Scott to New Orleans – 25 February 2023
Coming into New Orleans we passed over the Atchafalaya Basin. The bridge had two parallel bridges that carry Highway 10 over a 18.1 mile distance across the basin. The Archafalaya Basin is over 10,000 acres of marsh land so there were lots of challenges in building the bridge that needed some of its piers to go down over 140 ft.
Our campground was on a marina. While we weren’t on the water’s edge, there were nice walks around the water and you could see the cruise and steam ships across the way and watch yachts and motor boats pass by. They also had a restaurant, pool and hot tub on site. It was a good campground to be in, not too far from the city and well maintained. It reminded us a little of Florida with its palm trees everywhere.
I was quite excited to visit New Orleans having never visited before, so the first night we were there we went to Bourbon Street. It was very busy with lots of people of all types singing and dancing in the street. Lots of restaurants and pubs with live music. We had an enjoyable evening taking in all the sights. I drank my first Hurricane drink which was delicious but Potent!
Because there was so much to see in New Orleans, we decided the best way to get a sense of the city would be to do a Hop on, Hop off bus tour. This worked out well with us just getting off once in Magazine street to find a place for lunch. We ended up at a place called Mahonys Po-boys and Seafood. I had read that they had great Chicken Gumbo. Unfortunately it was the week for Seafood Gumbo so we gave that one a miss and instead I ordered the Catfish Poboy and Derek ordered the Sausage Poboy. Both were delicious washed down with Coconut Mojito for me and IPA for Derek. Much later after the bus returned to the depot, we walked down to Canal Street and ordered Beignets and coffee at the Café Beignet. They were served hot, straight from the oven. I was surprised they weren’t sweeter. To me they tasted a little like sweeten bread.
After a down day catching up on work, Derek went to the WW2 museum and I did a Cemetery tour. The Cemetery was called Louis Cemetery No. 1 and was the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. In 1789 when it was built, there was a lot of flooding which affected the above ground caskets, so they created a second cemetery. The tour was fascinating and included a tomb of Marie Laveau who was known as the Voodoo queen. Several X’s were hand marked on the graves this was part of an age old belief that Marie Laveau would grant your wish if you “Draw the X, place your hand on it, rub your foot three times against the bottom, throw some silver coins in a cup and make your wish”. There was also an empty, stark 9 ft tall stone pyramid which stood in contrast to the crumbling sites that had been there for over a century. This tomb belongs to actor Nicholas Cage. Cage has a history with New Orleans having purchased a haunted mansion and a church. He remains silent about his reasoning for building the flamboyant pyramid but rumor is that he has considered himself cursed since owning the haunted mansion and feels being next to Marie Laveau will un-curse him.
After the tour I caught a shuttle to the Mardi Gras World. Because we had to change our dates to accommodate Lucy and Liam’s visit, we unfortunately missed the Mardi Gras, so this was the next best thing. Mardi Gras World is just one of many businesses who create the props and the floats for the festival. There were hundreds of exceptional props in this warehouse and it was very interesting seeing how the robot arm was cutting the prop out of Styrofoam, and how the prop is then covered with brown paper mache before being painted. Once the Mardi Gras parade is over, props are returned to the warehouse and repurposed into other props. When I arrived I joined others to watch a movie about how the Mardi Gras started and we were all treated to a slice of King cake. This cake is traditionally eaten during Mardi Gras and a plastic baby is put inside the cake. Whoever gets the baby is crowned “King” and has to buy the next cake.
From Mardi Gras I walked to the WW2 museum to join Derek. He had just finished some Chicken and Sausage Gumbo so I bought one as well and then we walked around the museum together. Most impressive. There were large screens showing movies from WW2 everywhere. I have never seen such a magnificent museum. It is a place you could easily spend a couple of days in. Unfortunately, we had to leave pretty soon after that as we needed to get back to Jax. Outside of the museum I was able to take a video of the Bollinger Canopy of Peace. This is a huge structure that you can see from miles away. It consists of a series of metal arches that are lit at night and these span the many buildings that make up the WW2 museum. It is 481ft long and 133 ft wide and rises 148ft above the ground.
Our last night in New Orleans we went to the Marina restaurant for dinner. Not very exciting food but it was nice to sit on their deck with Jax and enjoy the sunset and cocktails. I loved New Orleans and will not hesitate to come back again in the future. Still so much to see and do.
