New Orleans III - Around and About

New Orleans: Big action is at night, so during the day we visited some old plantations: This is the Destrehan Plantation, the biggest one left. Note the cisterns, the big towers on either side The Destrehans

Slave quarters

Roster of the slaves: They were characrterized as 'negro' or 'mulatto', and also as 'American (if born here), Creole, African, Congo. The occupation of the first, Richard, is denoted as 'Commander'.

Students at a federally established school in New Orleans, 1964. Some are listed as 'white' - the local term was 'passe en blanc' , for those with some African blood but white enough to pass as white.

A cruise down a bayou: Fishing boats - trawlers

Sunken boat

On further downstream to the swamp:

The guide, a real Cajun

With a snake:

...and a cute little gatorBigger gators
Luring an alligator to come pose for us, with - yes! - a marshmallow...

Gas drilling/extraction equipment

New Orleans III - Stuff nearby

Down the way from New Orleans, there are some antebellum plantations. This one, the Destrehan place, is said to be the fanciest, at least in Louisiana (it's nice, but not quite Tara). Note the water cisterns on either side. Mr Destrehan

Destrehan's bio - a mover and shaker, as you would expect

Where the guys who actually did the work lived (it's interesting that ten years ago, there was very little reconstruction of the slaves' side of things. We've changed, for the better I think).

A list of the slaves. They are characterized as American (born here) or creole (imported). In most cases, this may be the only record there is of somebody's ancestors. Ironic.

Some of the staff. If sufficiently light, they were allowed to be 'Passe en Blanc'; then, if free - even if known to have some black blood - they could live as whites. Not so in the rest of the South.

A Swamp tour: Shrimp boats

Where some of the locals live

Where somebody used to live

Fishing Boats

The swamp:

The guide, with some friends

Cute little fellow, until he gets bigger
Stingray. The guide was a real Habitant - thick Cajun accent.


Back on the water: He attracted this alligator with - yes! Marshmallows!

But, this is the modern world too: Oil and Gas structures

Mardi Gras, Part II - The Spectators

Well, the Mardi Gras parades were really something, but the place aside from the parades is also pretty interesting. Start with the architecture don't miss the whiskey sign): And the cemetaries - one thing we missed was the Voodoo tour of the cemetaries. This is best done at night, and the police don't really recommend going around some of these places at night, even in a large group.Along with that is skeletons in general - something to do with an All Souls Day type thing, when the departed relatives come back to visit:Various cities have something iconic they make a lot of fiberglas copies of and then paint them. New Orleans' thing seems to be the streetcar:

There's always the great American favorite, buying stuff:

Who doesn't want to be Cleopatra ---

Barb with friend --- Pimped-up car:

I mean pimped-up:

Really, really pimped-up:

This guy was hanging out down by the Beignet place, singing and playing and hawking a CD, which turned out to be full of Jesus songs. Oh well, neat guy, anyway...

This guy bills himself as the Naked Cowboy, and appears stark naked (except for the guitar). But not in NO, where they subject has come up often enough that they've actually passed an ordinance banning naked guys in public.

All sorts of people dress up, just for fun:

Dumbledore? a Druid?

Religion: Two views ---

Us - with Barb's loot from the parade - all free, and worth every penny:

This gal did even a bit better:

More merrymakers:

Watching the marrymakers:

If you don't have your own balcony, rent one:

Then there's the liberated section of Bourbon Street:

A true gentleman - he wears garters, lest his socks should sag:

Men prettier than girls?

Fat can be beautiful...

Body paint...

...and some who don't believe in it...Stimulus Package: One Krewe, composed only of residents of the French Quarter, held a whole parade of which the theme was Stimulus Package. That parade is noted for political satire and frankness, so you can imagine...

A strolling band:

Very popular drink was something called a Hand Grenade. We only had one, but it was plenty.