We wanted to visit New Orleans for some time so we jumped at the opportunity to come here with a major conference and then expand our visit over the weekend. We arrive late in the afternoon and take a taxi to the hotel which is relatively close to downtown area that we hope we can visit during the next days as the days are occupied by the conference and work. There is a nice view of the city from the small hotel room - we even have views on two different sides which is cool.
 |  |
| Hotel corridor | Corridor Painting |
 |  |
| Small room | The bathroom |
 |  |
| View from window | Downtown view from room |
Soon we have to exit the hotel to find something for dinner and we decide to stop at a close by Thai restaurant, the food is good enough and refreshed we continue on on our first foray of the the French Quarter. It is what we expected, lots of people, lots of bars and in general a party atmosphere - quite fun. We are a bit tired so we don't go very far but we can't wait to return some other day.
 |  |
| Thai curry | Thai food |
 |  |
| Our drink | Walking at night in the French Quarter |
The next day it is a very busy day and we only have time to go out for lunch at a nearby popular lunch shop as in the evening we go at an organized dinner and we don't have any time for sightseeing.
 |  |
| Lunch at a popular subway show | Peanut butter and jelly sandwich tradition at the hotel |
Today we have more time after the end of the conference to walk around town and we start with the pool at our hotel which is on top of the hotel and has as we expected some nice views of the surrounding skyscrappers.
 |  |
| That looks dangerous - how about climbing our hotel? | At the top - there is a pool here |
 |  |
| View from the top | Looking towards downtown |
The hotel where we stay is a higher end hotel and the exterior is representative of that even though the rooms are not that special in our opinion.
 |  |
| Hotel from outside | Classical hotel entrance |
From our hotel we continue towards the warehouse district passing a few courthouses and the restaurant where we ate dinner with other conference attendees the previous night.
 |  |
| Interesting top for a skyscrapper | Last night's dinner restaurant |
 |  |
| Old tram in front of courthouse | Another federal courthouse building |
We continue south through the heart of the warehouse district looking at interesting renovated period warehouses now repurposed for homes until reaching the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. We have no time to visit it so we look at the imposing castle like building from the outside before continuing in towards the river.
 |  |
| Warehouse district building | Controversial Confederate statue |
 |  |
| Ogden Museum of Southern Art - is this the front? | Or is this one? |
 |  |
| Ogden Library | Cool sideway |
Next we pass by the National WW2 Museum that we expect to visit the next day with the conference attendees so we skip it today passing it and aquarium to reach the Mississippi river.
 |  |
| National WW2 Museum | Warehouse district closer to the river |
 |  |
| Sculpture near the Mississippi River | Aquarium in the distance |
Just reaching the river is a bit difficult because we have to pass through a mall but finally we are on the river promenade and look over the impressive Mississippi River. Walking next to the river is a nice experience as we see the barges passing slowly by us and it is cooler which is a welcome change from the more hot and humid weather otherwise. We soon also pass a steam boat, the Creole Queen, while it looks to be turn of the century it is actually built much more recently for tourist purposes.
 |  |
| River promenade | Barge on the huge Mississippi River |
 |  |
| Creole Queen prepared for evening departure | The paddle wheel |
 |  |
| Casinos and hotels on the riverfront | Aquarium is closed already |
Not far from the Creole Queen is another steamboat, the Natchez, which looks to be burning from a distance but after we approach we see that it is only the calliope - a steam powered music instrument, that is making both the steam and quite a bit of racket.
 |  |
| Riverside promenade | Natchez Steamboat |
 |  |
| Is it burning? | No - it is a steam-powered calliope "music" |
From the riverside where the destruction brought by Katrina more than 10 years ago is still visible we move inland towards the French Quarter passing the famous St Louis Cathedral in the middle of the downtown and avoiding as much as possible the carriages whose drivers can be quite aggressive in selling a ride.
 |  |
| Katrina impact to the docks | The horse drawn carriages waiting patiently |
 |  |
| St Louis Cathedral from a distance | Close up of cathedral |
The French Quarter buildings are quite interesting and we enjoy our walk and enter the various souvenir shops and even buy a few things here and there. As darkness falls the weather becomes much more tolerable and the people come out in force - after all this is "Party Central".
 |  |
| The French Quarter buildings | Close up of buildings - balconies are very popular |
We are a bit tired after all the walking so we stop at the Cafe du Monde to eat their famous speciality, beignets. We get a bit dirty with powdered sugar but it was worth it as the sweets are quite good and give us just enough energy for the slow walk back to the hotel as we enter almost every shop and enjoy the different street performers on the way.
 |  |
| Famous Cafe du Monde | Our beignets |
Today is the last full day in New Orleans and after a full morning spent at the conference in the afternoon we attend a conference organized visit to the WW2 museum. Even from the entrance we are impressed by the many weapons of distruction exhibited in the museum like pigeons - the messengers of doom :).
 |  |
| Entrance of the WWII Museum | Anti aircraft gun |
 |  |
| Pigeons were used for "secure" communications | The airplane hall |
We continue through the museum with a focus on the airplane hall as we have to return quite fast towards the entrance due to the IMAX show starting soon. The show is billed as a 3D show but it is only mildly so but it still is relatively entertaining.
 |  |
| View from above | Close up of WWII fighter |
 |  |
| Walking through the exhibits | Lots of guns |
After finishing with the museum we are quite hungry so we stop at a nearby burger joint and eat a traditional New Orleans sandwich the Po'boy - sandwich with shrimp, weird but not bad.
 |  |
| Lamb burger | Po'boy traditional Louisiana sandwich |
We intend to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in the French Quarter so we pass relatively quickly through the French Quarter this time as we try to reach the downtown area a bit faster than the previous day.
 |  |
| Nice church on the way | Some nice houses in the warehouse district |
The whole downtown area is ready for Halloween with spooky decorations seemingly everywhere. It is also choke-full of people out to party and street musicians - Las Vegas really has nothing on New Orleans in our opinion.
 |  |
| Entering the French Quarter | Prepared for the Halloween |
 |  |
| Lots of people in the downtown area | Street musicians |
On our walk we pass again the St Louis cathedral, much closer this time however unfortunately it is still closed so we can only admire it from the outside.
 |  |
| St Louis Cathedral | Plazza near the church |
We continue exploring for some time admiring the balcony houses with huge planters outside - they look very distinctive and give the French quarter a special look. Soon it gets late however and tomorrow we have to leave so we walk back slowly to the hotel entering this shop and that shop, admiring the street performers and avoiding the obvious drunks:).
 |  |
| Typical French Quarter house | Lots of lines to enter this building |
 |  |
| Greenery is everywhere | By far the most green house |
Before leaving the hotel and New Orleans we have time for one more hearthy breakfast at a nearby cafe - there is enough food to sustain us for the whole day easily and it is very good also. After that it is good bye New Orleans as we take a taxi to the airport from which we are renting a car for two days.
 |  |
| Eggs Benedict for breakfast | That is a lot for breakfast |
Exiting New Orleans we can appreciate how Katrina impacted the city, water and levees are everywhere and we have to cross long bridges to even get to the mainland so there is enough water to go around if you really want to flood the city.
 |  |
| Canal next to the interstate in New Orleans | Passing an unending bridge |
Our final destination is in Mississippi but we are taking the scenic route passing first a little into Alabama before turning back towards our first major stop for the day, an alligator farm.
 |  |
| Entering Mississippi | Inside a rest area - nice arrangement |
 |  |
| Short trip into Alabama | Bayou in Alabama |
The plan is to take an airboat ride however the ticket includes also a farm visit so we start with that as we wait for the airboat to fill. We can't go far so we look only at the closest ponds which are choke full of alligators basking in the sun before being called to the airboat.
 |  |
| Visiting an alligator farm | Hoping to take an airboat ride -that is a big fan |
 |  |
| Waiting for our boat - there are lots of alligators here | Close up of alligators |
The airboat ride follows the channels close to the farm and the pilot is keeping an eye out for alligators that everyone is hoping to see. The pilot is telling story after story and soon we find out that many of the alligators in the area are actually escapees - when Katrina came the farm was flooded and all alligators escaped and while the majority were caught a few smarter/luckier ones escaped forever. Of course part of any airboat ride is a desire of the pilot to show off as he speeds and does loops on the water trying to scare and possibly wet the newbies on the boat.
 |  |
| Ready to go | Passing through a narrow channel |
 |  |
| Open water - operator likes to show off here | Railway bridge with something...unusual |
On the more quiet channels where speed is not desired we can enjoy the mangroves and - wait - what is THAT? Yep spiders, skeletons and ghosts, even here Halloween is in full swing. And we also see our first alligator who could care less about us and can barely be seen in the grass.
 |  |
| This can't be a coincidence | It is Halloween time |
 |  |
| Mangrove forest | First alligator on the tour |
At the end of the narrow channel lies a large body of water that we cruise over looking for birds and alligators, unfortunately the only bird we see is an attentive egret who can't be bothered by us no matter how much noise the boat does - probably used already to the noise.
 |  |
| Open bayou | And a narrow one |
 |  |
| Very attentive | Does not seem to care about us |
Finally after lots of searching we find an alligator who is willing to play with the boat. Who would have thought that alligators are attracted to marshmallows, not us, but he certainly is playing around with it for quite some time before coming to investigate us closely - very closely.
 |  |
| Another alligator | Getting closer |
 |  |
| Playing with his marshmallow | A bit too close |
Returning we pass again the highway bridge showing how high the water level was during Katrina - it is impressive and a bit scary, this is not an area that I would like to live in. Now we also notice a lot more alligators - when we were looking for them there were none but now they are everywhere.
 |  |
| Highway bridge showing Katrina water level | Below the bridge - another shy alligator |
 |  |
| This one is not shy | Gets a marshmallow as a reward |
Returning to the farm we get our free (included with the ticket) alligator food and go to feed the pond alligators. The alligators are split by size so they don't eat each other and the only ones that can be fed are the big ones - unfortunately most of them are not even remotely attracted by the food so we are happy when we find one who shows some interest - that one will be a well fed alligator tonight.
 |  |
| Alligator farm - babies | Juveniles |
 |  |
| Adults | Close up of lazy alligator |
 |  |
| Is this one real or fake? | Looks like a log from a distance |
Next we drive to a rest area on I10 from where a little known trail named Escatawpa Trail starts. It is quite overgrown in places but we can follow the trail well enough, just have to avoid any possible snakes in the high grass:).
 |  |
| Entrance to Escatawpa Trail | Trail ca be a bit overgrown |
 |  |
| Same for the boardwalk | Bayou (with mosquitoes) near the trail |
The trail is a loop trail and it reaches on the way a large water channel which seems to be popular with some party boats given the screaming we hear but we don't see the boats anywhere from the river overlook near the trail. Soon afterward the trail reaches a boardwalk which is better maintained, we were afraid of this area as we were not sure if the boardwalk is still there. While the boardwalk is ok the benches by the side of the trail are overgrown and picturesque.
 |  |
| Large channel | Not a lot of color left here |
 |  |
| Better maintained boardwalk | Not the same can be said about the bench |
With all that growth around us there are lots of interesting plants including pitcher plants that we really wanted to see. There are areas where they are everywhere it seems while otherwise we can see only one or two near the trail.
 |  |
| Lots of pitcher plants | Close up of pitcher plant |
 |  |
| Budding mushroom | Some "limited" color near the trail |
After returning to the car we notice that we still have time before sunset so we decide to do one more trail - the Fountain Bleu Trail - where we hope to see some special birds. While that is not the case it is a nice 1/2 mi walk through the forest and near the water and we also have a good view of the sunset over the bayou.
 |  |
| Fountaine Bleu Trail - last one for the day | Boardwalk for a short distance |
 |  |
| Mostly just a narrow trail | Passing a small creek |
 |  |
| Highway bridge passing the bayou | Sunset in the bayou |
From here it is a straight drive close to the gulf shore to the hotel where we check in and then we are out again to find a good restaurant in town. We find the best and only open one it seems relatively fast however we have to wait quite a lot outside as it is homecoming time and there are lots of reservations so we have time to sightsee a bit in the close proximity. In the end we get in and eat the local specialities, shrimp and fish, which are reasonably good before returning to the hotel for the night.
 |  |
| Restaurant (with queue) for the evening | Our food - shrimp what else :) |
Today is our last day of our trip into Mississippi and we start it off with a walk on the beach. Actually we were quite surprised at the size of the beach it is seemingly neverending and the thought enters our mind that maybe it isn't all natural so we had to look online - what we found is that Mississippi has the largest man made beach in the world 26 miles from Biloxi to Gulfport and our hotel is sitting right next to it - cool.
 |  |
| View from hotel | Shallow for quite some distance |
 |  |
| Longest beach we have seen | Seems there are enough fish for fishing |
Our walk leads us to a nearby pier that stretches quite far into the ocean. We walk about three quarters of the pier into the ocean to take a few pictures of the gulfshore, it is quite an idyllic view even though we would not want to be near the shore when a hurricane hits.
 |  |
| Pier we decide to go to | Entering the pier |
 |  |
| Water's edge - from above | Sandpipers scouring the sand |
 |  |
| View from pier | Our hotel in the distance |
The major stop for today however is the Beauvoir plantation. We wanted to see a plantation while in the area and this one was well placed on our route and then we found out about the history and had to stop here. You see Beauvoir is not a run of the mill plantation it is the plantation where the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, retreated after being defeated during the War of Secession/American Civil War. So it certainly also has historical significance which makes it even more interesting to us. On top of the plantation house where Davis lived in with his family there is also a Presidential Library and a small museum that we want to visit. To visit the interior of the house we have to join a tour group and so we have to wait outside and watch the squirrels enjoying the old trees near the house.
 |  |
| Beauvoir - Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum | View from the front |
 |  |
| Beauvoir residence | Old entrance |
 |  |
| New resident | Watching the squirrel while waiting to enter |
The tour starts at the top of the hour and it starts with a description of how it was impacted by Katrina, with photos and showing us where it was renovated and how. There are some areas where the old paint is still showing as a comparison to the new coat of paint. As the water actually entered the house during Katrina the floor was also impacted and needed to be replaced - overall there was little expectation from what they were explaining that the house will be impacted and the fact that it is raised has nothing to do with hurricanes but it was done to cool the house before AC.
 |  |
| Mansion impact from Katrina | Comparison between old and new paint |
 |  |
| Well restored | Old clock in the hallway |
The house is relatively small with only 5-6 rooms filled with period furniture most of it from Jefferson Davis's time. The most interesting story is that about the chairs - at that point they were really small and as Davis was unusually tall he had to have a special chair created for him (which would be considered a normal chair now).
 |  |
| Typical bedroom | View from bedroom |
 |  |
| Daughter bedroom | Daughter portrait done in classical fashion |
 |  |
| Small chairs were all the rage | And harps...maybe |
After finishing our visit we decide to visit the grounds first before the museum before it gets too hot. We really enjoy the very old trees with Spanish moss, they are quite impressive and supposedly a preffered place also for Davis.
 |  |
| Beauvoir grounds | This looks beautiful |
 |  |
| Spanish moss - is everywhere | Close up view of Spanish Moss |
We continue our walk on the grounds towards the Confederate cemetery and to our surprise we meet both goats and peacocks on the short walk and the goats especially are curious about us and follow us wherever we go which is quite fun.
 |  |
| Beautiful grounds | With peacocks |
 |  |
| And goats | Very curious goats even |
The Confederate Cemetery is interesting to visit, it is the place of the Unknown Confederate Soldier Memorial and the grave of Jefferson Davis's father but also some tombs with weird and in our view very outdated epitaphs.
 |  |
| Confederate Cemetery entrance | Lots of important Confederate people are buried here |
 |  |
| Unknown soldier Memorial | Well then....that is a bit....outdated and offensive maybe? |
 |  |
| Confederate flag | Only the father of Jefferson Davis is buried here |
Returning to the museum we pass again through the gardens this time seeing wildish pigs and birds as we sit on a bench and eat a quick snack before entering the museum.
 |  |
| Walking through the gardens | Lots of flowers |
 |  |
| Water is popular for animals | And birds too |
The museum is very spacious with a gift shop downstairs, two rooms dedicated to the museum and a part that houses the presidential library where we can even see a piano that was more or less destroyed by Katrina.
 |  |
| Free money - yay | Only copies unfortunately |
 |  |
| Inside the museum | Gift shop parrot |
 |  |
| Presidential library | Katrina had an impact here |
The two museum rooms have relatively few exhibits and a bit funnily describe the superiority of Southern weapons versus Northern ones in the war - maybe this is true but it seems different from what I remember (and what the final outcome was). There is also the infamous coat that Jefferson Davis wore at his capture - there is controversy whether he intended to hide as a woman and escape or if it was his wife overcoat that he just dressed in error as he tried to escape.
 |  |
| Museum room - Lots of flags | Most exhibits describe the superiority of Southern weapons |
 |  |
| Jefferson Davis hearse | (In)famous overcoat |
After the history lesson it is time for a short nature walk in the nearby town - we decide to try the Clower Thornton Nature Trail as we still have one hour before having to drive back towards the airport. It is a nice hike in a city park with boardwalks crossing the river. Unfortunately we see no animals but there are still lots of flowers to admire near the trail.
 |  |
| Start of the Clower-Thornton Nature Trail | Well maintained boardwalk |
 |  |
| Trail through thick forest | Found in the middle of the park off main trail |
 |  |
| Flowers near the trail | And some berries |
After this we drive back to the airport in New Orleans using the seashore road, here you can see the impact of Katrina most, there are houses that are still destroyed, empty plots and most new homes are raised far above the ground. And then we arrive at the airport, return the car and eat the only jambalaya we have seen while in New Orleans at a airport restaurant, either it is not that popular or we just missed the correct restaurant. In the plane one of us gets an upgrade to first class while the other one doesn't which leads to a lot of negotiating until finally we can be reunited for our flight back home after this interesting visit.
 |  |
| Preparing for the next Katrina | Wonder if it is a requirement |
No comments:
Post a Comment