A Streetcar Twittered Cemeteries

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I have recently found myself a bit addicted to Twitter. And I am now following many other New Orleanians. There is something even more intriguing about following the (mostly) silly details of a person’s day when that person is in your city–eating where you eat, enjoying (or not) the same weather, lamenting the same local political problems. It’s been very satisfying.

Yesterday, my sister came to visit Sun and me. We didn’t have any plans mapped out, and it was too cold to do the zoo and I was in no mood to run errands at the mall. So I twittered, “What to do today that is kid-friendly. Nothing with animals or malls. Suggestions?” And within minutes, YatPundit responded to me to “ride the streetcar,” and I knew immediately it was the perfect thing to do.

I decided to ride the Canal Street line since I’d never ridden that one and we’d be in the new red cars. YatPundit soon concurred with my idea to ride the Canal Street line, advising, “if you do it, do canal. start at cemeteries, end up at the old mint or vice versa,” but cautioning once we were settled on the green car (much to my confusion) that “the red streetcars aren’t running yet. all but one got flooded and are still being rebuilt.”

Armed with my camera and my Treo (and the baby and all her stuff), my sister and I were off. We approached the streetcar named “Cemeteries” (it says Special at the top but that is because the green cars are used for the St. Charles line–the piece of paper taped to the window gave it’s accurate name) and got its pic:

The point where the streetcar leaves from (Canal Street at City Park Avenue) has not less than six cemeteries. Here’s a shot of one of them:

Further along in Mid-City, Sacred Heart Church:

Then the neoned Walgreens downtown:

While stopped at a light, my sister noticed something odd on the side of a lamppost:

I got home and did a quick search on The Google to learn that the base of the majestic lampposts are decorated, and each of the four sides are different. This picture is of the first side; the second side has a castle and lion rampant, and states “Spanish Domination 1769-1803”; the third has the motto Deo Vindice (“With God as Our Defender”), “Confederate Domination 1861-1865.” And the last side has the American eagle and states, “American Domination 1803-1861, 1865 to Date.” I love the little things like this that NOLA offers for the observant.

At the foot of Canal Street, the car turns left and goes along the river in the French Quarter to the Old Mint Building. We saw the Mississippi River Bridge, the St. Louis Cathedral, the French Market, and the former Jax Brewery building:

Then we were at the end of the line. We paid another $1.25 each (young children ride for free; correct change is required). And we returned from whence we came.

It wasn’t all roses. We also saw various states of repair (including no repair at all) of homes and companies impacted by Katrina. We saw vacant lots where building stood before Katrina. We saw a tent city of homeless people under the interstate. We saw the cheesy t-shirt and tennis shoe shops peppering the downtown Canal Street.

And that is New Orleans. The beautiful intermingled with the ugly; the rich with the poor; the old with the new; the dead with the living. This ride was the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. I am ready to ride again.

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