The woman at the visitors center suggested that we take a more scenic drive into New Orleans. After grabbing a po boy for lunch we headed south past miles and miles of sugarcane and beautiful old plantation homes.
The grounds of the plantations were amazing, but it seemed like only one really memorialized the fact that these places were run by slave labor. We toured the memorial museum at the Whitney Plabtation and then continued on into the city.
We checked into our hotel and set out to explore a bit before it got dark. We stopped for coffee and beignets at the famous Café du Monde!
Then we went back to the hotel to change to head out for the night. We started by walking down Bourbon Street, getting a couple cocktails "to go" for the walk; including this "hand grenade":
We walked down to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop which is rumored to be the oldest bar in America. Lafitte's was great. There's no electricy and we had an awesome time sitting around the piano in the back room, listening to the music and chatting with locals and tourists.
After Lafitte's we walked a bit further to The Spotted Cat where there was a fantastic jazz band playing!
We stayed out enjoying the music for a while before heading back through the French Quarter to hit the hay.
The next morning we headed down to the Lower 9th Ward to see some of the destruction that still remains from Hurricane Katrina. It's unbelievable how that neighborhood was destroyed and 10 years later it's still not rebuilt. You can still see the concrete pads and stoops that once led up to front doors and it's chilling to look at the flood wall and imagine a 15-foot wave crashing through.
Before heading out of the city we took a self-driving tour of the Garden District which is home to beautiful mansions that once belonged to prominent members of society.
"Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans?"
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