We were up early and had a breakfast of fruit and croissants and then Debs had found us a tour of the French Quarter. First though, we went to a café we had seen advertised on every guide to New Orleans – a café selling nothing but Beignets and packed to the gunnels. (Note: Cafe Du Monde)
The tour was a lovely way to see the kind of city we were in – lots of historical houses to look at, lovely weather and a knowledgeable guide even if he did all his presentation in the present tense—Now, we’re building these houses and then the English are coming so we’re becoming worried….. Most offputting! At intervals of about 1 metre on the pavements, there were little round metal discs – about 4 or 5” in diameter – which turned out to be termite baits filled with poison. These termites are a real problem as they are literally eating the city. They eat wood, metal – anything, and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to the lovely historical houses. The guide told us about somebody who had been away from home for a few months and on their return, they went to play the piano but as soon as their hands touched the keys, the whole piano just collapsed as the termites had eaten it away by working up inside the legs. We saw places costing well over a million dollars which the termites are slowly eating away but nothing can stop them – it’s just something the inhabitants of “Nawlins” have to live with.
Anyway, the tour took in most of the French Quarter which is the place you always see on tourist guides and which includes the famous Bourbon Street. Even during daylight hours, this place was full of music but I was surprised that not much of it was jazz. I had mistakenly thought that this would be the main music we would hear but there seemed to be more R&B than anything else – Otis Reading type stuff of 60’s and 70’s vintage – maybe this was for the tourists and the serious jazz was somewhere else.
After lunch during which Gordon had Gumbo and I had Gator Stew – yes, I ate an alligator!! – we headed out of New Orleans towards Lafayette where we had arranged to stay on a plantation called Chretian Point.
When Debbie had booked it, she had originally asked if we could stay for 2 nights but it turned out that there was some big music festival on in Lafayette so they only had rooms for the Friday. This place was an authentic plantation house – more hardwood floors and a huge balcony which led off the bedrooms. We were met by a very officious woman – later christened “The Kommandant” who explained that they were expecting a tour party for dinner. Apparently the house, if you could believe this woman, was haunted by all and sundry – a woman, 2 children, a gardener etc etc and because of this, it was included in the itinerary of the local ‘Ghost tour’. If we would like to hide our suitcases etc in the wardrobes because the tour party would be shown round the house and “would be disappointed if they did not have access to all the rooms”………..er, I think not!! We had paid $155 for our rooms and were not about to have a coachload of pensioners (as they turned out to be) wandering around in them. The Kommandant was not best pleased but reluctantly agreed and said if we would like to go out on to the balcony, mint juleps would be served in a while. At last, a chance to wear my Southern Belle dress, so I quickly got changed and went outside.
While we were waiting, the tour party arrived preceded by one poor old soul who had decided to come as Miss Scarlett (they told us that the staircase in the film ‘Gone with the Wind’ was based on the one in the plantation house but I have to say that it was nothing special and I think this was thought up by the same person who decided the house was haunted!!) Anyway, Miss Scarlett descended the bus steps in her white crinoline and the rest of the party followed on behind.
We were in fits (I don’t think they could see us at the back of the balcony) because as John pointed out, they weren’t far short of being ghosts themselves! We were then served our mint juleps and canapés by another weirdo who now went by the name of The Hors d’Ouvres Fairy. These people in Cajun Country – for that is where we were – are definitely not your regular guys. Something to do with all the inter-breeding, I think, and this woman was very chirpy like a little bird – very friendly (or at least more so than the Kommandant) but definitely a bit weird – “I probably won’t remember your name so I shall just call you sweetie!”. Anyway, the mint juleps were very sweet and I liked them but Gordon wasn’t very struck.
That evening, we went off towards Lafayette and had dinner at a place called “PreJeans”. It was a Cajun Diner advertising “Down Home Eating” and plenty of live zydeko music. Now how can I describe zydeko? John reckons it sounds like somebody is winding up the gramophone – every number sounds the same, the ‘band’ consists of a squeeze box and a fiddle among other things and it’s quite catchy. Mind you, I’ve played a CD I brought back since I got home and it definitely loses something in the travelling!! We enjoyed the night though, saw a few sights for sore eyes and managed to negotiate the drive home (we’d hired a car which poor John had to drive throughout the week).
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