USA 45 Days by Rail: Day 10 - Arriving in the city of jazz

I woke up in Memphis, Tennessee. I had quite a good sleep, it seemed I had started to get more and more used to sleeping in these coach car seats. During the night the City of New Orleans had passed through Carbondale, IL and also called in Fulton Kentucky before entering Tennessee. After a hot chocolate from the dining car I spend the morning with enjoying the beautiful scenery of the State of Mississippi through which the train was running during most of the day. A lot of flat land, farms and water. In Greenwood, MS the train had a longer stop and I stepped off the train for a moment. Further stops in Mississippi followed, in Yazoo City and Jackson. I spend parts of the morning in the launch car solving some Sudoku and getting to know some of the fellow passengers. Against my expectation most of the passengers were actually locals, I thought only tourists were using Amtrak but I hardly had met any foreign travelers on the train. Once we had passed Hazlehurst, MS it was about time for lunch and I went to the dining car which was far less occupied than on the California Zephyr. Also the menu was different so no more veggie burger for me but a veggie sandwich instead. I met a mother with her little daughter on her third’s birthday trip down to visit her uncle and aunt in New Orleans, it was the little girl’s first train trip and very exciting for her. Once we stopped in Brookhaven, MS I had finished lunch and headed back to the launch car. The train stuff informed us that we were expecting an early arrival in New Orleans which sounded almost too good to be true compared to the 7 hour delay on the way to Chicago. After a final stop in Hammond, Louisiana we were on the final run down to New Orleans. Indeed we reached the city of jazz almost 40 minutes ahead schedule at about a quarter to three. Also the baggage was delivered quickly and I was out of the station on my way to the streetcar stop on St. Charles Avenue. To my surprise does New Orleans not have any pedestrian lights and also the sidewalks are in a quite bad shape. I had quite a hard time getting my trolley through all that. In the end I reached the tram stop but was waiting desperately and after 15 minutes still not a single street car had shown up. Then I noticed that somebody was shouting at me from across the street. A person who had just gotten off a bus informed me that there was no tram today but that I could take that bus in order to get down on St. Charles Avenue. The driver was also so nice to hold the bus until I had crossed the street and gotten on board. I am sure this would have never happened in LA. The bus brought me a bit closer to my hostel but I still had to walk for quite a while until I finally reached my accommodation for the upcoming two nights. The hostel was rather small but the staff very friendly and I got a personal tour of the facilities plus tips what to do and what to see in New Orleans, nice. After unpacking I went out again in order to discover the Garden District that was only a few blocks away. Such beautiful houses, I really felt like being sent back in time while striving through the streets of the quarter. Before returning to the hostel I visited a local grocery store to get some food for the evening. There were not many restaurants around the hostel but the hostel had a kitchen so I decided to dine in. After I had eaten and had a good shower I went to sleep early, still a bit tired from the night on the train and the warm and humid weather.