Living in New Orleans: Water, Water Everywhere

But definitely none I would drink. More about that below!

One of the aspects of living a month in each place in our retirement that I have been most excited about is the opportunity to immerse yourself in what it’s like to live in each place. In the past, when I used to think about New Orleans, it was all about the amazing local food and music because most of our prior New Orleans experiences were built around those experiences. We pretty much only spent time in the French Quarter and surrounding areas - which have a very specific and unique feel.

This time, we found an airbnb in a great neighborhood in the Gentilly area, near the City Park. It was a completely different experience and showed us a side of New Orleans we didn’t know existed (I really need to call myself out on this - really, DUH, of course where people live would be different). Everywhere we went there were beautiful old trees, waterways, parks, places for people to enjoy them, and some historic buildings/museums that we had not seen before. We still did get to enjoy lots of music and food, but I cover that in the other New Orleans post but this post is about everything else!

My favorite was the City Park - the second largest urban park in the US. Second only to that other creatively named Central Park. City Park is 1,300 acres of beautiful park land and lots of fun for locals and tourists. Over the month we were there, I think we walked at least 80% of all the walking paths to be sure we didn’t miss anything. So many of them started, ended, crossed or wandered by the water:

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  See next photo for the gandering.

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Some other amazing parts of the park:

1. There are TWO museums in the park, the museum of art (which includes an extensive sculpture garden) and a children’s museum.

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  Entrance to the Museum of Art

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  The sculpture garden was huge, had 2 parts and a path under the street level connecting them.

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  This bridge is ALSO art.

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  Here’s the art. Represents the wandering path of the river.

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  A huge painted bronze skull, 2017.

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  Sculptures everywhere!

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  “Bear with us” (lol), Frank Gehry, 2014

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  “Crocodylus” Wangechi Mutu, 2020

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  The Children’s Museum is built on top of the water.

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2. The park is 170 years old, but some of the oak trees are as old as 800 years old, and super pretty:

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3. There’s also an amusement park, a mini golf course, a lake with water sports, a Cafe Dumonde and Storyland (a large playground for kids).

We spent time wandering around the Garden District, which has a lot of the older, grander homes. Historic and beautiful:

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  Famous Commander’s Palace - hard to get a reservation!

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  Unfortunately, the historic cemetery was closed when we were there.

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  Views from outside the gate.

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  I dunno, I found this sign funny.

NOLA is also built right up against Lake Ponchartrain, which is enormous. It’s 630 square miles - you can’t even see the far shore. I was also flummoxed by the very long bridges going over it.

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  Wandered by one of the marinas…what does that sign say?

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  Hmmmm.

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  Yup - that’s Craig looking for alligators. Sigh.