Ol’ Man River
We got up bright and early this morning to watch the State of Origin being streamed live on the internet, Sam donning his Blues jersey especially. We’re so far away but it was great to see the game and feel connected. Despite the Blues not getting a win…WE WON THE SERIES! We had our own little party in the hotel room.
There is such a vast array of tours and day trips on offer in “Noo Awlins” it’s hard to know which one to choose, if any, and most of them are pretty pricey! We wanted to visit an old plantation but for our whole family to go out on any of the official plantation tours, we were looking at about $800 for the day! A brilliant idea dawned on Ross: why don’t we just hire a car (an eighth of the price) and do our own tour out to a plantation? Even the hotel concierge thought it was a great plan. So we grabbed some iced chocolate doughnuts from the breakfast buffet to wrap up for morning tea (yes they were seriously on offer for breakfast!) and Ross made his way to the car hire place, returning with a big Chrysler, just like the Dodge only this time with self-closing automatic doors – always a novelty for the kids!
Sam’s navigational skills came in handy and he was on fire with the directions, guiding us faultlessly to our destination, the beautiful Creole Plantation, “Laura”. Ross, still on his quest for good coffee had felt he’d hit the jackpot with the colourful little café we’d visited yesterday in Magazine Street but with such an abundance of one way streets and road closures in New Orleans, it was a little bit tricky to find. By the time we eventually pulled up out the front (half an hour later!), there was a sign on the door informing us they were closed for the day! Oh well, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we’d have to contend with a caffeine-free Ross and headed for River Road in St John’s Parish. Along the way we encountered huge spaghetti-like highways that looked like a real-life Hot Wheels track and wound our way down along the Mississippi River through swamp lands where we were lucky enough to spot some of those boats with the big fans out the back. It was just like in the movies!
“Laura” was built on the banks of the Mississippi, back in the early 16th century by a Creole family; a grand plantation home made from Cyprus Pine. The construction was really interesting, with no nails used on the entire property, just moulded wooden pegs – quite innovative for the time. French was the Creole’s first language and our tour guide, Alex was fluent in French, giving us an insight into the family that had lived there and all of their real-life dramas, which would rival any tv drama! Alex was well-versed in the family history and told us scandalous tales of betrayal, deceit and intrigue. The matriarch of the family and president of the sugar plantation, Elisabeth, was a cruel slave driver and had over 600 slaves living on her plantation at one time. It was quite confronting to actually step inside one of the tiny slave cottages where families of 4 or 5 would live under incredibly cramped conditions in ONE room! The cottages were split down the middle so that the ruthless Elisabeth could cram one family on either side. It was around 35 degrees today and stinking hot inside the cottages. They would’ve been freezing in winter too. There was one story told in which Elisabeth had discovered one of her slaves was plotting to escape her cruelty. Upon discovery he was branded with a cattle branding iron on both his cheeks by the lady of the house, leaving life-long scars that spoke of his struggle. Looking out over the plantation with all its sugar cane fields and acres of land, it was frightening to think of the way these slaves were treated.
The slaves were priced according to their age, level of fitness and good health and many of the slaves working the plantation died after only a couple of years in the harsh conditions. Alex told us of one woman who had arrived straight from Africa by boat up the Mississippi and had declared she suffered from “lunacy”. She was consequently not allowed out in the cane fields but was instead assigned as nanny to the children of the tyrannical Elisabeth. Sounds like she wasn’t such a lunatic after all but it also poses the question of why you’d put a lunatic in charge of your kids!
After the American Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves in the south, “Laura” continued to get away with keeping her slaves, under the ruse that they were being paid a minimum wage, barely enough to live on at the best of times ($12 per year and not paid until 31st December)! They were then forced to buy all their supplies at inflated prices from the “family store” on the plantation, plunging them into further debt to their slave mistress and making it impossible for them to leave. The fact that everyone on the plantation spoke French was further isolating for them and they had been born and bred into slavery with no education or qualifications for the real world outside of Laura. It was mind-boggling to us to hear that it wasn’t until 1977 that the last slaves, still living in those tiny, cramped quarters, were finally freed from the plantation! Interestingly, the state of Louisiana still lives under French Napoleonic Code, not the British Common Law that governs the rest of the United States. It sure is a history filled little neck of the woods!
The River Road is home to a scattering of other plantation homes and still-working sugar plantations which we were able to drive past and see, though we didn’t have enough time to explore them in as much depth as Laura.
Keeping up our reputation as sight-seeing athletes and in a Groundhog Day kind of way, we drove straight to the dock of the great paddle-steamer, the Natchez, this time, with time to spare! It was such a thrill to be aboard a steamboat on the famous Ol’ Man River! Just as we’d walked across the gangplank though, great streaks of lightning lit up the sky and the thunder cracked so loudly we almost fell overboard with shock! We had found some great seats up on the roof and stayed put as long as we could but the heavens really opened and it started to teem! We hadn’t packed our ponchos and started to get absolutely saturated! Sam had positioned himself under a hole in the roof and was getting drenched. The big black guy next to him in the fedora hat said “Man! We gotta get ourselves inside, this is like Niagara Falls!” We had a great view of the city skyline as the paddle steamer pulled out from the dock but for most of the cruise, the scenery along the river was mostly industrial. There were so many smokestacks it made Kurnell look like a Mechano set! There were tons of container ships and tug boats and we got plenty of waves from the friendly wharfies from the side of the river. We even got a little Beyonce impression from one of them, looking cute in his hard hat and bright yellow rain gear and wiggling his hips like there was no tomorrow, to great cheers from the upper and lower decks!
The Natchez’s resident swing jazz band, the Steamboat Stompers were in full swing (as you’d expect for a swing band) and had the oldies up and dancing to all the old classics. When The Saints Go Marching In was a crowd favourite and they did ask if anybody would like a request. It was surprising but they didn’t know Khe Sanh.
With a bit of time in the afternoon for a nanna nap, while the rest of the family watched Argentina beat the Netherlands, (shattering Sam’s world cup tips and solidifying Dave Miers’ position as the world cup oracle) we spruced ourselves up and got ready for another night on the town. The hotel staff had recommended a great restaurant with live jazz that is a bit of a local secret – The 3 Muses. The joint was jumping and the band was excellent! They were a 4 piece band, playing blues and honky tonk with a cool pianist with a fantastic husky voice, a gun bass player, groovy drummer and awesome trumpeter. We find it so strange that the bands playing in all the restaurants seem to rely so heavily on tips and they unashamedly pass the bucket around sponging off the crowd. It almost feels a bit awkward. Ross had to go to the ATM just so we could have some cash to put in the bucket, lest being frowned upon by the band. In this town especially, whenever someone is generous with their time or extra friendly you just can’t help but wonder if they have an ulterior motive, dollar bills in their sights. The meal was as great as the atmosphere and we had a fantastic last night in New Orleans! It’s off to Denver in the morning and believe it or not we have to set the alarm for 3:30 am. Yes, it’s true!
