Two more reasons to love Louisiana: the food and the music.  For me, it’s especially the music – I love the blues and jazz, but the food is sometimes more spicy than I like.  We arrived at New Orleans on Saturday and drove through the French Quarter so Chuck could see what I’ve been talking about (I’ve been before).  It’s certainly not the Disneyland version, not clean or new.  But the real place is fascinating, from the old buildings, the narrow streets, and the people.  It’s not a great place to drive, and finding parking takes a miracle.  So we went back the next day by parking at the end of the street car line and taking that into town.  The street cars are classic, and they go through areas like the Garden District that is full of beautiful homes.  Then we walked around the French Quarter.  There are street musicians throughout the quarter to enjoy.  We also walked through the French Market, one of the oldest marketplaces in the country. It is full of vendors of food and merchandise.  The “shop till you drop” applied more to my feet than my wallet, but it was lots of fun. 

The next day we drove to the other side of the Mississippi River, up the River Road that is also known as Plantation Alley.  We toured the Oak Alley Plantation that has 28 oak trees that are 300 years old and form an arch up the walkway.  In the early 1800’s, it had 100 slaves working in the sugar cane fields and another 20 as domestic help.  That night, New Year’s Eve, there were fireworks going off all over the city all evening.  It was quite a sight.

New Year’s Day we drove by the historic above ground cemetery with its massive tombs.  There are many cemeteries like this; at one point on the I-10 you can see one on each side of the highway.  We also drove through the lower ninth ward, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in ‘05.  Although there is much rebuilding done, there are still lots of abandoned homes and destroyed buildings.  The area continues to be one of the poorest areas in the US.  We passed through there on the way to the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery (two cemeteries in one day).  This was the site of the Battle of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812.  The cemetery has 15,000 graves that are mostly from the Civil War.  Over 6,000 of them are unidentified soldiers marked with just a number.  When we drove back through town, we got lucky enough to find a parking place, so we walked around the French Quarter again.  This time we ate at a PoBoy shop, and I had an alligator sandwich!  Chuck was too chicken to even try it even though I assured him it tastes just like chicken, only a bit more chewy. 

French Quarter

street musicians

French Quarter

New Orleans street cars

Chalmette National Cemetery

Oak Alley Plantation

Mississippi River boat & cruise ship

Spotted Cat Music Club

Our last day in New Orleans was especially fun.  We went on the Natchez Riverboat jazz lunch cruise.  We learned a lot about the Mississippi River, like that 2/3 of the US water drains there, from 31 states.  We also had a good lunch of southern foods such as fish, gumbo, red beans & rice, okra, and bread pudding.  After that, we walked again through the French Quarter over to Frenchmen Street where we’d heard the best jazz clubs are.  For the cost of two drinks (Diet Coke of course) we were treated to a set of .jazz with a lead singer that was reminiscent of Billie Holiday.  Wonderful end to a great week.  Today we drove through the gulf coast sections of Mississippi, Alabama, and into Florida, all in about 200 miles of driving.  So now we begin Florida adventures.