New Orleans, shall we, shan’t we?

Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the people of New Orleans over the terrible event of 1/1.

We had planned to visit New Orleans for the first Mardi Gras parades on 6/1 and had to have a serious think about that. We decided we would go and support the community and are really glad we did.

But first, what a privilege, to swim with manatees 🤩 

After leaving our house sit in Cocoa we drove to the other side of Florida and stayed at a Harvest Host, River Ventures, who provide boat trips to swim with manatees. At this time of year, they visit this area to benefit from warm springs that keep Kings Bay waters a nice temperature. A lot of Kings Bay is designated a protected zone for them, but we were taken to a permissible site and literally swam alongside them or over them! Mark even got a hug from one! 😍 They are so gentle and curious about people, we loved this experience 🤩

We drove on to another Harvest Host, a winery and a lovely couple are working hard in Florida to produce Bordeaux quality wine 🍷 We had a lovely evening tasting wine and chatting with fellow travellers. We also met Alan, from Vancouver, who has invited us to stay with him when we get there!

The next day we had a long drive to New Orleans. We decided to have a quiet evening, but did meet a lovely young lady, Alexis, who told us a bit about New Orleans. We shared a love for Shaun the Sheep 🐑 and she gave us one of her figures of him 😍

On Monday 6/1, we had a full day in New Orleans, starting with a streetcar ride through the Garden District and the many beautiful homes there; a big feature seems to iron work and balconies.  We joined Alexis in her coffee shop for a lovely, European style coffee and she gave us a piece of King cake to try. This is a very multicoloured cake that they only have at Mardi Gras time, it was delicious. We then explored the French Quarter, indulging in a Beignet (French pastry like a doughnut), before doing a bike ride through old New Orleans. Of note were Shotgun houses, so called because there are no doors in the corridors, so you could shoot straight through the house (there are alternative theories)! They are also very pretty. We also enjoyed seeing St Louis Cemetery No.3. People in New Orleans get tombs, above ground due to the high-water level and flooding in the area. Some have many names on them, so the guide explained how they could get so many bodies in a tomb. He told us they take the name plate away and open up the bricks and slide in the new body, after pushing the remains of the last one down a shute. Because New Orleans is so hot, after a year the last body is dust, thus making way for new corpses. If a family member dies within a year of the last person, they must go in a temporary tomb, as they will not reopen a tomb for a year. Of course, there is so much history here in New Orleans, again the Europeans all had a stake here, Spanish, French and English, but a big part of the culture here is Creole, originally defined as a French speaking, catholic person of mixed colonial ancestry. Therefore the biggest influence in this area is African-american.

After warming up after the very cold bike ride (not the weather we were anticipating or hoping for) we went to find a spot to watch the Krewe of Joan of Arc parade. We were lucky enough to find a restaurant with space on the balcony, so watched it from there. It was amazing; really impressed with the efforts so many people had gone to. After it passed, we went down to the street, walked 100 yards and saw it come past again, this time we were able to receive little tokens about Joan of Arc including flower seeds from butterfly costumed ladies. There was a great atmosphere, which carried on into the bars and the surrounding area. We went to a lovely bar, with great music and enjoyed a few drinks before heading home. It was a great night, and we felt completely safe! We are really glad we came to New Orleans and would recommend it to anyone.

A big part of early life in Louisiana was plantations, so we visited two. Laura planation gave us a flavour of life for both owners and enslaved people. The Myrtles tour was more about the owners, but this was a nighttime tour. This plantation has been in TV programmes about the most haunted houses in America, and our tour was all about hearing about the alleged ghosts of the house. It was well done, and we enjoyed seeing the house and hearing the stories. One of the stories is about an enslaved girl who was killed after and is said to like to steal earrings (only one of the pair). She had had an ear cut off after being caught eavesdropping, hence only 1 earring! People have allegedly had earrings go missing when in the house and they had a display cabinet of earrings they have found. I checked my earrings as I left, yes both there, phew. However, the next morning one was missing. I searched everywhere for this earring, couldn’t find it, so emailed the Myrtles to ask if it turns up to contact me. It was only after this, Mark revealed he had played a prank on me and had hidden it, in plain view. If only I had good powers of observation, I would have found it much sooner!

Our last stop before leaving Louisiana was the Atchafalaya Basin, a river swamp area just off the Interstate. In fact, a few miles of the road was built on stilts over the basin. It was so cold anyway, but being on water exacerbated it! It was great though to be going through a forest of Bald Cypress trees and willows on water. Unfortunately, the only real wildlife we saw was an Osprey, with a wonky nest. It was too cold for the alligators who are hibernating right now. Our guide Ronnie described life on the water and how the waterways work. If we were fishermen, we would be able to fish for catfish, crawfish, different types of bass and Red Drum to name but a few, it is a really healthy river. 

We really enjoyed our time in Louisiana, but are looking forward to seeing our next state, Texas.