Monday, 8th October 2018 – Colombus Day
For the first time on this trip, we switched on the TV to watch the weather news ……. and wow! Tropical Michael has changed to Hurricane Michael and we are in New Orleans which was hit by Katrina back in 2005. But we are lucky the hurricane is expected to come on land between Tellahassee and Pensacola which we had left yesterday! Its raining right now but nothing worse than that is expected round New Orleans according the screen shot I took from the TV. I must say, the information provided is so detailed – if I were living in these areas I would certainly follow the instructions the authorities hand out -evacuation is encouraged and in other places locals are filling up sand bags to protect their homes. The beaches are being cleared of their wooden walkways and beach guard towers and people putting up hurricane shutters on the beach houses.
Well after breakfast we we had an excursion planned to visit one of the plantations – Oak Alley Plantation located on the West Bank of the Mississippi. I called to confirm that the excursion was still taking place and as it was, we walked down to the waterfront where the Grayline coach was to pick us up. I thought of taking our rain ponchos with us ….. and yes as soon as we stepped out of the hotel it started pouring and this turned to torrential rain so we were lucky to have our ponchos.
Our coach chauffeur named Gerald was very informative and he told us that the probability was that as we drove more inland we would get some sunny weather and no rain at all……. that was good news!
it was interesting to see the causeways built across the flatlands of the Mississippi- we do have dykes in Holland but the work done here in Louisiana is also very impressive.
On the way, we came across quite a few sugar cane fields – nowadays all handled with agricultural engineering – quite different to the days when the plantations depended totally on slave labour.
Finally at Oak Alley Plantation – and we had bright sunshine so we could explore the grounds without wearing our rain ponchos…..
This plantation is one of the Antebellum plantations meaning it was built pre civil war – round 1850 most of the American millionaires lived in the southern parts of the US and actually made their millions from sugar cane and cotton. Oak Alley was built by the Ramon family and had some 220 slaves to work on the land and in the house.
we spent a lovely afternoon although the history we encountered was shocking at times…..
Back in New Orleans, we took some time out to plan our evening. We thought of having a Cajun dinner somewhere with local music and our concierge gave us some good ideas, however by the time we reached our room and I was updating my blog, we decided to just find a place in walking distance.
Weather was dry so I had looked up a restaurant on Bourbon street which is just a block away from our hotel. As we got closer it was all music and most of the bars had open doors and windows and the (American) football game between the Saints and White Sox was on. People were strolling outdoors and catching bits of the game on the way….. my original idea was to go to Remoulade but then we came across Pier 424 of which I had read some good reviews. So that’s where we ended for our Cajun dinner. Gerry had a pecan coated grilled fish and I had blackened shrimps with fettuccini Alfredo and a side salad. It was delicious! But then we really spoilt ourselves by sharing a butter pecan pie – OMG – it was so rich that we decided for a long stroll before turning back to our hotel….. and this was a real eye opener of how people entertain themselves.
Tomorrow we will be having a leisure day in New OrleNs depending on the weather…. good night xx
