Bob and Gail's Next Adventure: Days 268-270

Part III -

Day 1 - World War II Museum (5 1/2 hours) (packed our own lunch)

Dinner at Pat O'Briens

Day 2 - Walking tour of the Garden District including cemetery

Lunch of Muffuletta at Central Grocery & Deli

Tour Mardi Gras World

Jazz concert at Preservation Hall

Dinner at corner restaurant - best peach Sangria

Day 3 - Walking Tour of French District
Lunch of sloppy roast beef Po'Boy at Johnny's
Toured Challmete Plantation where the Battle of New Orleans was fought Dinner of left over Muffuletta
Day 4 - Walking tour of Baratania Preserve to see the swamps
Packed lunch
Toured Laura Plantation
Day 5 - Finally had a beignet on our way out of town!

After recovering from our day of Mardi Gras we immediately book a walking tour of the French Quarter. Our tour guide from Two Chicks was a fount of information on history, architecture and people. We met her at Cafe Du Monde - THE spot to have Beignets - a square donut-like pastry, fried fresh and liberally dusted with powdered sugar. They warn you NOT to breath in when biting into one for fear of choking on the sugar! We had planned on sampling this popular confection as we waited for our tour. We did not realize the number of people who had the same plan (picture below is a very small part of the line to get beignets)!!!

Beignets waiting to be fried.

This is a very busy picture - the St. Louis Cathedral in the back ground fronting on Jackson Square - celebrating the signing of the Louisiana Purchase. On the street the horse drawn carriage tours await their fares with the bicycle carriages on the opposite side.

One of the most unusual horses waiting...

Andrew Jackson is the central figure in the park.

This cute little bird has made a home in Andrew Jackson's collar. She was feeding her babies there!

According to our guide, there is a belief that New Orleans was populated by the French mostly by emptying their prisons and sending them to America with lots of prostitutes. They then sent over a convent of nuns to compensate!

Huge flood gates try to protect the city from flooding.

Flowers decorate even in this cold season.

This is a single family home - they only live here part of the year.

Many porch lights are gas lights that burn 24/7.

The courtyards inspired by the Spanish era. Spain owned the area for nearly 40 years after the Seven Years War. New Orleans had already burned twice during the original French occupation when the buildings were mostly built of wood. Spain ordained that the city be rebuilt with stucco or plaster exteriors.

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Piano Bar and Lounge has a questionable history. Jean Lafitte (or Laffite) was a successful pirate/privateer but very mysterious. Not much is known about his life which probably is the reason he was so successful in his chosen profession. He was the "go-to" person if you needed anything on the black market. This building - touted as the oldest in New Orleans - may or may not have belonged to Jean. It would have been a good cover for dispersing his ill-gotten goods, but no documentation exists.

It is a very popular bar - very dark - and built in the old style of wood and brick.

This "Second-Line" was celebrating outside the bar and they all went in to get a drink. They were celebrating the birth of a baby girl - so instead of waving white handkerchiefs, they waved pink ones, and wore lots of pink. It was the same "First-Line" of the wedding group we saw yesterday!

This is an example of what architecture was like before the Spanish influence and explains why the city burned twice - all that wood! No one is sure if this building survived the fire or was rebuilt after the fire but before the Spanish edict.

This is called a Shotgun house. Very narrow (around 12 ft wide) and long with all the exterior and interior doors in one straight line (you could fire a shotgun and the bullet would go in the front door and out the back!). They were built to catch the breeze.

These lovely homes/businesses housed the family business downstairs and their home upstairs. The door on the right is the entry for their carriage, which went through the doors to the back yard. There you would find the stairs up to the upper floors. There was often a small door at the side of the building to the alley that would also take you to the stairs.

In the picture above you can see the shutters to the doors open - here is what they look like closed up.

Not a great picture - but this the building is where "A Streetcar Named Desire" was written.

Enough of buildings - the heart of New Orleans is its people. This bunch was from a house tour where the docents dress up.

Artists of all kinds line the sidewalks. These are poets that will create a poem on any topic for you as you wait. Notice they all have their own typewriter.

All the art here must be original. The artists go on and on!

And of course the musicians! They are on every corner. Some old timers have their own designated corner that is honored by all the musicians.

Another popular form of making money is selling the ever present beads. A common tactic is to walk up to a tourist and "give" them the beads - then ask for money.

One of my favorite carriages - even the horse's hooves are painted purple!

This was a local estate sale - would have been interesting going inside. This lovely Mardi Gras mask was a great enticement to go in!

Part of our very own tour - this visitor has a little doll that travels with him and he has a picture taken at all the sites to send home to his kids.

After a yummy and very messy lunch of a 'Sloppy' Roast Beef Po'Boy (derived from the Depression Era - give that Po' boy a sandwich), we drove out to Chalmette Plantation where the Battle of New Orleans was fought. The Plantation was destroyed but the battle was won. It was the last major battle of the War of 1812. The rampart built up by the Americans to hold off the British attack.

The tower overlooking the battlefield - 122 steps - ask me how I know!

This plantation house was built after the war and housed the original park tourist information center. There is a new center built now that houses a wonderful museum. This house once again stands empty.

Our last full day in New Orleans we left the city and toured a swamp and a plantation.

Baratania Preserve is one of the areas Jean Lafitte and his comrades used as their headquarters. It was remote and dangerous to transverse.

Even the trees are camouflaged! :)

The level of ground varies only by about 5 feet but the type of plants change according to the level of ground (and water) These dwarf palmetto palms only grow on slopes, so even if you don't feel like you're on a slope, you know you are from the plants!

The trees are mostly Bald Cypress. These "knees" pop up all around them - they believe one of the purposes is to give the tree stability in storms.

The trees can grow to 150 ft tall although most of them here have been harvested years ago. The wood is soft and easy to work, yet durable and rot resistant.

This canal runs through the swamp. It was man made originally for drainage on the plantations, but has also been used to transport logs, access difficult to reach trapping areas, and later to move oil rigs and lay pipe lines.

Out in the swamp itself you can see hunters' stands - they must be painted orange by law.

On to Laura Plantation. It was difficult to pick just one plantation to see. There are so many interesting ones around. Laura seemed to have great reviews and was a nice tour. The house isn't as grand as most and we were disappointed not to learn about the sugar production. Laura is outstanding in the documented family history as it remained in the same family for decades, and the last owner wrote a book of her memoirs.

The first owners - she was raised on a plantation and he was from France.

The house was built similar to a manufactured house today. Each piece was cut and labeled then moved to the plantation.

The house burned in early 21st century and most of the furnishings and part of the house was lost and had to be rebuilt. The original mantel is heavily burned but is still standing.