The small exhibits were displayed pretty haphazardly,
in some cases just in piles of similar items with no signs giving any information. They may be building a new museum and just warehousing their stock.
The outside exhibits were better organized. We saw some slave quarters, overseers quarters, a smiths shop and the plantation commissary. When we looked around it I was reminded of the line from the song “I owe my soul to the company store.”
This building was initially puzzling to me, why apply boards on the diagonal. However all was explained; it was the jail and by overlapping boards in opposite directions with lots of nails it was possible to make a wall that could not be cut through with an axe.
There were some coffle chains left over from the days of the chain gangs and I could not resist seeing what it would have felt like.
We headed south from Baton Rouge into the delta bayou and stayed in a lovely little RV park The sites were laid out around a pond full of duck and frogs with dragonflies everywhere. The owners have lots of space and are working on the next phase. This was somewhere we were reluctant to leave but the swamps were calling.
BAYOU and SWAMP TOUR with BLACK GUIDRY the CAJUN MAN
This is quite a famous tour with an ex military guy as our guide. The tour had 20 or so people on a well used pontoon boat, this was in contrast to the very new looking big aluminum airboat which blasted off before us with only three on board.
We were soon pootling along canals [ dug artificially ] and bayous [ natural waterways ] learning about Bald Cyprus knees and oil company pipelines. He turned into a dead end stopped the engine and let out a weird rumbling roar. Within seconds a dead log started moving towards us
and soon was begging for his dinner.
He stopped again announcing that he was lost and pulled out is Cajun squeezebox. He gave us a few bars of Zydeco but stopped claiming this was not his forte and swapped to his guitar for a rendition of the Cajun national anthem “Jolie Blon”.
After entertaining us he “remembered the way home” and we were off again. He was very scathing about the locals who fished this area for pleasure on their metalflake bass boats with giant outboards who set off in the morning with a cooler full of beer. He said the accident rate on the water was so bad that they have a special boating while impaired law to deal with it. As he said that we were overtaken on the outside of a blind bend by a couple of good old boys doing at least 30 knots.
New Orleans or “The Big [Sl]easy” was next.
We decided to stay at an expensive campground in the centre and use their shuttle bus but befroe we committed ourselves we stopped at the Bayou Segnette State Park and did a recce. As I am writing this we are still there. The park is delightful with swimming pools free laundry and free WiFi plus it is 1/3 of the price of the city park and very quiet at night with no “WOO WOO” train whistles.
To get in to New Orleans we drive to the Algiers ferry which drops us off by the French quarter.
Every one has heard of Mardis Gras in New Orleans so we toured the factory responsible for many of the floats. We learned of the history behind todays krewes and why they throw stuff like beads and plastic coins to the watchers.
Some of the big figures are over 40 years old and have appeared every year with a new coat of paint and sometimes a new head or face to fit the current theme.
But this bird was brand new, carved from plywood and styrofoam before being sprayed with a platic coating then painted.
Nowadays motors move the dragons jaws but only a few years ago sweating floar riders would be inside the "props" doing it by hand and there are still a few old floats where they do it this way.
The oldest established krewe is Rex who have been going since 1872. The all-male krewe is responsible for the concept of day parades, for the official Mardi Gras flag and colors – green for faith, gold for power, purple for justice – and for the anthem of Carnival, “If I Ever Cease to Love,” as well as for one of the most popular throws, the doubloon.
Our guide told us that the individuals who ride the floats are responsible for buying their own "throws" and on average they spend 400 to 500 dollars a year on plastic junk to throw away. ??WHY??
There are so many krewes with floats and riders desparate to throw stuff away that there are many separate parades during the Mardi Gras season.
We learned that while it is illegal to smoke on a float drinking is OK. As long as you can stand and throw you can parade. However the law also says that everone must be tied to the floats and we saw the harnesses and ropes they use for this.
RIVERBOAT NATCHEZ
We took a trip on the Natchez. This is the last steam driven paddle wheeler running out of New Orleans.
Built to a traditional design and using engines from a much older boat it keeps tradition afloat.
She was pretty special but it was a pity that the guide doing the commentary was not up to the same standard.
YOU WILL NEED BROADBAND FOR THIS
We were greeted by a Calliope recital before departure then learned more than we wanted to know about the oil terminals, grain terminals, sugar terminals and [ we both fell asleep at this point and missed the next bit]
We did get a look into the part of New Orleans flooded to a depth of 15 feet when Katrina broke through the levees.
Back at the dock we headed into the French quarter with its lovely old ironwork and found out why it is called "the big sleasey" when we hit the end of Bourbon Street.
Strip clubs, hookers and cheap boooze were everywhere but behind and beside the sleaze were muscicians belting out Jolie Blon and Delta Blues.
I liked the one called
" I got the
Fuzzy Dummy
Empty Sippy Cup
Lost Blanky
Dirty Diaper
Delta blues "
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