Dixieland Part 4.......

We were able to get up a little later on Tuesday as our first excursion of the day was brunch at The Court Of Two Sisters, so we didn't need to go to breakfast at the hotel.

The Court of Two Sisters is located in a historic courtyard of the French Quarter

where the brunch buffet features more than sixty authentic creole and New Orleans dishes, from eggs benedict to fresh seafood - see the whole brunch menu here.  

Enjoying the brunch with Lorna and Peter from our tour bus.

There was so much to choose from but I started with the eggs benedict which was absolutely delicious.  I also tried crawfish, which I'd never had, I can't say I would have them again but I'm glad I tried them.      It was all so delicious and we were spoilt for choice as you will understand if you've checked out the menu on the link above.   All through the brunch we were entertained by an authentic New Orleans Jazz Band, which was so relaxing and certainly added to the ambience of the place.

Stuffed full of plumptiousness we made our way back to the hotel to collect a few things before it was time to meet the coach for our next excursion to the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour.

Arriving at our destination we boarded the boat to tour,Cajun style, through the heart of Louisiana's swamplands, deep into the bayous where we saw alligators, blue herons, turtles and jumping fish.   We tried to get photographs of the jumping fish but they were too fast but I've put together a slide show of what we did see.

Whilst on board the boat MWM got to hold a rather large Alligator's head, it was dead of course.

Then we both got to hold a live baby alligator, mind you it's mouth was safely taped up.

I was surprised how soft it's skin was, I expected it to be hard and scaly!

Apparently other wildlife  like snakes, egrets, white tailed deer, mink and nutria all make their homes in the swamp but we didn't see any of them.  

At the end of the tour we headed back to our hotel where we just had time to shower and change before we had to meet a local guide for a walking tour through he French quarter, hearing the stories, history and legends of the famous buildings, bars and restaurants.

Our guide explained that the ironwork on the balconies held messages for visitors in that if they couldn't read they would be able to tell which places just sold drink - the ironwork would depict grapes, and if the ironwork depicted acorns this was where they could get food and a bed for the night.   Most of the streets were lit by gas light, New Orleans has so much natural gas (methane) that it is very economical for the city to light the streets in this way, they even export gas to Tennessee.

Apparently Jean Lafitte was the famous pirate portrayed by Yul Brynner  in the film The Buccaneer.

Our guide walked us through a hotel on Bourbon Street to this beautiful courtyard.

She told us that the hotel had at one time been a convent and the nuns did more than pray for the male visitors.    Apparently all doors on Bourbon Street are painted a uniform green and the line in the song The Green Door, '...no-one knows what goes on behind the green door' refers to the goings-on at the convent,  I don't know how true this is but it's an interesting legend.      We saw Brad and Angelina's house, MWM took a very short video of it, unfortunately Brad and Angelina didn't come out whilst we were lingering outside otherwise we'd have got them on the video, wouldn't that have been a scoop?

Brad's Pit

The tour ended and we went in Pat O'Briens for something to eat.   We had their New Orleans Trio which were little pots of three things we promised ourselves we would try whilst in New Orleans - Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, and Jambalaya and delicious they were too.   Of course we tried  their famous drink - a Hurricane - whilst we were waiting for a table but we didn't buy the glass as it would have been difficult to get it home. We were told that if you have one Hurricane that's OK, if you have two you feel as though you're in a Hurricane - well we had two and we were OK so what does that tell you?    When we'd finished eating we took a beer each and walked up Bourbon Street, stopping outside the bars to listen to the various bands before we made our way back to the hotel.    After such a busy day we were ready for bed, as we had an early start the following day for the next leg of our journey - to Memphis.

I hope you'll join me for Dixieland Part 5  Memphis and Elvis!


Read Dixieland Part 1 here
Read Dixieland Part 2 here
Read Dixieland Part 3 here