New Orleans

Ok, so here we are sitting in the Jacksonville International Airport…and what a morning! But I’ll tell you about that some other time. This blog has been written over a few days, so my apologies if it's a bit disjointed.

New Orleans

Day 1
I loved this place! Mike not so much. After our bus trip into town from the airport (a little unsettling) we checked into our beautiful (and secure) accommodation. It was called the Lamouth House and it was built in like 1800 and something. We had a room in the courtyard, which has a fountain and a pool. We started our visit with a brief exploration of the French Quarter (Vieux Carré), including the Moonwalk on the Mississippi River. We had dinner at a place called Pere Antoine and I sampled one of their cocktails, which I think was called Sex on the Quarter. FYI – New Orleans cocktails are strong! You don’t need more than 1 or 2 to be feeling nice and relaxed. For dessert we checked out the world famous (apparently) Café La Monde. This place sells traditional Café au Lait and Beignets – yummy, fried pastry things smothered in more icing sugar than you have ever seen in your entire life! Needless to say, we tried these again in Savannah, this time with praline sauce – YUMMY!

Day 2
The next morning, we discovered our “improved continental breakfast” included cereal, toast, tea/coffee, orange juice in the smallest glasses in the world, mini cinnamon rolls (you people are really missing out!) and doughnuts – all 4 different types. This was pretty cool the first two days, however, I was kinda over the sweet stuff by day 3 and was craving wheat, grains, and fruit! Anyway, after breakfast we headed out for a bit more exploring and hit a few museums – The Cabildo (Louisianna & New Orleans History Museum), the St Louis Cathedral, and the Presbytere (Madi Gras Museum). Not the most amazing museums of all time, but we learnt some stuff. A very brief history of New Orleans – the French founded New Orleans in 1718, after about 40 years (in 1763) the Spanish took over for another 40 years, then the French took it back again in 1803 (we heard a few different stories as to why this happened). But then 20 days later, the US bought the land off Neopolean (the biggest landsale ever in whole wide world at $15million). New Orleans’ unique music, food and culture is a result of the combination of Spanish, French, African and Canadian (now called Cajun) peoples. There’s a lot more to it than this, but we don’t have enough time. The St Louis Cathedral is pretty and the Presbytere Madi Gras Museum was interesting – it’s certainly not just one parade, and there are “Krewes” that are set up to organise various parades and there are heaps of different Krewes. Then there are all the celebrations outside of New Olreans, like the Cajuns who ride around on horseback and chase chickens. Anyhoo, the rest of our day was spent riding the streetcar along the river to the RiverWalk Shopping Centre. That night we headed out to Frenchman St in Fauborg Marigny, a suburb next to the French Quarter really close to us. It’s supposed to be a little less touristy and more local (unlike Bourbon St which is like walking down a mini Vegas Strip or somewhere in the coast). We went to dinner at Snug Harbor, a contemporary jazz place. Food was great, jazz was yuck so we left. I had a baileys at the bar and then a cocktail and was pretty well sloshed. So we wandered into the street to find some more jazz. We found one place with rock/jazz but were only there for 10/15 minutes or so and they finished the set. Then we found ole’ Reddy Teddy at the Apple Barrel. Reddy was sloshed (or so we think) but could sing and stand on his head on a chair and we reckon he was pushing 60 – quote “I might loose my mind, but I won’t loose my hat” – and he didn’t. So we hung around here for a while and then headed home. And the great thing about these places, there’s no cover – you just tip the band when you leave!

Day 3
We started our next day (a little tired) with a free tour of the French Quarter. This was great as we learnt some new stuff and clarified a few of the things we’d learnt the day before. Just as the tour finished it started pissing down rain. So we found somewhere for lunch – Café Maspero, and then went home to wait it out. The sun came out but as soon as we headed out again in started to piss down. We had booked a boat trip in the Mississippi River on the Natchez paddlesteamer and as we were waiting to get on, it pelted down. I don’t think it has ever rained that much or hard in Brisbane or Vancouver! But the sun came out in time for our trip up the Mississippi. That night we were buggered with all the walking, so we headed out to a quick dinner at Angeli, a cute little Italian place down the road, and went to bed.

Now, we haven’t mentioned the Hurricane yet, so we will do so now. Firstly, the French Quarter didn’t flood when Hurricane Katrina hit. In fact, the Mississippi and its levies didn’t overflow at all. This was because over the years the Mississippi naturally flooded and deposited silt etc along the riverbank. Therefore, the riverbank is some of the highest land in the area. Imagine the Mississippi River snaking it’s way across the bottom of the screen, the FQ is tucked right it, further up the page. The rest of New Orleans then spreads all the way up the top of the page and out to the left and aright. What is at the very top of the page is Lake Pontchartrain, which is about 10 feet deep. Unlike the Mississippi which is 80 feet deep. It is the Lake that flooded. It is also all the manmade levies running from the lake that flooded (as one of our tour guides commented, there’s a lesson in that). Some areas along the Mississippi did flood, for example the much talked about 9th Ward, but there is a levie from the Lake running right next to it, which is why it ended up flooding. I’m not sure if everyone knew this (I can’t really remember), but there was another Hurricane called Rita that hit a month or so after Katrina. This got the places that Katrina didn’t. In fact, in the Cabildo museum there was a photography display of the devastation that was captured by New Orleans photographers and journalists. There was also a section by a whole bunch of high school kids, along with a statement like “I’ll remember…” or “I won’t forget…”. One quote was “I remember wondering if my house survived the storm. I’ll never forget when I found out it didn’t”. I was almost in tears a few times. You just don’t realise how many peoples homes were destroyed, some small coastal towns completely and utterly disappeared. One of our tour guides has been re-building since it happened and still has at leat another year to go yet.

Day 4
Today was excellent. We booked a 2-in-1 tour – the plantations and the swamp. We spent the morning touring 2 plantations – Oak Alley and Laura. Oak Alley was very pretty, with an alley of live oaks leading up to the house (as opposed to dead ones? No, “live” just means they don’t lose their leaves during winter). These things were like 300 years old and had another good 2-300 years left in them. This was an American plantation house – all about showing off how rich they were. Laura was the stand out house and tour. We were lucky, and got Norm, the guy who owns passion is Laura and he owns and help restored the house. This was a Creole plantation house, meaning it was primarily a place of business, not a place to live, so there was no showing off, it didn’t have a front door – you entered through their private quarters and that’s where you did business, it was a very pretty bright yellow and it had an amazing history. I even bought the “Laura” book, who is actually the great-granddaughter of the original plantation owner, Annette. The Creoles gave the business to the smartest child, not necessarily the boy. They also were very family orientated, but almost to their detriment. Laura, who was going to be dumped with the responsibility of managing the plantation at age 13/14, like her Grandmother, gave it all up and walked away from her heritage and culture because hse didn’t want to turn out like her Grandmother and decided she wanted to be a free independent woman. It was sooooo cool!

Anyway, next was the swamp tour. This was pretty cool too. We saw alligators and got to hold a baby. The swamp is where the Acadians found their home. They work off the land – hunting, fishing etc – and are pretty basic people. The Indians shorted “Acadian” to “Cajun”. Originally the Cajuns were French dudes living in Canada, what is now Nova Scotia. When the British arrived in Canada, they sent them off to New Orleans. They are the ones how chase chickens around. Their way of life is obviously being seriously affected with the 21st century thing, but there are a few villages still around. Ok, so we headed back home after our tour and chilled a bit. Then we headed out for dinner and tried Gumbo – a Creole dish with a tomato base, lots of herbs and spices along with spicy sausage, chicken, and rice. Then we had a roast beef and cheese po’boy (short for poor boy) – a New Orleans thing, along with Gumbo, Jambalaya (like Gumbo but more rice and thicker – I think), and Muffalettas (massive sandwiches with lots of meat and an olive oil dressing/salad). Anyhoo, the po’boy was wonderful and then we hit Bourbon St. It was a Saturday night and it was sooooo busy! We decided to just wander and finally we found a place our bus driver had recommended – Funky Pirates, featuring Big Al Carson and the Blues Masters. And he was BIG! Like “get mamma her scratching stick” big. They were awesome! I had a Grenade (like the yard long margaritas in Vegas). Oh, by the way, don’t order vodka and cranberry – the vodka is gross and they use so much of it you can’t taste the juice. Ok, so after our night of soul food and soul music we headed home….late again.

Day 5
This morning we did our own little walking tour and then headed to the St Charles Avenue streetcar. This street car heads up one of the prettiest streets in New Orleans with a whole bunch of picturesque southern houses, verging on mansions. We stopped at the end of the line and had a delicious lunch at La Madeleine bakery, and then headed back. Oh, and this street was also lined with live oaks. That afternoon we headed over on the free ferry to Algiers, the second oldest neighbourhood in New Orleans, established in 1719 (note – this suburb is older than Australia - well the colonised, European Australia anyway. In fact, I think there was furniture older than Australia!). I had no plan or any idea where to go so we jumped on the free shuttle to Mardi Gras World – they make Mardi Gras floats. It was a rip off so we did some postcard shopping, got some ice-creams and got the shuttle and ferry back. By the way, the ferries used to cross over are the ones the move DeJavu (with Denzel Washington) was filmed on.

Ok, that night we did a Ghost Tour. He told us about a few places I wish we were able to make it to but unfortunately we didn’t have time or they were closed. However, I have a whole bunch of good little stories to scare you with now! Hehe. This tour is known to be historically accurate in terms of what happened, but you can decide on the hauntings yourself, but I’m choosing to believe! It makes it so much more fun. The only one I will tell you now is the haunting of Andrew Jackson Hotel, in particular room 201. This place was on a street that burnt down in one of the all consuming fires in New Orleans. They think some of the children that were killed have attached themselves to the hotel building, because there are always complaints of small children running through the hallways. In room 201, there is a little boy who would disappear though the wall or something if you woke up and saw him. But there was this one couple, who had no problems, but when they got home and developed their photos, they had a picture of themselves….asleep….taken from above the bed! ARGH! We fed our tummies with Angeli food again – this time a fabulous gourmet pizza.

Day 6
This was our last day. We finally did our Cemetery and Voodoo Tour today. Dave, our tour guide, took us to St Louis Cemetery 1. I’m not sure if everyone knows this, but because New Orleans is below sea level, if they bury their dead in the ground, a bit of a heavy rain shower, and the dead rise (HAHA!). Seriously, though, the bodies make their way to the surface – not attractive. So, to solve this problem they have aboveground burials, often family tombs, or ‘oven’ vaults. Give the bodies a year and a day (so the saying goes) and they pretty much turn to ash due to the heat. How it works is a person dies, they get put in the tomb (it has a little door they open, and then they smash down the bricks), and it gets resealed. Then, when the next person dies, the gravediggers (?) open the door, empty the coffin into the bottom of the tomb, throw away the coffin, and put in the next person. Don’t ask me what happens if something dies before the year and a day is up. This graveyard included the second most visited grave in the country (Elvis is #1) – some voodoo queen or priestess, Marie someone. There were a whole bunch of coins, lollies, dollar notes, drawings etc on her grave. And then some political leader goes and decides to get buried next to her – smart man. And today, I got sunburnt! Naughty I know, but I just couldn’t resist wearing my summer dress and I forgot sunscreen :-)

To cool off we had lunch in one of the courtyards – unusual that one is open, but it’s amazing how nice and cool they are. Then to finish of our New Orelan s visit, we had dinner at the Port of Call – a place just up the road from us, once again recommended by our bus driver. Great burgers! Then we headed to another of his recommendations, Donna’s Bar & Grill. Here we saw some traditional New Orleans jazz and swing - a band called "George French Band featuring Ms. Germaine Bazzle". They weren’t as funky as ol’ Big Al Carson or Reddy Teddy, but they were good. We also got so sample some BBQ chicken, red beans and rice from the owner of Donna’s Grill – Charlie.

A little message...
I just want to say one more thing, if anyone has ever considered, or ever does consider, going to New Orleans – DO IT! It is an amazing city. There are so many things to do, eat, drink and listen to! You won’t even notice the damage of Katrina but if you do, you’ll be moved because someone would have told you their story, or you would have seen a picture that captures so vividly what they went through. And you will help rebuild a city that has managed to pick up and keep on partying, despite what they went through.