My post on Tuesday was about getting to New Orleans. This one will be about our Wednesday and Thursday.
I already posted about meeting my long-time blogging friend Vic, and his sweetheart, Tina. Joe and I enjoyed our trip to Port Allen, which is outside Baton Rouge. While there, we also toured the Nottoway Plantation. As a recap, Vic was a blogging friend on Multiply, from where quite a few of us moved to Blogger when Multiply closed. Vic is a great photographer, has a wonderful garden full of beautiful flowers and plants. He helps out at his sister's business, Cajun Critters, during crawfish season (right now). He taught us all about crawfish, showing us the bait, telling us how they are bagged for sale, and how they are boiled to eat (with his special secret seasoning). When he closed, we all met for dinner before Joe and I headed back to New Orleans.
The Nottoway Plantation, which survived the Civil War intact, has been turned into a special event venue and a hotel/spa destination. Their advertising states they are the "largest antebellum mansion" in the south. John Randolph built the 53,000 square-foot home, which was completed in 1859. John and his wife, Emily, had 11 children and were sugar planters. He owned 155 slaves and had 42 homes for them to live in. The number of slaves made Nottoway the largest plantation at the time when most owned 20 or fewer slaves. The Randolphs' bodies were brought back to Nottoway and they are now in the family cemetery, on the grounds.
The place is spectacular! We enjoyed our time there very much!
Thursday, we took off for the French Quarter! We had beignets at Cafe DuMonde, we had lunch at one of Emeril's restaurants, NOLA, where we sat at the 'food bar' and had a great time talking with the baker at her wood-fired oven. I had shrimp and grits. Joe had a burger and fries. Delicious! We visited the French Market, we visited A Gallery For Fine Photography and saw friends who are connected with us at Polk Museum of Art (where I work). If you get to New Orleans, definitely look up A Gallery For Fine Photography. The historic photographs by amazing photographers are so worth seeing. We walked along the Mississippi River for a little while. We took a bicycle taxi for a few blocks. The architecture in the French Quarter is iconic. It was such a good day!!
A mime in Jackson Square. They are amazing!
St. Louis Cathedral, in Jackson Square and right across from Cafe DuMonde!
Joe put the sugar on his face, on purpose, but you get the idea!!
He LOVES beignets!
Jenny Bagert is a famous photographer, who was mentored by Herman Leonard. We exhibited her work at the Museum a few years ago. Click HERE to read about it. It was so fun to find her at the Gallery that day. It was just by chance!
More photos and the last few days of the trip, tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by. Peace & hugs!
Ooooo New Orleans looks like so much fun. Plantation is so pretty. Great pics! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteBEIGNETS!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!! and PO Boys!! (no shrimp for me though)--thanks for the happy memories, Terri. I am so glad you had a nice time. Have a beautiful Thursday. Blessings
ReplyDeleteSo many of your photos I saw on the TV programme I mentioned before, including the explanation of how the po boy came about. I also learned that a lot of the constructions in the French quarter were actually by Spanish architects and some of the streets even have Spanish names. Thanks for sharing your good times with us. Joe is 'muy cachondo' as we would say in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your New Orleans photos. One of our favorite places! We like to go to see the Saints play football and stay a few days to enjoy the city. We have not toured a plantation, though, so maybe that needs to be on our list for next time. So glad you had a safe trip and a fun anniversary celebration!
ReplyDeleteHere's a city I've never been to. Pretty sure I'd be all about the food : ) Hubs has been a few times for business related trips, but maybe one of these days we'll get there. I do love plantation tours.
ReplyDeleteWhat a grand tour you gave us via pictures. There is no other place on this earth like NO. Sounds like you saw a lot, ate a lot of good food and enjoyed meeting up with old friends. I am so glad your knees cooperated.
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you got to meet another blog friend and the plantation...so pretty! Enjoyed your pictures.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! It must almost be like being in a foreign country. It looks so interesting. So fun to happen upon that photographer! When I read about that huge plantation, it reminded me of how recent that actually was in our country's history. My favorite Civil War general had an office there after the war, probably in what is the French Quarter. I'm not sure the building is still standing. Anyway, this makes me want to visit NO, but not at Mardi gras. Did you see the movie Double Jeopardy? I think parts of that were filmed in NO. Interesting cemetery there! Love the photos of you and Joe and friends.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Terri! What a great trip! The food looks amazing. I loved the picture with Joe and his sugar mustache...LOL.
ReplyDeleteTeri, you did an outstanding job of reporting on your trip to New Orleans. I am reading this now to refresh my memory of our trip there this past week. We did the City Tour, but I didn't get as many good photos as you did and we had sunshine all the time. My husband tires out very easily, so we did most of the Riverwalk, but he napped in the hotel while I walked around.
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