Martin appointed me (M) chief trip organiser, so I decided today we would venture out of the French Quarter and see some more of what New Orleans has to offer. We walked to Canal Street and caught the trolley (tram) west to the Garden District. Here we visited Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, the oldest of the seven municipal, city-operated cemeteries in New Orleans. It is unique in that it is non-segregated, non-denominational and has immigrants from over 25 different countries and natives of 26 states. It is also quite unique to us as all of the graves are actually tombs above the ground. This is because the water table in New Orleans is so high. Here are some photos so you can get the idea.

After the cemetery Stephen and I went to visit Christ Church Cathedral. It was the first non-Roman Catholic church founded in the entire Louisiana area in 1803, and is still a fully functioning and practicing church today. We went inside to take a look around and even met the priest, whose name as also Steven. We went into the chapel first, which was exquisite. We then made our way into the the main congregational area and it was beautiful. The wooden ceiling was so high and grand. There were enormous stained glass windows depicting Christ in different settings. There was also a pipe organ that was so huge we could only imagine the sound that would come out of it. I think the most fascinating thing for me was how the church seems so ancient and is so well maintained, and that people still worship there to this day.

These pictures really don’t do it justice.

Next we travelled by taxi to the Audubon Zoo. I’m not generally a fan of zoos, however it was actually my idea to go here (M). This is because the zoo covers 58 acres and is located in a section of Audubon Park in uptown New Orleans named in honour of artist and naturalist John James Audubon. The zoo prides itself on it’s enclosures and conservation efforts. Some of the exhibits we really enjoyed were the gorillas (the silver back was amazing), the bird aviary, and the Louisiana swamp exhibit. This exhibit was primarily outdoors on a boardwalk through swamp. It housed many samples of animals native to Southern Louisiana: black bears, racoons, otters, nutria, cottonmouth and copperhead snakes, a few different birds, and some alligators. I’m not sure whether it’s school holidays, or if children are on break for upcoming Thanksgiving, or if Tuesday’s kids enter for free, but there were kids EVERYWHERE! It was insane. We may have even been the only people in the entire zoo unaccompanied by children.

We caught a local bus back into the French Quarter and made our way back to the RV park. All of us were pooped after walking around all day in the sun – wish I wore my fitbit so I could tell you how many kilometres we walked today! – so we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner in the RV and I’m not writing this in bed and it’s only 9:30pm. Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow.

M.