Sep-2009
New Orleans
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Les rues de la Nouvelle Orléans
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Louisiana State Museum
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Louis Armstrong
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Excursion dans les marécages
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Excursion dans les marécages
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Excursion dans les marécages
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Laura Plantation
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Plantations de canne à sucre, Laura Plantation
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Oak Alley Plantation
We advise you to spend two days in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the oldest part of the city spared by Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005 , where you can admire the many historic old buildings which used to be inhabited by french settlers and their descendants. You can still see the French names of the streets. You will also be amazed by the extraordinary atmosphere of the Bourbon street, famous for its lively nightlife and its many bars.
Some historic facts…
The city was founded by the French in 1718 at the mouth of the Mississippi. It became the capital of the colony of Louisiana. Ceded to Spain in 1762, the city will return to France in 1800, and then will be sold to the United States in 1803 by the First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, with the rest of Louisiana.
LOCAL CULINARY SPECIALTIES : THE CREOLE CUISINE , CAJUN AND AFRICAN
Do not miss the Creole cuisine. The most typical dishes are L’Etouffée, the Gumbo and Jambalaya, dishes of meat, sausage, seafood served with a very spicy sauce.
Also taste the Hand Grenade (alcohol whose ingredients are kept secret ) in their original long fluorescent glasses.
THINGS TO DO IN NEW ORLEANS :
- Stroll through the French Quarter or ” Old Square” . To see: the oldest church in the United States, the St. Louis Cathedral. Then go through the streets admiring the beautiful wrought iron balconies, and their courtyards decorated during fountains, gardens and patios.
- Take the tour of the Laura Plantation (2247 Highway 18, Vacherie ) . With an amazing archival work (Laura wrote her memoirs to tell her life as a slave to her children), the guide told us stories about the French family who lived in the plantation of sugarcane which dates from 1805 and their relationship with the slaves. Laura Plantation does not have the most important building but is very famous for its tour. Tours in English are held every day about every 40 minutes from 10am to 4pm.
- Stop also at the entrance to the Oak Alley Plantation (3645 Highway 18 ( Great River Road) Vacherie), famous for its avenue of 300 year old oaks that form a tunnel, at the end with the majestic masonry and superb columns
- Stroll through the streets, including Bourbon Street at night! The national sport is throwing necklaces. The tradition is that girls show their breasts to receive these necklaces.
- Listen to jazz in a Bourbon Street bar. The black society of New Orleans was the first to play jazz at the dawn of the 20th century. At the beginning, it had a negative image because of its origins, but jazz influenced all Western musical genres of the 20th century !
- Visit the statue of Louis Armstrong, famous jazz musician who lived in New Orleans.
- Take a walk along the Mississippi River, emblematic river of the United States. We wanted to take a ride on a steamboat but the timing did we not allow it.
- Take a drive through the main street of the Garden District. You will discover beautiful Victorian-style homes surrounded by their beautiful gardens !
- Do not miss taking a swamp tour, where you can enjoy beautiful nature and you come within a few centimeters of a true wild alligator. You will find many flyers for swamp tours in the city.
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