Up with the lark, or maybe that should be the Snowy Egret, we set off early for Oak Alley Plantation, which was about 30 miles to the west of New Orleans. There were other plantations to visit, some probably nearer, but this one is a National Historic Monument and a particularly good example of a Creole Plantation house. It also gave us the chance to drive through New Orleans, or at least speed by on the highway, and gauge how the city was recovering from Katrina. The first thing to see was the old bridge across the narrow part of Lake Pontchartrain, that used to carry the main I10 highway. We were on the new bridge, only opened very recently, whilst the old bridge was being demolished. It had taken the brunt of the tide surge and lost a couple of spans completely, the remainder of the bridge being too badly damaged to repair. Then we were into the suburbs of the city and there are still many houses boarded up, empty retail parking lots where the shop had been demolished, and derelict apartment blocks. There were also many repaired homes with bright new roofs, new homes, quite a lot of them in brick, which is unusual in North America, and quite a lot of bridge repair work still going on. Whilst it's definitely a resurgent city, the tragedy is that there are still tens of thousands of the city's poorest still in temporary accommodation. What a nightmare.
Out of the other side of New Orleans and the hurricane damage was less obvious. We came across the mighty Mississippi on a very high and very new bridge and had a great view of that mighty river. It took me right back to second year geography with the ships and barges on the muddy water and the Levees high on each side. Fabulous stuff.
Off into the countryside, we were alternately in swamp land or vast fields of sugar cane, a crop that has sustained this area for hundreds of years and one that I'd never seen growing, other than in those Geography books. We pitched up at Oak Alley, nestled as it is against one of the river's Levees, and found that it is indeed a very handsome place. An avenue of Live Oak trees that pre-date the house by more than a hundred years, offer a wonderful view of the antebellum mansion, all very Gone With The Wind. It was $40 to get in, for all of us, and for that we cruised the grounds and had a guided tour of the house, given by a very knowledgeable Cajun fellow who had googly eyes. The tour was of and about the house, and was quite whimsical in it's nature. I do think Mrs T was a bit disappointed that more wasn't made of the harshness of the lives of the slaves that serviced the plantation and the guide pretty much skipped over that side of things. However, it was a morning of relative culture for us toads and we appreciated that, even if it was blooming hot!
Oak Alley had been used as a set for a number of films and TV series, including Interview With The Vampire, which we will now be watching with much interest.
On the way back we paused to climb the Levee and look at the Mississippi, busy with ships, wide and very muddy. Not so long ago it had been threatening to break the Levees as the floods were bad this year, but today it looked benign; big but benign.
We took a punt on lunch and ended up at a Louisiana food buffet place, tacked onto the front of a shopping mall. It was basic stuff, and cheap enough, but the dishes served were wonderful, Cajun specialities. Gumbo, fried chicken, catfish and a whole raft of other stuff that I can't remember the names of. We had to pay up front (no problem for us) and the owner explained that they'd opened a few days after Katrina and so many people walked out without paying that they had to change the system. Apparently the place, New Orleans that is, had gone mad at the time. Anyway, it was all you can eat so we ate all we could, including the scrummy bread pudding. I could hardly move!
Then we had a mad dash back to campground to restock on water before heading out on our swamp tour. It was only about 15 minutes drive away but we were running late so had to get a wiggle on. Getting there, we passed many nice houses that were all on stilts; not just small pilings but complete twelve foot high stilts. I wondered about the flooding in this area and how good a swimmer you needed to be.
At Cajun Encounters swamp tours, we parted with a load of dollars and boarded a small aluminium boat that promptly set off down the White Pearl River. The guide was funny and knowledgeable, imparting much information not only about the wildlife but the effects of Katrina. The river and bayou system had been altered irrevocably, not necessarily for the worse, and it was making people do things differently, including these tours. Most people on the boat were there for the 'gators and weren't disappointed. From quite small to very large, the 'gators slid through the water obligingly and tempted by hot dog, chicken and marshmallow (yes, marshmallow), they came up to the boat and even allowed a certain amount handling (by the guide, not the tourists!). I didn't realise that 'gators are still hunted in parts of the US, this despite Alligator farms having to constantly restock the wild supply. I guess the freedom to hunt for sport is enshrined in all the other “liberties” here. Fortuately, the part of the swamp where the tour was is protected so these 'gators can grow fat and happy on the hot dogs and chicken thrown to them by the tour guides. Well, those things supplement the creature's diets, I'm sure that as wild animals they can find their own food!
The guide nosed the boat into a very narrow bayou and we sat there in the swamp, surrounded by wet trees all draped in Spanish Moss and it was very atmospheric. It reminded me of an old American Dracula film that I'd seen, set in such a place, where no one had worked out that Count Alucard was actually Count Dracula. Curiously enough, parts of Interview With The Vampire were filmed here, too, so the old bloodsucker is partial to a Louisiana swamp, even though he comes from Transylvania, deep in the Carpathian Mountains of Central Europe!
Anyway, the tour was great and the Tadpoles loved it. The guide was all for throwing a couple of children in for the 'gators to play with and his best line was “So you eat a couple of children and you're labelled a monster”. Excellent.
Cajun Encounters is to be recommended not only for its tours but also it's comprehensive and surprisingly inexpensive gift shop. Oh, and its free advice on driving into New Orleans, even if the restaurant recommended looks suspiciously like it might be run by Cajun Encounters itself.
It was late and we needed feeding again so we headed into downtown Slidell and stumbled upon Bonnie C's. This was newly opened bar cum restaurant, only on it's second night, run by the rather daunting Bonnie herself, or Miss Bonnie as I heard the very camp waiter call her. Now Bonnie is clearly a lovely lady but she either eats sandpaper between meals or smokes sixty a day, because her voice was taking the paint off the walls. It scared the Tadpoles! That said, even if the orders were a little jumbled up, the food was excellent and again, inexpensive. What's more the place was open after 8pm! So, if you're ever in Slidell, LA, we can recommend Bonnie C's; nice grub and nice people.
To round off our very full day, we hit something called Winn Dixie, a supermarket (that was open) and had some form of loyalty card scheme going that entitled you to savings. Obviously not being local we didn't qualify for said card but Mrs T persuaded the check out operator to give us the discounts anyway; that girl can sure twist arms.
Bed was beckoning so the blog had to wait. Tomorrow we are setting course for New Orleans and the French Quarter, newly armed with our local knowledge. Will we survive? I hope so, read on here and find out!
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