Day 290-295 30th July-4 August LOUISIANA - New Orleans, LA
New Orleans, LA
Written by Beyers, edited by Lisa!: Nothing to be done about it, we load up and head towards the Big Easy. On the way we pass some gorgeous places, with homes that most people can only dream of. We spent a long time just driving around and taking photos, choosing the houses we'd buy when we become millionaires. I was particularly fond of that stretch of coastline – but the problem is the hurricanes…
Louisiana has a great tourist information centre, and there we met the loveliest of people. An older lady that told us all about Louisiana and New Orleans, gave us great tips on where to go and what to do, and we even got a cup of free coffee. As we were sitting there drinking coffee and digesting all this info we had been given, she walks over and gives us each a Louisiana hat pin! Such a small thing, but a great gesture – that really made my day!
A short while later we roll into New Orleans, NOLA, N’awlins, the Big Easy or whatever you want to call it. We find our hotel, a Wyndham, and were disgusted by the parking prices. Upon further enquiry, it turns out that their rates are high, but not higher than most other places. $25 per night. Daylight robbery, but they are in the French Quarter and very convenient. So with a less than pleased attitude we check in to find that we have a fantastic room.
We freshen up and head straight out to get some dinner. Our first taste of Deep South food, and it did not disappoint. The restaurant we went to was called Oceana and is just off Bourbon Street. The food was fantastic, but not cheap.
After dinner we went for a walk down to the Mississippi River, stopping along the way to check out a chocolate shop. The chocolate was all very expensive and European, and being from Europe, the most interesting thing in there was the girl that worked there. We stood there talking to her for quite a while, getting a local’s input on where to go, what to do and what to eat.
Down on the river we saw the Natchez, the last original paddle steamer on the river. What a sight to behold, this old lady of the river, with steam coming from the chimneys and the flute music playing to let all and sundry know that the boat is about to depart! Heading back into the French Quarter we saw the church, but then decided it was time for a rest. Back at the hotel we had a rest, and late that night I convinced Lisa to come out. I had heard of Bourbon street, and I could not believe that this was it – we were here! Only a short walk from our hotel we were right in it. It was a Tuesday night at gone 12, so it wasn’t very busy at all. We walked up and down the street before deciding to call it a night.
Paddle Steamer!! Yep, we woke up the next morning, got ready and made our way down to the pier where we bought our tickets for the Natchez. The call sounded and band started playing. We were ushered onto the boat and it was just like we were in the old days! The tour was very informative, showing us the largest sugar refinery in the world, where some of the levies broke during hurricane Katrina, along with many facts of the port and the river itself. One is even allowed in the engine room, which I really enjoyed. The concept is so simple, and it works so very well. Plus it is really like big boys toys!
By now we were getting hungry, so we stumbled upon a recommendation from the chocolate shop girl. The place is not fancy, but it works. It’s an old school diner set up, where you sit at the bar counter and the food is cooked in the corner behind the counter – fresh where you can see what they are doing. Good food and a good experience, later, we head to the hotel, as my leg still wasn’t doing too good, and I wanted to rest it.
That afternoon we decided to go outside of the French Quarter. The French Quarter may be rich in history and culture, but it also smells a little, is a little cramped and is super touristy. Heading west, we found a few lovely parks, lovely buildings with quiet roads and best of all, a supermarket – which I might call the best supermarket we have come across. They have a great selection of fresh food, and I got a salad, enough for dinner, at less than $5! Bargain! Tonight is the night we’ll be exploring the famous Bourbon street! But only after some Frozen Yogurt!
On Bourbon street I get a hand grenade – another recommendation from the chocolate shop girl. It’s a melony drink, very potent that comes in a hand grenade shaped plastic container. A lot of the bars have happy hour on, so we go into a few, but the one that tickles our fancy is a country music bar! We drink our beers on the balcony looking out over the street, before moving on again to see what else there is. For me, there was another hand grenade!
Try as we might, no other bar came close to the prices charged by the country bar – so we head back there, just in time to see the mechanical bull. Several people have a go on it, and it is very funny to watch people try and then fall off! We get some more beers at the upstairs bar, and I thought I recognised the accent, so I start chatting to the guy. Get this… He’s South African, he studied at my university – which is a coincidence – and more than that, he studied the same as me, but a few years after me! Him and his friend were really nice, so we chatted to them for a while before heading to bed – another incredible day in the bag!!
With sore heads we wake up in the morning. Time to check out of our plush room. We pack our bags and head off to the one place that is a must see in New Orleans – Café Du Monde for Café Latte and beignets. These doughnut things are delicious and totally coated in icing sugar – perfect for me, and a good thing they are just down the road from the largest sugar refinery in the world!
We’ve not had enough of this place, so the plan for the day is to check out, find a cheap parking lot, and explore some more. As luck would have it, we find a cheap parking lot right next to our new favourite supermarket, so we nip in for some food before hiking back to the French Quarter. There we go to the river, and check out the eastern part as well – Lisa in her element with all the pictures she can take. There is a lovely charm to the place that we both really loved, but maybe not quite enough to live there. We played a few games of pool and took the long way round back to the car, stopping for pictures and ice-cream. Reading Lisa’s lonely planet guide afterwards, we realised that we were almost in a bad neighbourhood . Oops! All’s well that ends well!
We find a motel just outside of town and bed down for the night.
Today’s agenda is bayous, swampland and anything in between. We map out a course to take and head out, south. Louisiana really is an interesting place. Going south of New Orleans is very very flat, most of the time you wonder how the roads even exist! We drove along marshland right to the coast where we saw a weird collection of what I can only imagine is holiday homes – all on stilts, all looking like they are about to fall down. Where we saw fantastic houses around Biloxi, this place is the polar opposite, and gave me the creeps a little bit. An education nonetheless!
We drove through miles and miles of this very flat estuarian type landscape before heading back inland a bit. Our destination for the night is to be Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. But having been driving for a while, and it being lunchtime, we find ourselves in Morgan City. There we have another picnic, this time in the car in the Walgreens parking lot, seeing as it was raining cats and dogs. After lunch, we nap. Yep, that’s right – we sleep in our car in the rain in the Walgreens parking lot for about an hour before hitting the road again. That is one thing that you miss when travelling like we did – a space of your own to chill out. Much as I love that car – it is not comfortable for sleeping and chilling out in!
We were a little disappointed that we haven’t seen any bayous like you see on the movies, but without knowing exactly where to go, it is a bit of a guessing game. We take the road north to Baton Rouge and pass through a lot of swampland. And then we see it. A bayou just like one would expect to see. Black water, loads of insects, canoes and houses built on the banks of the bayou. It all looks very peaceful, but also very scary! Lisa and I spent some time just looking and appreciating the place, Lisa taking photos, before the rains came, once again.
In Baton Rouge we found a cheap motel and went to bed.
So the Mississippi also runs through Baton Rouge on its way down to the sea, so this is a prominent feature of the city. We head straight to the Capitol building to see what is going on there. It’s a huge building, with 48 steps leading up to the front door – each step has the name of a state and when they were admitted to the United States. At the time of building, Alaska and Hawaii wasn’t part of the US, so they were added later to the top step. The building has a viewing platform that is many stories high – one of the highest buildings in town. We went up (for free) to enjoy the view and to see what can be seen from up there. We also took a walk through the corridors, and read about the assassination of one of the governors that happened in the corridor in front of his office in the thirties, I think. There is still a bullet hole in the marble pillar!
Baton Rouge is no New Orleans, so it was quiet, but what we did find was a nature park where they had built a boardwalk through swampland. That was really very interesting. They have a visitor centre with many animals, snakes and other reptiles on display. You leave the visitor centre and go on the mile long loop through the swamp. We saw proper swamp, in the dense jungle with bugs everywhere, and the possibility of creepy crawlies creeping up on us at every turn. I was really pleased, because we managed to spot a family of raccoons – we had never seen raccoons before. They are so cute looking! One would expect the trees to get fewer over the swamp – but it didn’t. On the map it looks like you will be stepping out over water, and you do – but that doesn’t mean the jungle stops!
After leaving quiet Baton Rouge we drove through to the next town, Lafayette. We found our hotel, and still being quite rainy, we decided to treat ourselves to a movie. We found the local cinema and saw the Internship – a silly Vince Vaughan movie. It was fun though.
Earlier that day I had phoned up and booked us onto a swamp tour for the next day. Early Sunday morning we get up, pack up, get breakfast and head off to the swamp! This was one of the things that both of us really wanted to do. We were going to be taken out on a boat by a local guide and he would show us the swamp, and all the different animals and plants.
We all pile into the boat and set off. Initially it just looks like a lake, but this guy knows his way around, and soon enough we are in the trees, an eerie feeling accompanying us. Then we see an alligator! He tells us lots about the wildlife, the plants and the insects. Apparently it is not needed to wear bugspray when you are on the lake, as there are big lily pads on the edge of the lake. In these lily pads are insects that prey on mosquitoes – so that means that the mozzies don’t even make it out to the lake! How interesting!
We do a full circle of the lake and swamp, see newly hatched alligators and even a floating hide that the guide had built himself. His family have been living there for a very long time, and this place is like his second home – and you can tell he loves it!
Having had a fabulous morning, we needed feeding, and head to a restaurant in Breaux Bridge that we have seen advertised many times. Pont Breaux is a big restaurant, and lets suffice to say that we didn’t enjoy our visit. The waitress was easily the most rude and inattentive person we had had so far – so we left there feeling less than satisfied and without leaving a tip. Here’s a tip – pay attention to when someone says they don’t eat meat, and don’t try to sneak bacon into everything!
With that behind us, we start making our way north again, crossing over where we had been before. We head for Little Rock, basically going straight north, heading to Chicago. Some long hours driving ahead, we get our game faces on and push through.
Our little coupon booklet directed us to a dirt cheap Motel 6. Not in the mood to spend money, we suck it up and check in. Reception is pretty much what we expected, but when we got to the room, it was totally unexpected. One of the loveliest places we had seen. Newly redone, marble in places, fresh paint, clean sheets – this was a real gem!