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New Orleans Review


twotall
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Your first pic of the "Phillipi Church" has some very distictive communication markings on it. The one on the far right was cut off. Sobering when you know what they mean.

 

You'd be surprised as to how many x-code markings are still present on the buildings. An eerie (and sad) reminder of search & rescue efforts. Thanks for noticing.

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You'd be surprised as to how many x-code markings are still present on the buildings. An eerie (and sad) reminder of search & rescue efforts. Thanks for noticing.

 

I was first down there 3 years ago. We were back this March and Iwas shocked that there were still so many!

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Can't wait for the plantation tour review.........

 

Delayed but not forgotten. It seems that pesky day-to-day tasks (such as work) keep getting in the way :). I was able to type some during lunch today and hope to post within the next few days. Thanks for your patience.

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We headed west along I-610 which connects to I-10. It was about 10:30 or so by this time. We had planned to spend more time touring but because we skipped the Upper Ninth Ward we were ahead of schedule. Kristen was driving and I was navigating. Kristen tends to have a heavy foot on the expressway and we were cruising along at about 75 or maybe a little more ;). West of New Orleans there is a stretch of I-10 that juts out into Lake Pontchartrain. It’s interesting because further out into the lake you can see electrical transmission lines. I got to wondering how they access the lines for maintenance. I then realized that we were completely surrounded by swamps. There really wasn’t any “land” around. I figured it’s probably easier for them to take a boat or barge out to the lines in the lake than it would be to traverse through the swamps.

 

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We had planned to visit Laura Plantation. We made this choice based on reviews which said they tell the entire plantation story. The reviews indicated that not only do they show you the nice house and pretty furniture but they also spend a considerable amount of time talking about the role that slaves played in day-to-day life. We felt that it was important for Emma to see and hear about the entire story.

 

Earlier in the school year Emma had learned about plantations as part of her social studies class. Her textbook had pictures of Oak Alley which is just down the road from Laura. She really wanted to visit Oak Alley but the reviews we’d read indicated that Oak Alley did not make mention of slaves. As I said, we wanted Emma to get the full story so we compromised and promised to stop outside the gate so that she could get pictures before driving back to Laura Plantation.

 

Anyway, we were cruising along nicely and reached the Hwy. 641 exit by about 11:15. I began thinking about making a change to our plans. I knew that we needed to return our rental car to the airport at 3:00 p.m. I figured we’d have plenty of time if we took the 12:40 tour at Laura plantation. We were only about 20 minutes away so I figured we’d have a little over an hour or so to kill. I suggested that we splurge and visit both plantations - even though our Oak Alley visit would have to be quick. The girls all thought this was a good idea.

 

We traveled south on 641 and crossed over the Mississippi.

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We exited onto Hwy. 18 and noticed this nice country cemetery along the exit ramp

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We headed directly to Oak Alley and were happy to see that it wasn’t very crowded. We knew that we only had about an hour so we quickly purchased tickets and proceeded onto the grounds.

 

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To be continued…..

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We were impressed as soon as we entered the Oak Alley grounds. The property is simply beautiful. We made our way down the path and soon encountered a construction site; however, this turned out to be no ordinary construction site. There were several informational signs indicating that replica slave quarters were being constructed using traditional building techniques and materials. The signs told the story of how there used to be several slave cabins and how they were previously demolished. Other signs explained about slaves and the value they might fetch at auction

 

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It was really sad but informative to read the information. We felt good to be able to explain to Emma how it was wrong to have slaves and how poorly they were treated. We were not expecting Oak Alley to present this information and were pleased that they did.

 

To be continued....

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We were told that the next tour would be starting shortly so we headed to the front of the main house. Guided tours of the house are given every half hour. The tours last about 40 minutes or so. Our guide provided lots of information about the history of the plantation and the people who used to live there. She also touched several times on the role of slaves in operating the property. Overall it was a very informative guided tour. Here are several photos from inside the house:

 

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This baby bassinet is the only piece of furniture remaining from the original homestead. All of the other furniture was brought in when the house was restored into a museum.

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After we finished the tour it was about 12:30 or so. If we wanted to see Laura Plantation we needed to leave immediately. We talked and decided that we wanted to stay longer. We agreed that our worries were not valid because Oak Alley did address and discuss the issues surrounding slavery. We decided to explore the grounds some more, especially the oak trees.

 

To be continued…..

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The highlight of Oak Alley is of course the oak trees. The famous “alley” is comprised of Virginia Oaks. They are estimated to be about 300 years old. According to the literature, the trees will live to be about 600 years old so they are only middle aged. They are amazingly huge. You really cannot get a sense for how big they are from pictures.

 

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Here's a picture of Emma in front of the largest tree.

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To be continued…..

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After exploring the oaks we ventured out to the cemetery. This cemetery is the final resting place of several of the former occupants of the property.

 

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By this time we were starting to get hungry. There was a gift shop and picnic area at the back of the property so we headed there next. The girls were hungry – but not so hungry that they didn’t want to check out the gift shop first. It really is a nice shop. They have lots of nice things including an ice cream and candy shop. We decided to come back again after lunch.

 

The gift shop and picnic area are actually located outside of the fenced property. If you wanted to you could take photos from across Hwy. 18 in front and then come around back to the shop and picnic area and not have to purchase any tickets. You would miss out on a lot though and I wouldn’t recommend this unless you really don’t have much time to spend.

 

I went to retrieve our sandwiches from the cooler in the car and returned to the picnic area. The picnic area is nestled among several large oak trees. Based on their size compared to the trees out front I would guess that they’re only about 100 years old or so – babies :). It was really a very nice area to sit and eat lunch.

 

This was the first time I ever had a muffaletta sandwich. Reviews on yelp indicated that the sandwich from Central Grocery was huge. I only purchased a ½ sandwich and to be honest it was just a little bit larger than a foot long from Subway. It certainly had more meat and cheese than a Subway and was MUCH tastier. Even though I had purchased it about 3 hours prior the sandwich was still excellent. Not soggy at all. It was a great final meal in New Orleans. The girls finished their sandwiches and we headed back to the shop to get some ice cream.

 

I don’t know if it was just the surroundings that made it taste better but the ice cream was great. It was very creamy and delicious. We also tried a couple of the handmade desserts including the pecan pralines which were outstanding.

 

The girls ended up purchasing a few items from the shop and then we were on our way back to the airport. We headed east down Hwy. 18 past Laura Plantation and turned right onto Hwy. 20. We proceeded south to Hwy. 3127 and turned left and headed east over to I-310. We took I-310 over the Mississippi and exited onto Hwy. 61 east.

 

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According to aerial photos on Bing and Google the Hertz rental car location is directly adjacent to the main airport entrance. I noticed as we were leaving the terminal the prior Thursday that the area where Hertz used to be is now under construction. I asked the clerk when we picked up the car and she indicated that it had moved and was now located back by Firehouse Rd. We turned left on Farrar Rd. and then another left and headed back towards Hertz. The Hertz entrance isn’t well marked. We only saw a few small signs and weren’t confident we were going the right way. To make matters worse the driveway is filled with spike strips. The spikes fold over if you’re traveling in the right direction and they damage your tires if you’re not. It was a little nerve racking for a few seconds but it all worked out in the end.

 

Drop-off was easy and we quickly grabbed a shuttle over to the terminal. Our flight time was 5:00 p.m. so we knew we had plenty of time.

 

Next Up - Some Final Thoughts

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I live by the I-310 bridge and I have never done a plantation tour (sorry to say). We have driven by the plantations many times, but we may have to take a tour when we are looking for something to do one day! I agree, the muffuletta's are delicious - the olive salad makes it!

 

Thanks for a great review of our city; it makes me want to "play tourist in our home town"!

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I agree, the muffuletta's are delicious - the olive salad makes it!

quote]

 

 

my husband, a "former but hopes to return" citizen of NOLA orders the olive salad from somewhere in NOLA and keeps it on hand at all times!

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Thank you to everyone for reading my review and your kind words. As you can hopefully tell we really enjoyed our trip and wouldn't hesitate to visit again. Just a couple of random final thoughts:

 

- We got really lucky with the weather, especially the first day or so. If the storm would have arrived 24-hours later we have been completely washed out. This lead to lots of stress for me during the final few days before we left. I really didn't have a good backup plan in place.

 

- Temperatures during our time in New Orleans were very pleasant. I'm not sure that I'd want to visit during the summer heat and humidity. I'm thinking Spring is the best time to visit.

 

- If you are in reasonably good physical shape then you really don't need to rent a car unless you plan to visit areas outside of the downtown. Everything is within walking distance or a short streetcar ride away.

 

Finally, the people of New Orleans were all very friendly. They certainly made us want to visit again.

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This review of NOLA is awesome and just makes me that much more excited to be there in August!

 

My husband and I have been there once before (January 2011) and we stayed at the Drury. I am so sad that they are not offering their cruise parking deal when we are back this year :(

 

This time, we are bringing along our 6 and 8 year olds so I especially liked reading about the things you did with your daughter!

 

Can I ask how long of a drive it was from the French Quarter (the Drury) to the Oak Alley Plantation? It sounds really interesting so I'd love to try to fit it in somewhere...

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This review of NOLA is awesome and just makes me that much more excited to be there in August!......

 

Can I ask how long of a drive it was from the French Quarter (the Drury) to the Oak Alley Plantation? It sounds really interesting so I'd love to try to fit it in somewhere...

 

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the review.

 

It takes about an hour to drive from downtown to Oak Alley. We thought it was certainly worth the trip.

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Awesome review, we will be in NOLA in Sept. and wondered what to do, now I have all kinds of ideas.

Thank you SO much!!!

Tell your wife that there are other Rice fanatics out here in Cruise Addiction land ;)

Carole

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Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the review.

 

It takes about an hour to drive from downtown to Oak Alley. We thought it was certainly worth the trip.

 

 

I just wanted to say thank you again for the info provided in this review! Because of it, we have booked a cottage for a night's stay at Oak Alley and can hardly wait :D

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Thank you for such an interesting review. My husband and I are contemplating a cruise from NOLA next April. From the hotel that you stayed at, approximately how far of a walk was it to the streetcar station and how far to Bourbon Street and the surrounding area? We will have a vehicle, but I think you said that there was no parking onsite - how does that work at this hotel? Also where did you get the walking tours that you e-mailed to the phones? That is a handy trick for sure!

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I just wanted to say thank you again for the info provided in this review! Because of it, we have booked a cottage for a night's stay at Oak Alley and can hardly wait :D

 

The cottage's looked very nice from the outside. The restaurant also seemed very nice. I hope you have a great time.

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