New Orleans, March 12/13, 2013

We arrived in New Orleans on Monday, March 11 but it was too late in the day to do any sight-seeing other than checking out our "neighborhood".   The campground is in the Rivertown section of New Orleans and we discovered that we have railroad whistles AND jet engines to lull us to sleep at night :-(    

Tuesday we packed a lunch and drove the River Road to the plantations that are open for touring.   We chose two - The Laura Plantation, a Creole plantation and the Destrehan Plantation.    

The Laura:  The Plantation was started in 1804 and is one of the oldest  and largest complexes on the River Road.   It's about 35 miles from our campground.   Laura bases its tours on 5000 pages of documents detailing 200 years of plantation life by the women, children, and servants who lived there.   In it's prime it had 60 slave cabins (2 families of 5 to a cabin), the main house, and the 2-story home of the "retired" matriarch of the family.   The plantation was totally run by the women in the family, who started learning about running the plantation and sugar cane when they were 12 -14 years of age.   The west African folk tale " Br'er Rabbit" was alleged to have been written there.   The tour was named the "best history tour in the U.S."  

Destrehan:  This plantation is the closest to New Orleans.  It was built in 1787 by a sugar planter and is the oldest plantation in the lower Mississippi Valley.  The planter originally harvested indigo, but it was not profitable so they converted their fields to sugar cane.   The plantation had its own sawmill, 400-500 slaves and an acreage that stretched from the Mississippi River 7 miles inland and 2 miles wide.   Properties along the Mississippi tended to be narrow at river's edge so all would have access to the river, and extended inland.  

On Wednesday we drove into the French Quarter and parked at the Harrah's Casino and walked the 3 blocks into the French Quarter.  We were there between festivals, so the crowds were manageable.   We checked out several souvenir stores, enjoyed the beautiful flowers in Jackson Square, and toured the St. Louis Cathedral.   Beautiful!!!!   Outside on the street there was a jazz group playing music, and tarot card readers and fortune tellers up and down the street.   From the cathedral we walked three blocks to the Ursuline Convent and St. Mary's Church.   The Ursuline's came from France  in the 1700's to care for the sick and they also had orphans in residence.   Couldn't be in the French Quarter and not go to Bourbon Street - narrow and busy.   We were warned to avoid the shoe shiners -- if you stop walking they start polishing your shoes and charge you $20!   Luckily we didn't run into them.  We did see the boys tap dancing in the street for money.   Their "taps" were cans on the bottom of their tennis shoes.

From Bourbon street we walked back toward the river and ate lunch and then walked through the French Market and Flea Market.  While there we were introduced to praline candy.  YUM!  As we passed Jackson Square on our way back to Harrah's, the bells in the Cathedral started ringing.   I told Jack we must have a new pope.   When we got to Harrah's my guess was confirmed.   

We drove through the Garden District on our way back to camp.   Beautiful flowers!!!!   The streetcars run in that area, and the homes are huge and beautifully landscaped.   

Thursday was our travel day to Denham Springs, LA KOA.