NOLA Trip: Last Day in New Orleans
More then a month after I left New Orleans, I'm finally getting to the part where I actually left New Orleans. And the eventful, nerve-wrecking hours that led up to it.
But I'll get to that soon enough. First, let us recap how I spent the previous four days.
As I said in the previous post, I had to get up early on Monday, March 23. Angie had to leave for work by 6:00 AM, and my train would leave at 1:45 PM. Later, I discovered that there was a bus I could take from Metairie to downtown New Orleans, but honestly, I don't mind that I didn't know that. This way, I got to spend more time in the city.
Having been raised by (de facto, if not always de jour) single mother trying to wrangle both me and my two siblings, and having more than a bit of experience of waking up at odd times to catch transcontinental flights, I could get ready pretty quickly when I needed to. Most of my luggage was packed the previous evening - all I had to do was run through the morning routine, pack the remaining stuff (mostly toothbrush and such) and wait for Angie to finish getting ready. I was glad that my old routines haven't failed me, and even Angie was a little impressed that we managed to get ready quicker than she thoughts.
I said goodbye to Jak and got into her car. As we approached the city, I noticed that one of the zippers in my messenger bag - the one that for the pocket where my phone charger and field laptop charger were stored - came apart. Which unfortunately has become a regular feature. I put my messenger bags through a lot, and, around last year or so, I noticed that some of its zippers started losing teeth. Which meant that the part of the zipper that actually zips it up comes lose, and I have to fuss around and put it back in.
I made a mental note to do that once we got out of the car.
You know how I said, in the very first post in this trip log, that life would be a lot easier if we recognized our own foreshadowing...
As we drove into downtown, I noticed what wasn't there. No crowds on the streets. In Chicago around this time of day, you'll see large crowds of people getting out of train terminals and 'L' stations and heading for work. I reminded myself that New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal doesn't host any suburban trains.
Later, I would see some people getting off buses or even streetcars and heading toward the office buildings. But it wasn't even remotely the same thing.
As I shared my thoughts with Angie, she explained that many downtown office buildings, parking garages and hotels are linked together by skywalk tunnels. Sort of like the above-ground portions of Chicago's pedway system, except way less interconnected and extensive. People can come from the suburbs, park, walk to their offices, work, and go home, all without ever having to actually walk on New Orleans streets.
Thanks to the skywalks, we were able to go from the parking lot straight into the office building where Angie worked. As we reached the security turnstile, we said our goodbyes, and I headed downstairs.
Around the Superdome
At first, I walked toward the Union Terminal, just to get a better sense of how far away it was (answer - not at all), and took photos of one of the more distinctive buildings along the way.
On Angie's advice, I went to see the Superdome (yes, that Superdome) and the surrounding structures. From what she told me, when the Saints were playing, the area was as busy as the Wrigleyville on Cubs game night. But on an average weekday morning it was, obviously, quite desolate.
The Superdome itself
The Smoothie King Center - a basketball stadium right next to the Superdome.
Stadium parking
Champions Square - an outdoor plaza that hosts concerts and other events before games.
As I walked through the Champions Square, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a cord coming out of my bag. it was a phone charger cord.
I quickly put it back in... only to realize that the pocket was wide-open, and my computer charger was gone.
After putting the zipper back in and making sure it stayed secure, I carefully retraced my steps. I knew that, in a major city, the chances that no one would pick it up were pretty small, but I had to just to cover my bases.
It was gone. I checked with the security at the building where Angie worked, and they said they haven't had anyone turn a charger in, either.
I still had my Clear Wireless Internet router, but eats up a lot of battery power. Given that I didn't know when I was going to get a charger, I decided to find a wi-fi hotspot and find a store (any store) that might have a replacement charger. I plugged in the router long enough to find out that there was a Starbucks at the nearby Hyatt Hotel.
At this point, I realized that I didn't have any coffee before I left Metairie. And so, for the first time in more than 17 years in this country, I brought a coffee at a Starbucks (up until then, I only bought teas).
Once I got online, I discovered that the closest Best Buy was in the western suburbs, and it would take me at least two hours to travel there and back. But there was a Radio Shack near the French Quarter, along Canal Street. And I could get there by streetcar.
As you may recall from my first trip log post, it was the opening of a new streetcar route that set the wheels in motion for this trip in the first place. I already made plans to ride a streetcar at least once before my train left. This would allow me to neatly kill two birds with one stone.
New Orleans Streetcars
This is a good place to get a bit more into the city's iconic mode of public transit.
Growing up in St. Peterburg, I was used to seeing tramways running down major streets. They were fairly common in most ex-Soviet cities. Since I left Russia, St. Petersburg tramway network has been cut down quite significantly (seriously - a couple of years ago, I found charts showing just how much the network was cut back and I very nearly cried, because I had a lot of memories, good and bad, attached to those thing, god damn it). In a way, what happened in Russia in early 2000s was similar to what happened in most American cities in 1940s-1950s - line after line got shut down and replaced by buses. There were a few cities that have kept bits and pieces of the old routes - Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
Route 12, or St Charles Street Line, survived for one simple reason - it is the oldest piece of passenger rail infrastructure in North America. It started out as a stream line, got converted into a horse-drawn streetcar line, and then into electrically powered streetcar line. It was one of the last four streetcar routes, and when it went up on the chopping block, there was a huge uproar. St Charles Line was declared a historic landmark and continued running. To this day, it uses that streetcars that have been running since the 1920s
Since then, it became a major tourist attraction. And, eventually, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority decided to build upon that. In 1988, it opened Route 2, or the Riverfront Line, which ran along a more touristy section of the shore of Mississippi River. In 2004, NORTA rebuilt streetcar tracks along Canal Street, on of the city's major artery streets. At Carrollton Avenue, the line splits into two branches, with one continuing along Canal Street toward the historic cemeteries, and the other turns on Carrollton toward the New Orleans Museum of Art. And, most recently, in 2013, the agency opened Route 49, or Loyola-UPT Streetcar Line, which travels along Loyola Avenue from the Union Terminal to Canal Street, where it turns right and follows the Canal Street tracks, either stopping where Canal Street Line cars usually stop, or continuing to the end of the the Riverfront Line tracks.
These lines use different, more modern streetcars than St Charles Line - though still retro enough that it wouldn't look too out of place standing next the former's nearly 100-year-old streetcars. the biggest difference between the two is that the newer streetcars have wheelchair lifts disguised as middle doors.
St Charles streetcar operates much like most tramways in St. Petersburg back in the 90s did - with tracks running in the idle of the streets, where cars were free to pass right over them. (Well, on some portions. From what I understand, further from downtown, it operates in the middle of a tree-lined median)
Canal streetcars are like the some of the faster St. Petersburg streetcar routes - the tracks are in the median that's separated from the regular car traffic.
While Loyola Avenue portion of Loyola Line could be best described as "all of the above, and then some." In some parts, it's completely separated from traffic. In other parts, it runs along the median on lanes that are specifically closed to car traffic. In other parts, these same lanes are open to regular traffic. Knowing how transit planning processes work, I'm sure there was a reason for that, but I can't even begin to guess what it might be.
Looking for a laptop charger on Canal Street
After checking streetcar arrival times and writing down the Radio Shack's address, I left the Hyatt Starbucks and went to the nearest streetcar stop. It didn't take that long before the streetcar arrived.
Here's what it looked like inside
The farebox, by the way, was behind the engineer's seat at the front. There were doors on both sides, and the farebox was located so that it would be an equal distance between both doors. There were signs insisting that riders exit out of the rear doors (which were also on both sides), but while I was riding the streetcar, absolutely no one followed that rule.
Another interesting thing I realized. Most natives used passes, or paper transfers from buses. Tourists like yours truly were more likely to use cash.
Up until that point, I've only ridden two tramway-like systems in America - the Boston T Green Line and Kenosha's streetcar system. The Green Line had modern vehicles ("trolleys" in the local parlance), while Kenosha streetcar system used vehicles that were common in American streetcar systems in 1940s and 1950s. While Green Line traveled a bit faster than tramways in St. Petersburg, the Kenosha streetcars were slower. Noticeably slower.
The Loyola Line streetcar got me to my destination fairly quickly, but at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that it's speed was closer to Kenosha streetcar speed than Green Line speed.
When I got off the streetcar, I was in for a pleasant surprise. I knew it was a major street, but that was about it. I didn't know that it had some pretty cool architecture.
Interesting shops
And some charmingly retro takes on national franchises
Restaurants/eateries
Hotels.
As well as things like what I later found out was the city's casino
And the US. Customs House - which served as home for US border security agencies for over a century (except for a few years after Hurricane Katrina, while flood damage was being repaired)
The entire street seemed like a major tourist hub. And as I kept walking, I started seeing more and more tourists filling the streets.
I wondered why, in all my planning with Angie, Canal Street never came up. Granted, she probably wouldn't have been able to take me there - French Quarter was less than a block away - but it still...
And it also dawned on me just how brilliant the New Orleans streetcar system was as a tourist attraction. You can arrive in the city on the train, buy an all-day $3 pass at the terminal, take the streetcar to a hotel, drop off your luggage and then take the streetcar to several major points of interest - the historic cemeteries, the riverfront, the City Park, etc. I don't think it's a coincidence that NORTA's next streetcar expansion would extend the system deep into the French Quarter.
After walking past the Customs House, I realized three things.
a) I was getting pretty close to Mississippi River
b) Judging by the building numbers, I missed the Radio Shack by quite a few blocks.
c) It sure didn't take nearly as long to get to the river as I thought it would.
I backtracked, carefully watching the streets. It wasn't until later that I would realize that, for what I'm sure is some historical reason that made sense at the time, when the streets cross Canal Street, they change names.
I was also reminded, once again, that while New Orleans wasn't a small city, it was on a very different scale than Chicago. Sort of like how, when I first visited New York City, I was awestruck by how enormous it was, larger than any city I've ever been to before or since. You could pack a St. Petersburg and a Chicago inside it and still have some room left.
I knew all of this in theory, but it wasn't until the difference in scale between Chicago and New Orleans truly sunk in. When Angie and Jak were in Chicago, they only got to see a relatively small portion of the city. Next time they're in town, I'm going to try my best to get them to Edgewater and Rogers Park, just to see how they'll react when they realize how far north the city extends.
As I backtracked toward the Radio Shack, I noticed another interesting feature - cigarette recycling boxes. Which made a lot of sense, given the city's laxer smoking regulations.
I was able to find the Radio Shack on the second try, but while they had laptop chargers, none of them fit my field laptop. The clerk was apologetic, and recommended a few nearby shops that might be able to help me. But those stores didn't have any charger that fit, either.
Tea, St. Charles Streetcar and wandering through downtown
I wouldn't say I was dejected, exactly. Even while I looked for the Radio Shack, I mulled over back-up plans. In Chicago, there was a Best Buy within walking distance of North/Clybourn Red Line 'L' station. Once I returned to the city, I could stop by on the way home. But it was still very annoying to find myself with a laptop that only had enough charge for about two and half hours of operation and no way to recharge it. I wouldn't be able to use my time on the train to sort out photos, start blogging, or tweet updates during station stops.
Not fatal, but annoying.
I went to the nearby Starbucks to stew a bit.
Since, in my experience, New Orleanians don't really have much of a tea culture and really like their coffee, I wound up asking the barista if they had any teas at all. And I was honestly pleasantly surprised when he told me that they had all the teas you'd expect from any other Starbucks.
I tweeted and updated my Facebook about my situation. After I threw out a very unlikely possibility that my charger fell out in Angie's car, she offered to check for me, but found nothing.
I was thinking about what to do next when I saw a St. Charles streetcar turning outside my window.
And I decided that, so long as I was here, I might as well ride the historic New Orleans streetcar.
While Route 12 mostly follows St Charles street, it makes a loop downtown, turning around on Canal Street. It has a separate track that, I suspect, has been there for as long as the streetcar line.
It doesn't stop on Canal Street - most likely because there's simply no room to safely put a stop. Instead, riders who get off at St. Charles/Canal intersection are instructed cross the street.
And walk one block northwest
Toward Canal/Carondelet intersection. I got there easily enough, but when I saw the huge line at the stop, I decided against boarding. If I wasn't carrying my luggage, I would, but carrying a suitcase and my messenger bag and Jak's poster, it seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
(And yes, for those who've been following this trip log since the beginning, I also took some black-and-white photos of this stop.)
The crowd may have been large because (from what I gathered from NORTA employee chatter) there was some kind of accident that caused a huge delay, and now streetcars were arriving in bunches.
The streetcars have been here for over 150 years, I told myself. They'll be there next time you're in town
And, with that thought, I decided to walk a bit further west.
As the delayed streetcars kept on coming
After stopping to take a photo of a streetcar stop
I decided to turn northwest and head toward Loyola Avenue. In theory, I would eventually run smack into Duncan Plaza - the city's municipal government center. Along the way, I saw some interesting architecture.
An impressive-looking building that seemed to be in the midst of renovations
And I couldn't help but smile in this. In Chicago, you see a lot of signs telling people not to chain their bikes to railings. In New Orleans (at least in this particular case), it actually seems to be working.
When I reached Loyola Avenue, I discovered that I only missed Duncan Plaza by less than a block. Given that I was walking through the part of the city I've never been to before, and I only had maps in my memory to go on, I still count it as a win.
Duncan Plaza is home to the New Orleans City Hall and several other government buildings, serving a similar function as Chicago's Daley Plaza. It was built in 1950s, because the mayor at the time wanted a modern civic plaza. So in contrast to Chicago's ornate more-than-a-century-old City Hall, the NOLA City Hall is very utilitarian (though the staircase is, admittedly, a pretty nice touch)
(Kind of a shame. The original City Hall looks pretty nice)
And the plaza itself is very nicely landscaped.
When I was at the plaza, I thought that this was another government building. Turned out it was a large parking garage
There used to be a Louisiana Supreme Court building in front of it, but it was demolished a few years ago after the court moved to French Quarter.
The obelisk you see in that shot is a monument to DeLesseps "Chep" Morrison - the New Orleans mayor who commissioned the plaza.
From there, I headed toward one of the other places Angie recommended - the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library system. It's older than Chicago's Harold Washington Branch library by almost four decades (it opened in 1960), but while it's Chicago counterpart was designed as modern library with elements evocative of old building (which make it look older than it actually is), Crescent City's main library was just plain modern. Which, since it was built in the 60s, made for a more interesting building than the City Hall.
I didn't take any photos inside the library, but it was more utilitarian than not. One of the first things I looked at was its periodicals sections. As expected, I saw copies of New Orleans Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate, as well as some neighborhood newspapers, regional newspapers and major national newspapers. I saw copies of some Alabama newspapers, and I had to remind myself that NOLA is not that far from the Louisiana/Alabama border. But what really surprised me were some very political, left-leaning newspapers placed alongside the weeklies and dailies. In Chicago libraries, I would expect them behind the counter, where you'd need to show your library ID to see them.
I couldn't resist taking advantage of the library wi-fi and checking my e-mail - only to discover that one of the articles I wrote a week earlier got an enormous response (over 100 comments. On most of my articles, I'm lucky to get one).
I could've just stayed in the library, looking through its collections and eventually catching a streetcar to the Union Terminal. It had to have something just as interesting as the East Bank branch's Katrina collection.
But, of course, I couldn't just do things the easy way.
The slow crawl to the New Orleans Union Terminal
Instead, I hit upon the plan that I swear made sense in my head at the time. I would go to Canal Street, walk all the way down to Mississippi River, take some photos of the river and take the streetcar back to the Union Terminal.
In the end, I managed to get pretty close.
But, by this point, it was already past noon. As I said before, I like to arrive at train stations at least half an hour before scheduled departure. Given that I didn't know Route 49 schedule, and that I didn't know how long it would take me to walk to the river and back, I decided that I simply couldn't risk it. So I walked back toward the spot where most Canal Street streetcars turned around.
And went to the streetcar stop to wait.
And it's a good thing I did, because while several streetcars came and went, none of them were Route 49. By 12:30, I started to get nervous, and seriously considered simply taking whichever streetcar came along and walking the rest of the way.
Which was when the Loyola-UPT Line streetcar showed up.
As I said - New Orleans streetcars weren't that much faster than their Kenosha counterparts. But as I kept glancing at my watch, the trip felt excruciatingly slow. It seemed like it stopped at every block. It picked up a person in a wheelchair, which slowed it down some more. It seemed like nearly every traffic light turned red as we approached, forcing the streetcar to wait. I tried to remind myself that while arriving half an hour before departure time was a good idea, I could still board the train until five minutes before departure.
That didn't comfort me much.
And yet, it was still faster than walking. I compared the times. And I didn't have to drag my suitcase.
it wasn't long before I realized that streetcar engineers did double duty as tour guides/resources. Tourists who boarded asked our driver for directions. One asked for a restaurant recommendation, and after asking what kind of food they like and how much they're prepared to spend, he gave several suggetions.
As we approached Loyola Avenue, we drove past two movie theaters, and there were two on the other corners of the intersection. I wondered what was it about this intersection that made it attractive to movie theaters - and was more than a bit saddened that only some of those theaters were still operating.
The streetcar sped up on Loyola Avenue, but only a little.
In the end, we arrived at New Orleans Union Terminal at 1:05 PM, exactly half an hour before departure. I swear to God I'm not making that up.
After taking a few more shots of the stop...
...and headed inside the station.
And not a moment too soon. Just as I arrived, Amtrak staff asked passengers to line up for boarding.
If my life was a movie or a book, critics would be crying plot contrivance.
----
Like I said before, I'm not sure if I will write about the trip back to Chicago. I think I probably will, since a completest in me would want to see this trip log finished. Especially since it's 9/10th of a way done. But we'll see.
At least the New Orleans part is finally done
But I'll get to that soon enough. First, let us recap how I spent the previous four days.
- March 19 - I leave Chicago to visit phoenix_anew and jaklocke in New Orleans area
- March 20 - I arrive in New Orleans, and Jack and Angie show me some interesting things in the Metairie, a New Orleans suburb where they live
- March 21 - I see the New Orleans' historical cemeteries and a surprisingly interesting local library, explore Angie's neighborhood a little and watch Jak's band perform
- March 22 - in the morning, Angie and I go to see the Destrehan Plantation museum, while in the evening, Jak and his friend, Chuck, took me to see the French Quarter.
As I said in the previous post, I had to get up early on Monday, March 23. Angie had to leave for work by 6:00 AM, and my train would leave at 1:45 PM. Later, I discovered that there was a bus I could take from Metairie to downtown New Orleans, but honestly, I don't mind that I didn't know that. This way, I got to spend more time in the city.
Having been raised by (de facto, if not always de jour) single mother trying to wrangle both me and my two siblings, and having more than a bit of experience of waking up at odd times to catch transcontinental flights, I could get ready pretty quickly when I needed to. Most of my luggage was packed the previous evening - all I had to do was run through the morning routine, pack the remaining stuff (mostly toothbrush and such) and wait for Angie to finish getting ready. I was glad that my old routines haven't failed me, and even Angie was a little impressed that we managed to get ready quicker than she thoughts.
I said goodbye to Jak and got into her car. As we approached the city, I noticed that one of the zippers in my messenger bag - the one that for the pocket where my phone charger and field laptop charger were stored - came apart. Which unfortunately has become a regular feature. I put my messenger bags through a lot, and, around last year or so, I noticed that some of its zippers started losing teeth. Which meant that the part of the zipper that actually zips it up comes lose, and I have to fuss around and put it back in.
I made a mental note to do that once we got out of the car.
You know how I said, in the very first post in this trip log, that life would be a lot easier if we recognized our own foreshadowing...
As we drove into downtown, I noticed what wasn't there. No crowds on the streets. In Chicago around this time of day, you'll see large crowds of people getting out of train terminals and 'L' stations and heading for work. I reminded myself that New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal doesn't host any suburban trains.
Later, I would see some people getting off buses or even streetcars and heading toward the office buildings. But it wasn't even remotely the same thing.
As I shared my thoughts with Angie, she explained that many downtown office buildings, parking garages and hotels are linked together by skywalk tunnels. Sort of like the above-ground portions of Chicago's pedway system, except way less interconnected and extensive. People can come from the suburbs, park, walk to their offices, work, and go home, all without ever having to actually walk on New Orleans streets.
Thanks to the skywalks, we were able to go from the parking lot straight into the office building where Angie worked. As we reached the security turnstile, we said our goodbyes, and I headed downstairs.
Around the Superdome
At first, I walked toward the Union Terminal, just to get a better sense of how far away it was (answer - not at all), and took photos of one of the more distinctive buildings along the way.
On Angie's advice, I went to see the Superdome (yes, that Superdome) and the surrounding structures. From what she told me, when the Saints were playing, the area was as busy as the Wrigleyville on Cubs game night. But on an average weekday morning it was, obviously, quite desolate.
The Superdome itself
The Smoothie King Center - a basketball stadium right next to the Superdome.
Stadium parking
Champions Square - an outdoor plaza that hosts concerts and other events before games.
As I walked through the Champions Square, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a cord coming out of my bag. it was a phone charger cord.
I quickly put it back in... only to realize that the pocket was wide-open, and my computer charger was gone.
After putting the zipper back in and making sure it stayed secure, I carefully retraced my steps. I knew that, in a major city, the chances that no one would pick it up were pretty small, but I had to just to cover my bases.
It was gone. I checked with the security at the building where Angie worked, and they said they haven't had anyone turn a charger in, either.
I still had my Clear Wireless Internet router, but eats up a lot of battery power. Given that I didn't know when I was going to get a charger, I decided to find a wi-fi hotspot and find a store (any store) that might have a replacement charger. I plugged in the router long enough to find out that there was a Starbucks at the nearby Hyatt Hotel.
At this point, I realized that I didn't have any coffee before I left Metairie. And so, for the first time in more than 17 years in this country, I brought a coffee at a Starbucks (up until then, I only bought teas).
Once I got online, I discovered that the closest Best Buy was in the western suburbs, and it would take me at least two hours to travel there and back. But there was a Radio Shack near the French Quarter, along Canal Street. And I could get there by streetcar.
As you may recall from my first trip log post, it was the opening of a new streetcar route that set the wheels in motion for this trip in the first place. I already made plans to ride a streetcar at least once before my train left. This would allow me to neatly kill two birds with one stone.
New Orleans Streetcars
This is a good place to get a bit more into the city's iconic mode of public transit.
Growing up in St. Peterburg, I was used to seeing tramways running down major streets. They were fairly common in most ex-Soviet cities. Since I left Russia, St. Petersburg tramway network has been cut down quite significantly (seriously - a couple of years ago, I found charts showing just how much the network was cut back and I very nearly cried, because I had a lot of memories, good and bad, attached to those thing, god damn it). In a way, what happened in Russia in early 2000s was similar to what happened in most American cities in 1940s-1950s - line after line got shut down and replaced by buses. There were a few cities that have kept bits and pieces of the old routes - Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
Route 12, or St Charles Street Line, survived for one simple reason - it is the oldest piece of passenger rail infrastructure in North America. It started out as a stream line, got converted into a horse-drawn streetcar line, and then into electrically powered streetcar line. It was one of the last four streetcar routes, and when it went up on the chopping block, there was a huge uproar. St Charles Line was declared a historic landmark and continued running. To this day, it uses that streetcars that have been running since the 1920s
Since then, it became a major tourist attraction. And, eventually, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority decided to build upon that. In 1988, it opened Route 2, or the Riverfront Line, which ran along a more touristy section of the shore of Mississippi River. In 2004, NORTA rebuilt streetcar tracks along Canal Street, on of the city's major artery streets. At Carrollton Avenue, the line splits into two branches, with one continuing along Canal Street toward the historic cemeteries, and the other turns on Carrollton toward the New Orleans Museum of Art. And, most recently, in 2013, the agency opened Route 49, or Loyola-UPT Streetcar Line, which travels along Loyola Avenue from the Union Terminal to Canal Street, where it turns right and follows the Canal Street tracks, either stopping where Canal Street Line cars usually stop, or continuing to the end of the the Riverfront Line tracks.
These lines use different, more modern streetcars than St Charles Line - though still retro enough that it wouldn't look too out of place standing next the former's nearly 100-year-old streetcars. the biggest difference between the two is that the newer streetcars have wheelchair lifts disguised as middle doors.
St Charles streetcar operates much like most tramways in St. Petersburg back in the 90s did - with tracks running in the idle of the streets, where cars were free to pass right over them. (Well, on some portions. From what I understand, further from downtown, it operates in the middle of a tree-lined median)
Canal streetcars are like the some of the faster St. Petersburg streetcar routes - the tracks are in the median that's separated from the regular car traffic.
While Loyola Avenue portion of Loyola Line could be best described as "all of the above, and then some." In some parts, it's completely separated from traffic. In other parts, it runs along the median on lanes that are specifically closed to car traffic. In other parts, these same lanes are open to regular traffic. Knowing how transit planning processes work, I'm sure there was a reason for that, but I can't even begin to guess what it might be.
Looking for a laptop charger on Canal Street
After checking streetcar arrival times and writing down the Radio Shack's address, I left the Hyatt Starbucks and went to the nearest streetcar stop. It didn't take that long before the streetcar arrived.
Here's what it looked like inside
The farebox, by the way, was behind the engineer's seat at the front. There were doors on both sides, and the farebox was located so that it would be an equal distance between both doors. There were signs insisting that riders exit out of the rear doors (which were also on both sides), but while I was riding the streetcar, absolutely no one followed that rule.
Another interesting thing I realized. Most natives used passes, or paper transfers from buses. Tourists like yours truly were more likely to use cash.
Up until that point, I've only ridden two tramway-like systems in America - the Boston T Green Line and Kenosha's streetcar system. The Green Line had modern vehicles ("trolleys" in the local parlance), while Kenosha streetcar system used vehicles that were common in American streetcar systems in 1940s and 1950s. While Green Line traveled a bit faster than tramways in St. Petersburg, the Kenosha streetcars were slower. Noticeably slower.
The Loyola Line streetcar got me to my destination fairly quickly, but at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that it's speed was closer to Kenosha streetcar speed than Green Line speed.
When I got off the streetcar, I was in for a pleasant surprise. I knew it was a major street, but that was about it. I didn't know that it had some pretty cool architecture.
Interesting shops
And some charmingly retro takes on national franchises
Restaurants/eateries
Hotels.
As well as things like what I later found out was the city's casino
And the US. Customs House - which served as home for US border security agencies for over a century (except for a few years after Hurricane Katrina, while flood damage was being repaired)
The entire street seemed like a major tourist hub. And as I kept walking, I started seeing more and more tourists filling the streets.
I wondered why, in all my planning with Angie, Canal Street never came up. Granted, she probably wouldn't have been able to take me there - French Quarter was less than a block away - but it still...
And it also dawned on me just how brilliant the New Orleans streetcar system was as a tourist attraction. You can arrive in the city on the train, buy an all-day $3 pass at the terminal, take the streetcar to a hotel, drop off your luggage and then take the streetcar to several major points of interest - the historic cemeteries, the riverfront, the City Park, etc. I don't think it's a coincidence that NORTA's next streetcar expansion would extend the system deep into the French Quarter.
After walking past the Customs House, I realized three things.
a) I was getting pretty close to Mississippi River
b) Judging by the building numbers, I missed the Radio Shack by quite a few blocks.
c) It sure didn't take nearly as long to get to the river as I thought it would.
I backtracked, carefully watching the streets. It wasn't until later that I would realize that, for what I'm sure is some historical reason that made sense at the time, when the streets cross Canal Street, they change names.
I was also reminded, once again, that while New Orleans wasn't a small city, it was on a very different scale than Chicago. Sort of like how, when I first visited New York City, I was awestruck by how enormous it was, larger than any city I've ever been to before or since. You could pack a St. Petersburg and a Chicago inside it and still have some room left.
I knew all of this in theory, but it wasn't until the difference in scale between Chicago and New Orleans truly sunk in. When Angie and Jak were in Chicago, they only got to see a relatively small portion of the city. Next time they're in town, I'm going to try my best to get them to Edgewater and Rogers Park, just to see how they'll react when they realize how far north the city extends.
As I backtracked toward the Radio Shack, I noticed another interesting feature - cigarette recycling boxes. Which made a lot of sense, given the city's laxer smoking regulations.
I was able to find the Radio Shack on the second try, but while they had laptop chargers, none of them fit my field laptop. The clerk was apologetic, and recommended a few nearby shops that might be able to help me. But those stores didn't have any charger that fit, either.
Tea, St. Charles Streetcar and wandering through downtown
I wouldn't say I was dejected, exactly. Even while I looked for the Radio Shack, I mulled over back-up plans. In Chicago, there was a Best Buy within walking distance of North/Clybourn Red Line 'L' station. Once I returned to the city, I could stop by on the way home. But it was still very annoying to find myself with a laptop that only had enough charge for about two and half hours of operation and no way to recharge it. I wouldn't be able to use my time on the train to sort out photos, start blogging, or tweet updates during station stops.
Not fatal, but annoying.
I went to the nearby Starbucks to stew a bit.
Since, in my experience, New Orleanians don't really have much of a tea culture and really like their coffee, I wound up asking the barista if they had any teas at all. And I was honestly pleasantly surprised when he told me that they had all the teas you'd expect from any other Starbucks.
I tweeted and updated my Facebook about my situation. After I threw out a very unlikely possibility that my charger fell out in Angie's car, she offered to check for me, but found nothing.
I was thinking about what to do next when I saw a St. Charles streetcar turning outside my window.
And I decided that, so long as I was here, I might as well ride the historic New Orleans streetcar.
While Route 12 mostly follows St Charles street, it makes a loop downtown, turning around on Canal Street. It has a separate track that, I suspect, has been there for as long as the streetcar line.
It doesn't stop on Canal Street - most likely because there's simply no room to safely put a stop. Instead, riders who get off at St. Charles/Canal intersection are instructed cross the street.
And walk one block northwest
Toward Canal/Carondelet intersection. I got there easily enough, but when I saw the huge line at the stop, I decided against boarding. If I wasn't carrying my luggage, I would, but carrying a suitcase and my messenger bag and Jak's poster, it seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
(And yes, for those who've been following this trip log since the beginning, I also took some black-and-white photos of this stop.)
The crowd may have been large because (from what I gathered from NORTA employee chatter) there was some kind of accident that caused a huge delay, and now streetcars were arriving in bunches.
The streetcars have been here for over 150 years, I told myself. They'll be there next time you're in town
And, with that thought, I decided to walk a bit further west.
As the delayed streetcars kept on coming
After stopping to take a photo of a streetcar stop
I decided to turn northwest and head toward Loyola Avenue. In theory, I would eventually run smack into Duncan Plaza - the city's municipal government center. Along the way, I saw some interesting architecture.
An impressive-looking building that seemed to be in the midst of renovations
And I couldn't help but smile in this. In Chicago, you see a lot of signs telling people not to chain their bikes to railings. In New Orleans (at least in this particular case), it actually seems to be working.
When I reached Loyola Avenue, I discovered that I only missed Duncan Plaza by less than a block. Given that I was walking through the part of the city I've never been to before, and I only had maps in my memory to go on, I still count it as a win.
Duncan Plaza is home to the New Orleans City Hall and several other government buildings, serving a similar function as Chicago's Daley Plaza. It was built in 1950s, because the mayor at the time wanted a modern civic plaza. So in contrast to Chicago's ornate more-than-a-century-old City Hall, the NOLA City Hall is very utilitarian (though the staircase is, admittedly, a pretty nice touch)
(Kind of a shame. The original City Hall looks pretty nice)
And the plaza itself is very nicely landscaped.
When I was at the plaza, I thought that this was another government building. Turned out it was a large parking garage
There used to be a Louisiana Supreme Court building in front of it, but it was demolished a few years ago after the court moved to French Quarter.
The obelisk you see in that shot is a monument to DeLesseps "Chep" Morrison - the New Orleans mayor who commissioned the plaza.
From there, I headed toward one of the other places Angie recommended - the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library system. It's older than Chicago's Harold Washington Branch library by almost four decades (it opened in 1960), but while it's Chicago counterpart was designed as modern library with elements evocative of old building (which make it look older than it actually is), Crescent City's main library was just plain modern. Which, since it was built in the 60s, made for a more interesting building than the City Hall.
I didn't take any photos inside the library, but it was more utilitarian than not. One of the first things I looked at was its periodicals sections. As expected, I saw copies of New Orleans Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate, as well as some neighborhood newspapers, regional newspapers and major national newspapers. I saw copies of some Alabama newspapers, and I had to remind myself that NOLA is not that far from the Louisiana/Alabama border. But what really surprised me were some very political, left-leaning newspapers placed alongside the weeklies and dailies. In Chicago libraries, I would expect them behind the counter, where you'd need to show your library ID to see them.
I couldn't resist taking advantage of the library wi-fi and checking my e-mail - only to discover that one of the articles I wrote a week earlier got an enormous response (over 100 comments. On most of my articles, I'm lucky to get one).
I could've just stayed in the library, looking through its collections and eventually catching a streetcar to the Union Terminal. It had to have something just as interesting as the East Bank branch's Katrina collection.
But, of course, I couldn't just do things the easy way.
The slow crawl to the New Orleans Union Terminal
Instead, I hit upon the plan that I swear made sense in my head at the time. I would go to Canal Street, walk all the way down to Mississippi River, take some photos of the river and take the streetcar back to the Union Terminal.
In the end, I managed to get pretty close.
But, by this point, it was already past noon. As I said before, I like to arrive at train stations at least half an hour before scheduled departure. Given that I didn't know Route 49 schedule, and that I didn't know how long it would take me to walk to the river and back, I decided that I simply couldn't risk it. So I walked back toward the spot where most Canal Street streetcars turned around.
And went to the streetcar stop to wait.
And it's a good thing I did, because while several streetcars came and went, none of them were Route 49. By 12:30, I started to get nervous, and seriously considered simply taking whichever streetcar came along and walking the rest of the way.
Which was when the Loyola-UPT Line streetcar showed up.
As I said - New Orleans streetcars weren't that much faster than their Kenosha counterparts. But as I kept glancing at my watch, the trip felt excruciatingly slow. It seemed like it stopped at every block. It picked up a person in a wheelchair, which slowed it down some more. It seemed like nearly every traffic light turned red as we approached, forcing the streetcar to wait. I tried to remind myself that while arriving half an hour before departure time was a good idea, I could still board the train until five minutes before departure.
That didn't comfort me much.
And yet, it was still faster than walking. I compared the times. And I didn't have to drag my suitcase.
it wasn't long before I realized that streetcar engineers did double duty as tour guides/resources. Tourists who boarded asked our driver for directions. One asked for a restaurant recommendation, and after asking what kind of food they like and how much they're prepared to spend, he gave several suggetions.
As we approached Loyola Avenue, we drove past two movie theaters, and there were two on the other corners of the intersection. I wondered what was it about this intersection that made it attractive to movie theaters - and was more than a bit saddened that only some of those theaters were still operating.
The streetcar sped up on Loyola Avenue, but only a little.
In the end, we arrived at New Orleans Union Terminal at 1:05 PM, exactly half an hour before departure. I swear to God I'm not making that up.
After taking a few more shots of the stop...
...and headed inside the station.
And not a moment too soon. Just as I arrived, Amtrak staff asked passengers to line up for boarding.
If my life was a movie or a book, critics would be crying plot contrivance.
----
Like I said before, I'm not sure if I will write about the trip back to Chicago. I think I probably will, since a completest in me would want to see this trip log finished. Especially since it's 9/10th of a way done. But we'll see.
At least the New Orleans part is finally done