We got up early this morning to go on an air-boat swamp tour.  They pick up at the hotel at 9 AM and it was going to be a 30 minute ride out to the swamp lands of Louisiana.  There was one more pick up outside of the city.  Not thinking much about the comment “Well, I don’t know how much you pay. Check in at the office when we get there.” from the driver to a passenger embarking.  Five minutes later after hearing the word swamp, one of the two male passenger asked “Are we going to the convention centre?”  I got that sinking feeling for them.  The other male asked “What time is the meeting?” “10:15 AM.”  It was now 9:45 AM and we were moving 50 MPH away from the convention center.  The driver trying to be accommodating said that he could drop them off on the return, which would be at least 20 to 30 minutes before he drives back and another 30 minutes to the Convention Center.  “That’s cutting it close,” commented one of the males.  It was hilarious! We dropped them off at a car wash in the middle of nowhere.  Been there done that. 

 

The day was a bit cloudy but it was OK as we have no suntan for protection.  There were two air boats and you can see the one ahead of us with a family of five.  There were six people on ours and that was the maximum for the air boat.  We were given headsets to protect our ears from the noise of the props, which was very loud at full speed.

 

 

We did not have to go very far to see our first alligators.  These were baby alligators.  They were basking in the sun because the water is still too cold for them at this time of the year.  In the winter they hibernate and do not eat for months.  The alligators were just coming out of their hibernation.  In the winter, their heart beat can drop to one every three or four minutes. 

 

 

 This was just an amazing ride.  The straight line meant that this was man made.  In the past, these water channels were made to help logged the area for hardwood on the bayou.  This is also an oil and gas rich area.  The air boat flew down these channels as we explore the area for wild life.

 

 

  

 Our guide has his ancestor from Quebec   Wooohooo!  Canadian content in the heartland of the south.  He is, however, a 7th generation owner of the land we are on.  He told us the story of how the land was given to the homesteaders.  They can stake out as much as they want for free but they have to pay taxes.  When oil & gas was discovered in the area in the 1940s, all of a sudden the tax collector came and those who could not afford it lost their land.  California Oil, now Chevron, came to his great grand father and struck a deal.  For a 1,000 year lease to the oil company and the rights to drill, the oil company had to pay the taxes.   That was how his family got to keep the land.  If Chevron ever drilled, he would be a 40% benefactor of the cash flow.  He talked about the man made channels and how it destroyed the environment as it went all the way to the gulf.  As a result, the brackish water killed a lot of the natural habitat. 

 

 

 

This is a natural water way as you can see it curve around.  It is not straight like the man made channels.  A lot of the hardwood has been harvested and little has grown back.  They never knew it took a long time for the trees to mature – as in 60 to 80 years instead of 6 to 8 years. 

 

 

 

As we get deeper in the bayou and shallower water, the alligators got larger.  The really big ones were still hibernating.  Alligators are territorial and they tend to stay close to where they were born.  At one time the alligators were heading for extinction.  Today there are over 2 million of them.  Our guide is an egg harvester.  Each nest contains anywhere from 20 to 100 eggs from one alligator.  Each egg sells for about $10.  Getting the eggs is dangerous because of the mother.  The sex of the alligator is determined by the temperature.  The lower eggs in lower temperature are females while the eggs closer to the top are males.  Survival rate for these eggs is about 2% in the wild.  Of course, survival rate of the farm is 100%.   The farms returns 20% of the hatched alligators to the land owners.  This arrangement help to rapidly replenish the alligator population, which was near extinction. 

 

 

 

Can you see the two alligators in the water?   The ride on the air boat around the bayou was as enjoyable as seeing and learning about alligators.  

 

 

Here is a baby alligator.  Our guide took it out of a basket as we waited for the big one.  He had a bag of mashmallow, which this particular alligator liked.  But, the alligator is not coming up today.  As a replacement, we have the two year old gator.  They have no smell as they have no sweat glans.  The skin felt like soft rubbery leather  

For those of you who thinks that they like to do this, a trip journal, just remember to get it done ASAP.  I am just finishing this off a week later.  By now, all my enthusiasm is gone and it's tough getting motivated to finish.  Here we go....

 

 

There is no rest for the travelleur.  After our swamp tour, we got back to the hotel and out the door to the French Market, which is down by the RiverWalk.  While I was taking these pictures, one of the artist was shouting at me "No, pictures!" 

 

It is Sunday afternoon and the place is hopping.  This is Jackson Square.   You can see St. Louis Cathedral in the back ground.  

 

This is a very nice part of New Orleans.  It is near the French Market.  The house on the left is the 1850 House.  The blue stripe canopy is Cafe Du Mont where you can get the best coffee in New Orleans. 

 

The building on the right is where Napoloen and Jefferson signed the agreement where the French sold Louisana to the Americans for $15 million.  The street is Chartres St.  leading right to the French Quarter. 

 

This is the second statue of General Lee - I am assumming here.  What is great about New Orleans is the architecture.  What is unique about the architecture is that it is uniquely Southern.  

 

 

Our last look at the Missisippi as we walked over to the Riverwalk Mall for some last minute shopping.  We really enjoyed New Orleans.  This is one of the special cities in the US.  It has Southern charm and it is all about partying.  The buildings are as old as Boston, which embodies US culture and old money.  My three favourite US cities are Boston, San Francisco (US most romantic city) and New Orleans.

Done!

 

We caught up on sleep and got up around 9 AM.  I when to Starbuck and got us coffee.  It must be nice to wake up to a latte   I did a bit more blogging before we headed out for breakfast.  After talking to a tour agent on Burbon Street, we have our day planned out.  We are going to RiverBend - the end of St. Charles.  We are going to a cemetry and lunch at the Commander Palace, which is across from the cemetry.  We were going to be busy.

 

 

This was at the end of St. Charles and you can see Carmellia's Grill - a famous local eatery.  It took a ton of effort to get here.  We waited for the street car and realised that our time was more important so we took a taxi for $15.  As we left on the taxi, after waiting almost 20 minutes, we saw the tram, which was full and nobody wating with us got on.  What a bummer.  And when we got to Camellia's Grill, we found that it was your regular greasy burger joint.  We opted out and decided to go to the Garden district where the cemetry was and have lunch at the famous Commander Palace. 

 

 

Loyola is a well regarded school for law.  It was on our way to the River Bend.  Beautiful houses lined St. Charles.  Natalie appreciated them but they just when over my head.  Apparently, you had to be a polly pocket fan to understand.

 

 

We were told to take the street car to get the a local feel for the area.  We did get one on our way back from River Bend.  It is not much different from our Toronto Street cars.  You do get a better view of the houses in the Garden city part of New Orleans. 

 

 

The street back stopped near Washington Street as there was going to be a St. patrick Day parade.  This was where the Lafayette No. 1 cemetry was.  This is Ann Rice did her Interviews with a Vampire.  

It was just our lucky day to bump into the St. Patrick Day's Parade.  With unviersities around the Garden District, we could see a lot of young university students taking a break from their studying.

 

 

New Orleans does not need too many reasons to celebrate   I had read about the festivity on the Internet but I never imagine it to be so big.  The crowds lined the street for miles and miles throwing beads everywhere.  Everyone throws the beds around.

 

 

Here are the guys we are celebrating for - the Irishmen!  That was the only float I saw that was Irish.  I am sure there were more but I missed it.

 

 

 

Behind the Irishmen were the civil war soliders.  How these are related I am not sure.  This is General Lee country and there is even a round about called Lee Circle - really cool to see the Southern history.

 

 

 

While it was fun to watch, it was tough to get any where.  The roads were plugged with people and car.  We walked for miles along Magazine Street. 

 

 

 

We first noticed beads hanging on tree branches downtown on our second day.  This picture is of a tree in the Garden District, which is miles from the French Quartet.  Like, these beads are everywhere....

 

 

 

And some trees, they are really covered in beads.  There must be a story about these beads.  I took these pictures as we walked through the Garden District neighbourhood.  We walked for miles.

 

 

 

We finally got to St. Charles where we can catch the street car.  It is amzing to note that this beautiful neighbourhood is not to far from the city troubled areas.  Just our luck, the street car did not go much further than this - one more block.  And than we have to catch the bus,  There were no taxi around.  The St. Patrick Day parade was a big problem for getting around today.

 

 

 

It took us a long time before we got back to the hotel.  It was a full day and it is not over.  We are going on a ghost expedition tonight!

 

 

 

What a hectic and tiring day!  We started out by arriving at the wrong terminal and it was March break when we arrived at the right terminal and than found ourselves siting at each end of the plane.  We did, however, get to New Orleans safely and here is the picture of the Mississippi River as viewed from New Orlean's RiverWalk.

 

I thought the palm trees looked really neat.  The temperature was a bit cool in the evening but we have these palm trees - very Californian for me.  The shopping here is a lot better than Canada as they have more variety. 

 

Burbon Street at nght is very different than day time.  The street in some areas were blocked off to traffic.  The mood is alway festive as people are in general very intoxicated.  You can carry your beer with you as you walk from bar to bar.  The beer is cheaper than spring water. 

New Orleans is know for its jazz.  As Natalie took a rest, I did some blogging and also looked for a place to eat.  We had dinner at Arnuad around 9 PM.  The jazz band played as we have dinner.  For jazz lovers, or Louis Armstrong fan, this must be heaven.  The food is a cross between french and creole.  The shrimp appetizer was very hot as it was bathed in a red tomato cream sauce, which also had a healthy portion of wasabe. 

 

These guys were playing on Burbon Street and they were rocking.  A huge crowd grew around them dancing and just plain doing what Burbon Street is known for.  Until, the cops came    But by that time, they have a good loot of cash in their cardbox box where people threw in a lot of cash.  They were really so much better than the bands palying at the bar and clubs, which you could hear as you walk along Burbon Street. 

 

We are jamming!!  The blur from the exposure here really capture the mood and probably the way many people are seeing it because many of the people are really whooped.  You can see the cardboard  box where people were throwing in $20s.  This was the highlight of our evening. 

Here is an image of the festivity the band whipped up.  You really had to be here to feel the vibes.  The key musician here is a fat kid playing the drums.  I did swear it was two drummers as each hand was pounding out a different beat - really cool or sweet, as Sean would say.

You can see the big fat kd in a black t-shirt on the right of the picture.  He was the star that made this street band hop.  I took a lot of pictures becuase we were there for a whle as the music was a lot better than the bars. 

It seems that every night is a Mardi Grass night.  The balconeys over Burbon Street were filled with people.  They throw beads and the pedestrains below throw it back.  I am not sure what the significance is other than the female is suppose to flash their breast as payment for these beads.  But, no women were flashing and they were still throwing beads....  It must be a New Orleans thing   A long day but satisfying day came to an end at mdinight.