazing looking cheese platter and bottle of wine special. What better way to start the day in the French Quarter?
The vast majority of the day was spent walking through the side streets of the French Quarter looking into every little shop that caught our eye. We’ve been to quite a few tourist destinations over the course of the trip and this was perhaps the best selection of crazy little stores we’ve seen. If there’s a product that someone might like to purchase, we’re pretty sure this town has a store devoted to it. The most impressive aspect of the shops in this town are the antiques. Most of Royal Street (the street next to Bourbon Street) is devoted to antique shops. From thrift store level antiques to mortgage your home for a Louise XIV style couch level antiques we saw some amazing things, most of which we couldn’t or wouldn’t ever afford. Some of our favorite shops were those dedicated to Mardi Gras and Voodoo. Being New Orleans specific, these shops had an amazing variety of things that we’ve never seen nor imagined.
We checked on Ranger some time around midday, gave him a walk and returned him to the trailer in time to run out for dinner and drinks on Bourbon Street. It’s a Saturday night the week before Thanksgiving. Bourbon Street was crowded in a way that is probably only exceeded by Mardi Gras. We ducked our heads into a variety of different bars and restaurants as we worked our way down the street, most of which were tremendously old with really amazing stories. Several times we questioned the hosts or bouncers about the history of their establishment and were almost always rewarded with delight as they relayed what they knew of these old buildings. We were especially delighted in the light that the gas lamps shed on the street. The warm, soft flickering glow of the gas flames gave the entire area a cozy old world feel. It is very easy to slip into a ‘New Orleans frame of mind’ here.
Tonight was our first of many uses of Uber while in town. We found that an Uber ride to and from the French Quarter to our RV park was a little more than half the cost of parking the car in town for the day. That’s a rather freeing statistic. We’re going to get a lot of use out of that app after dark this week.