Beignets and Hurricanes

We made it to the ferry by 9:30 this morning to start our day in the French Quarter. We covered ¾ of it by foot before we headed home at 7:00 PM.  I’m not sure how far we actually walked but it was significant. Our first stop was Café Du Monde for Beignets and chicory coffee; you cannot visit New Orleans without a stop at Café Du Monde.

Getting on the ferry for the trip across the Mississippi

Looking at one of the ferries that make the crossing daily 

A look at downtown New Orleans

getting ready to dock

This place only serves Beignets and they are opened 24hrs a day

We spent the morning walking the streets of the French Quarter and admiring the unique architecture of the local buildings and homes that line the narrow streets. We stopped for lunch at a small café, bourbon heat, and enjoyed our meal in their wonderful outdoor courtyard. We followed up lunch with some more walking and enjoying many of the street bands that were playing along the way. 

The French Quarter is made up of narrow one way streets 

Most building in the quarter have balconies

Streets are very narrow

One of many street bands

 Another band

This guy brought his lunch along to listen to his favorite street band

There were a lot of halloween decorations

maybe a duplex

and another

very old and small home

corner bar

We finally made our way to another New Orleans land mark, Pat O’Brien’s (home of the Hurricane) and stopped for an afternoon libation. I’m amazed at the number of people that visit this place each and every day.

We managed to get ourselves back to the dock to catch our ferry which took us back across the Mississippi.

New Orleans Bayou Segnette State Park

We are setup at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westego Louisiana just outside of New Orleans. It’s a very nice park with WIFI, free laundry, pool, trails etc.  We are only 20 minutes from the French Quarter and centrally located to other attractions.

Plantations, Eat a Gator See a Gator

We woke to a very chilly morning, I had to bring out our small heater to take the chill out. The forecast calls for a beautiful day with sun and highs 70’s. We are planning on taking the Great River Road Drive to visit old plantations. 

We drove the Great River Road and decided to tour the Oak Alley Plantation.  For information on the plantation I’ve included their web address  www.oakalleyplantation.com 

What impressed me most were the trees, these were the prettiest trees I have ever seen, they are magnificent. The most amazing thing is that they were on the property 100 years before the plantation was even built in 1837.

The following photos show the trees and grounds of this fabulous plantation.

 Slave cabin 

Some of the slave cabins 

Rear of the Main house where the slave cabins were

 Beautiful Large Oaks

The back yard 

Back of the house

Front of the house 

View toward the Mississippi River which is just over the Levee at the end of the trees in the photo

Beautiful grounds

Avery large front yard 

The name Oak Alley comes from the fourteen oaks on each side of the walk

Front view 

View of the front of the main house

The sitting and family room 

The dining room 

A slave boy would stand in the corner and pull the rope which would activate this large fan 

Our tour guide

View from the front of the second floor balcony

  View from second floor balcony

After the Plantation tour we stopped at a small Creole restaurant where we had a delicious lunch. I had a spicy sausage burger and Chris had the gator burger.

After lunch we went to Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve. The park has a number of board walks through the swamp. I've attached a number of  pictures taken along our walk. Chris was first to spot the gator and actually took a picture in which I felt she got entirely to close. I’m sure we past many other creatures that we didn't even notice, may be that was for the best.

To find out more about the park you can google  jean Lafitte national park.

 An elevated board walk through the swamp

On the way back from our swamp walk we stopped at The Chapel of St. John Bosco on the campus of Hope Haven. Hope Haven is part of Catholic Charities. Hope Haven consists of a few interesting looking buildings.