Today I took a Trip to Algiers

No - I did not go to Africa. This Algiers is across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. There is a FREE ferry boat that takes you there. It makes a river crossing every 15 minutes.

Although Algiers is east of downtown - it is on the other side if the river - so it is on the West Bank. Algiers was not flooded during the Katrina hurricane because its levees held. Remember - New Orleans survived Hurricane Katrina. It was the levee failure that caused all the damage.

Algiers is a very quiet little community. It reminds me a bit of Staten Island in NYC - where you cross the harbor on a ferry for free - and then there are a lot of homes were commuters live. They work in the big city - then take the ferry home. Some of the locals reminded me that homes in Algiers have a 20% premium because you are only a free 15 minute boat ride from work. You are allowed to bring you bike or motor scooter on board for free.

You may re-call in the 1994 basketball movie Blue Chips starring Nick Nolte as coach Pete Bell and Shaq O'Neil as Neon Badeau - that Neon supposedly was recruited from Algiers by being offered a Lexus. In real life - Shaq played basketball at LSU.

This is what Algiers look like from our hotel. The current is very strong and the ferry must allow for the it when always steering upstream to cross.

The Huey Long Bridge carries US Route 90 over to the west bank. If you live in Algiers - you can take the bridge home too.

This is St Louis Cathedral - the hear of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Here you are looking at it from Algiers.

Cars cross on the ferry for $1. they ride on the lower deck - passengers ride on the top.

I took this picture from the levee - looking down into Algiers. From this spot I could tell that the water in the river is higher than the streets. In other words - if there were no levees - this area would be underwater all the time. The river is actually higher than the town because years of mud coming down the river have built up natural levees or piles of dirt to make a channel for the water.
I am guessing that Algiers is a Democratic hotbed - how else could a Carter bumper sticker survive 30 years.

This school group crossed the Mississippi with me on the top deck of the ferry.