Who’s Your Crawdaddy? (New Orleans, Day One)

This is my room, with an unfeasible number of pillows and a sort of cushioned pool noodle thing.

And a view of Canal Street.

And hotel corridors which are … a little unusual in the lighting department.

That said, the whole hotel is a bit unusual.

Interesting lobby music though, which is a nice change.

I slept in a little, had Lost Bread for breakfast (it turns out to be French Toast, but more gooey) and ambled down Canal Street and along the river.

And in the course of ambling, found a place where I could take a lunchtime Jazz Cruise on the Natchez, 9th of it’s name.

It’s got a steam carillon, which they play … well, because they can.

 

 

 

And, to the left of the boat and the right of the picture, the Lower 9th Ward.

I’m pretty sure this is Jackson Barrracks – I should maybe take a few fewer photos and a few more notes?

Former car-part plant & current sugar refinery.
I did try to get a shot of the big-ass scoop picking up raw sugar from that boat on the right, but … it came out grainy?

OK, it was too cluttered a background to see what the hell was going on.

Sittin’ up the front, enjoying the ride down the river.
There’s the Captain’s Saloon off to the right, where one of the folk at the bar recognised my Dr. Who shirt; She was the second member of the Natchez team to do so, so apparently they’re a bunch of nerds.

A profusion of flags;
Barely visible to the right of the smokestack is the Jack of the United States, which I’d not realised was a thing.
The nearly indistinguishable one is the Flag of New Orleans.
Blue with 3 Gold Fleurs-De-Lis is a historical French-In-The-Americas thing, from what I can tell.

The ferry lets us go by, …

In addition to a steam calliope, the Natchez also has a steam whistle.
Quite a loud one, as it happens.

The Natchez, even though it only dates back to 1975, is a steamship, and runs like a much older type of ship.
Engine room telegraph (I wandered through the engine room, but took no photos), and orders relayed to the helm by one of those big cone speaking trumpets.