That Nolia Clap: Day 3

March 2010.

When I wake up, I need some breakfast.

Therefore, I wasn't waiting for GW & I was going in search of some eats.

I found the old diner in the above building & loved it. It had one of those old time clink-clank registers, rang by an all-business manager, and this was after getting my sausage sandwich from a feisty black woman who made it her primary goal to give me a hard time (when I could barely understand her creole accent).

I had no idea that my sausage sandwich, meant an actual sausage cut in half and placed on a bun.

It was good. I felt months coming off my life as I swallowed the grease, but it was good...

I had a car rental for this day, so I walked over to the rental location & picked up my Cobalt.

I detoured briefly so I could take some exterior pictures of the Dixie Brewery. Driving down Tulane Avenue, I pulled into the Mid-City neighbourhood and parked - then noticed I was in front of the courthouse! This was diagonal from the Dixie Brewery and the number of firemen, lawyers & policemen around was hilarious.

Anyway, I liked the pelicans on the courthouse and snapped some pictures of 'em before snapping some of the outside of the Dixie Brewery (seen in Day 1 coverage).

It was also funny that when I was trying to research this courthouse, I looked up Images on Google and there were a bunch of pictures of rapper B.G...of the Hot Boyz fame (with Lil Wayne, Turk & Juvenile). Apparently B.G. was caught with 3 guns (2 stolen) and 2 long clips this year in East New Orleans and he had to actually report to this courthouse (it's a felony for a convicted felon to possess guns in Louisiana).

So yeah, anyway, B.G. reported to the 1929, Art Deco style, Criminal Courts Building (which is on the National Register of Historic Places).

After walking around so much, GW and I were happy to drive around in the rental.

We had a target in mind, but somehow got turned around and ended up on some interstate.

It was alright though, because the interstate was built through the swamp; so it was neat to drive along and be 20 feet over the swamp, obviously on concrete pillars, traveling through an area that you normally only would traverse only by speedboat.

Continuing along, we passed a few plantations. They weren't of the long road to the plantation, Forrest Gump/The Notebook, hollywood plantation variety; but they were still sort of neat.

It was from this road that we took some random bridge that emptied out into empty Louisiana land...it was amazing the night & day difference in human development when we crossed that river...it peaked my interest in exploring more of Louisiana in the future...

We were both happy enough to simply drive around, so it didn't really matter if we couldn't easily find what we were looking for.

Of course we eventually found it: the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the world's longest bridge over water. It spans 39km(24mi) and is quite impressive in pictures & from above as you fly into New Orleans - both GW & I wanted to see & drive over it.

We kept our enthusiasm for the first 10 kilometres, even the first 15 kilometres. Then GW started to ask how long the bridge was...to which I replied that I thought it was 21 or 24 kilometres - so we drove and drove.

Seeing pelicans fly alongside the car (MUCH to my delight) and having a high speed limit helped, but by kilometre 30, 33 & 36; we had just about enough.

Finally seeing the other side of the lake, we had finally conquered the megabridge.

It was time for some Quizno's in Mandeville & then we had to return the same way we came.

Well we could have drove around the lake, but that would have taken hours...so after taking some pictures next to the bridge, we drove right back on & over it.

Coming back into town, I wanted to stop at this cemetery I had seen pictures of prior to our trip.

Holt Cemetery is a Potter's Field (a cemetery for the poor) which was established in 1879. It is one of the only below ground cemeteries in New Orleans, as it is a place for those who can't afford a mausoleum. The cost of a plot is only the cost of burial and the cemetery is owned by the City of New Orleans.

My friend had pictures where people were using things like Twister mats to keep water out & when you come from a place where cemeteries have strict rules, it's compelling to walk around a much more personal final destination.

I didn't find anything that crazy, but a bed frame or plumbing tube grave fence was interesting.

Holt Cemetery is also intriguing because of the personal feel - many of these people can't afford a professional gravestone...so they make their own.

Walking over to Masonic Cemetery #1, the tombs of the wealthy couldn't have been more of a stark contrast to Holt.

Especially seeing as we stopped at Masonic Cemetery #1 because we thought there was an actual tomb with roof access.

It was actually a group Masonic Lodge tomb.

After walking around the Masonic Cemetery for a bit, I could tell GW was uneasy. We returned to the Hotel after this & it was just in time!

Poor GW got food poisoning from the Mandeville Quizno's we had. He was really hurting the rest of the night & therefore we would take it easy this night.

Onto Day 4.

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Sources:

1 - National Register of Historic Places - Orleans County, Louisiana

2 - Rapper B.G. pleads innocent to gun charges | NOLA.com

3 - New Orleans Cemeteries - Masonic Cemetery No.1 & 2

4 - New Orleans Cemeteries - Holt Cemetery