Last month Todd and I had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans for the first time. I shared some of our experience a few posts ago and wanted to follow-up with more details of our trip. Such a cool part of our country and very different from anywhere we've traveled in the U.S. New Orleans is a world apart; the sights, the people, the food, all so different from the rest of the country.
While in New Orleans we booked a tour to visit a gorgeous plantation called the Oak Alley plantation. I would highly recommend this tour if you every make it to Louisiana and New Orleans. The plantation seems to have been very accurately restored and the tour guides were all dressed in the big dresses that followed the style of the movie "Gone With the Wind"; in fact, it felt like being part of that famous movie while visiting this plantation.
This is view under the beautiful, very, old oak trees looking toward the home.
Here are couple pictures of inside this famous plantation and you can see how beautifully everything has been preserved and restored.
For a detailed history of this plantation, visit their website at
http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/.
Here's a view from the second floor balcony looking out through the oak tree alley. At the end of the alley is the Mississippi river. Many of the plantations had trees planted in a similar style to conduct the breeze from the river to the home.
Another view from the porch of the home through the trees.
These oak trees are absolutely amazing and it's just hard to describe the feeling you get walking under these 300 hundred year old trees. Their roots and branches snake our across the plantation with Spanish moss hanging from them, they are just amazing.
After spending the afternoon at the plantation, our tour then took us to visit the bayous of Louisiana and a tour of the swamps. We hopped on a boat with a tour guide and took off under a hot, muggy sun to learn more about Cajun country. Another incredible experience.
On our tour we saw turtles, a variety of birds, huge nests of bees high in the trees, and lots of alligators. Many of the alligators ignored us and just continued to soak up the sunshine but one alligator seemed to be familiar with the tour boat and swam on over for some lunch.
Our tour guide held out some yummy fish for the 'gator and he gave us a show by jumping for his lunch. A pretty cool sight.
After all the excitement of watching the alligator jumping for his lunch, our tour guide then pulled out a cage hidden under the deck and pulled out a baby alligator for us to hold.... if we wanted. I didn't want to.... no way. From my experience, wild animals that get excited or scared have a tendency to do one of two things (or both)..... they either bite or poop. This little baby did both. Not fun for some of the brave souls on our tour but lucky for Todd, because the 'gator did both before it got to Todd.
Along the tour we visited a very old cajun-style swamp home. Pretty cool but, honestly, I'm not so sure how authentic it really was.
And then there was Bourbon street. A crazy, wild, non-stop partying street. We were unable to get some good photos of the street at night, when it's super crazy, but did manage a picture of the street with the local firetruck trying to squeeze through.
Bourbon street is located in what's called the French Quarter and I loved strolling through all of these streets and viewing the gorgeous old architecture. Excluding Bourbon street, the French quarter is fairly quiet and filled with fabulous restaurants and amazing art galleries. If you visit, I recommend a quick stroll through Bourbon Street and a leisurely all-day and all-evening stroll through the rest of the quarter.
Of course, a visit to New Orleans isn't a true visit if you haven't strolled through one of the cemeteries. These places are kind of cool and creepy at the same time. We found out that these small crypts are usually owned by just one family and re-used for many generations. After a person has been "buried" in the crypt for two years and the crypt might be needed again, the family will open the crypt and clean out the remains to re-use the crypt. With the hot New Orleans sun baking these crypts the remains and caskets, which are wood, are basically cremated and much of the remains are ash and can be scooped up and placed in a small urn. These urns are stored at the bottom of the crypt, while the caskets are placed on a shelf above the urns. The crypts are used over and over again.
Just a little history lesson for ya. :-)
The French Quarter isn't just partying, food, and art galleries... there's also a gorgeous cathedral located in the heart of the quarter. The St. Louis cathedral was founded in 1720 and I believe is considered the oldest cathedral in North America. Such a gorgeous piece of history.
All in all, New Orleans was yet another wonderful trip for Todd and me. I absolutely loved the history and uniqueness of this city. We didn't see a lot of damage from Hurricane Katrina in the areas we visited but heard stories of the tragedy. It's amazing how the city has recovered.
With that said, New Orleans, compared to other cities I've visited, such as New York and San Fransisco, is not one of my top choices to visit a second time. I would go back to both New York and San Fran again and again but New Orleans is not someplace I would plan to revisit. With that said, I would recommend at least one visit if your looking for a city with an incredible history and a unique character and style.
