So after a nice introduction to New Orleans, we were all set for some real sight seeing on Saturday. We booked a combo tour of the Oak Alley Plantation (sugar cane plantation from the 1800’s) and a tourboat swamp tour. We had a choice of either going for the tour boat, or on the airboat. We chose the tourboat, and realized later that it was a good choice because even though the airboat was fast and exciting, it was too noisy for real sightseeing.

Check out our tour operators at: http://www.louisianaswamp.com

Anyway, the bus was going to come pick us up from the hotel between 9 and 9.30am so we decided to go for the continental breakfast and load up on the food in the morning. turns out that the continental breakfast was not as exciting as we thought it would be. There were some croissants that we could eat, but they were really really dry. Had some other stuff, but did not really fill ourselves up.

We went to the nearby gas station and bought some chips and gatorade and water, just in case we need it later on the bus or something. Since it was a long tour (return time estimate was 4.45pm!), we did not want to take a chance.

The bus came on time, and we were the only ones joining the tour from our hotel. In that small van, we were taken to another hotel, where we picked up three other people. From there we stopped at another hotel, where a larger bus was already waiting for us. There, they must have picked up people from other hotels from other parts of the city and brought them to the bus. We boarded that bus, and we were off!

It was about a 45 minute drive to the first stop - the Oak Alley Plantation. It is one of the slave plantations, and one of the many along the banks of the Mississippi river. This one has a huge alley of 300-year old oak trees, 14 on each side. It is quite a breath-taking view and those rich owners of the plantation must have lived a nice life, especially the ladies of the house, who had nothing to do but plan parties, sleep, take care of pets and enjoy life. The plantation and the house were originally a gift (what’s new) from the rich owner for his new bride. There was a tour of the house, where a lady dressed in the old style explained the neat features of the house. Some examples were convex shaped mirrors so that parents can keep an eye on their kids during parties, a special glass container which was of course covered by a napkin, used to trap the flies and other bugs at the dinner table, etc. Very nice house, and very nice plantation.

As we got out, we had a drink called Mint Julep. It is a mint-based lemonade, in short, but very sweet, and has some crushed ice in it. It tasted much like the mojito. But it was very very refreshing to drink it in the heat.

After the tour ended, we had some time to loiter in the area, and maybe go to the gift shop/cafe. So we walked around in ‘the alley’ and also went by the bank of the river. There was a huge river boat docked there, and according to the tour bus driver, we were lucky to see it right there.

In the cafe, I tried the southern style pecan pie. It was ok. Marie Callendar’s makes better pies :-). But to be frank, I don’t think I should have had the pecan pie there, if I really wanted to taste the southern style pecan pie. I think it is better to go somewhere in New Orleans in a nice place, to try it out. But oh well, for me, for now, pecan pies are better at Marie Callendar’s.

We came back to the bus, and started off to go to the swamp. It was another 45 minute drive from there and we finally came to the place. We took the tickets, and waited to board the swamp boat. We thought hard about whether we want to change and go with the airboat, but we decided ultimately not to go to the airboat. We waited quite a while to board the swamp boat. There were so many insects flying around! SO MANY! I was scared, what with the West Nile virus in the news all around and all that. I was just counting the time it was going to take to board the boat. The captain kept doing stuff in the boat, but not let us board. It was a long wait.

Finally, we hopped into the boat. There were about 40 of us in that boat. We started quite slowly, just floating on the waters, he was explaining some of the fisherman village stuff we could see on the banks, as we floated by. In my mind, I was like ‘yea, yea, yea…show me the real stuff’, but I realized it was actually quite a nice boat ride. The water was absolutely still, and the environment seemed very calm. Except of course when a random jet ski would fly by, or of course if another boat or an airboat passes by.

The boat took a lot of turns in and around over there, and finally, there we saw it. An alligator spotting! Everyone rushed to the side of the boat where it was going to show up. Of course, as we went deeper inside, there were more. It was good that we were sitting by the window, and so we were able to get some good pictures. The captain was throwing marshmallows at the alligators, to attract them towards the boat. They seemed like pets, where they come in when the boat comes by, and eat the food and go away. I took many pictures of the alligators, and then, all of a sudden, when there were some relatively larger alligators in the area, the captain stopped the boat.

He said that he thought the alligators had enough of marshmallows and now they wanted chicken. So he brought a bucket of chicken, and he had a long stick to which he attached the chicken. And then he started playing with the alligators, making them jump to get the chicken. It was a great photo opp, and I took it. It was fun to see alligators jump out, and in fact, we even saw competition there, where one of the bigger ones swatted away a smaller one, so that he could have the chicken to himself!

Later on, after we started moving again, the captain stopped the boat once again. And this time he came out wirh a real alligator on the boat! Yea, a real one! But of course, it was a one-footer, which he said we could hold in the palm of our hands. Most of the people in the boat did not want to do it. Then as it was passed around, most of the people held it and got some pictures with it. We did not :-) Too creepy for us.

Anyway, the ride back in the boat was awesome - the really turned it up and went fast. It felt good. The ride was great, and the tour was awesome. Now it was time to drive back :-) We got back quicker than it took us to get there. We got dropped off at the hotel, where we went up and quickly changed, and got ready to go to the French Quarter, some jazz music, the French Market, Cafe Du Monde and the Riverside Moonwalk.

So we took the trolley again, and started walking. We went to Jackson Square, which is a nice little garden/park, and came out at Cafe Du Monde. This place was buzzing. They are famous for their Beignets and cafe au lait. We had to seat ourselves, and luckily we found a nice little table by the window, so we settled there. Since we had no idea how and what to order, we just said 1 order of beignets and 2 cafe au laits. After it came, we were happy that we did not order 2 beignet orders, because one order had three, but we were both not happy with out coffee orders. I did not want milk (d-uh…cafe au what?) because I am lactose intolerant, and my wife wanted de-caf. Anyway, the beignets were awesome and so was the coffee.

From there we started walking towards the French Market. On the way, we stopped at a college/pro sports merchandise store, which had LSU - National Champions merchandise. I went in there, and asked him for USC - National Champions stuff, and he and I started arguing about USC and LSU and the BCS and the whole controversy at the end of last year. I wanted to tell him ‘shut up’ and leave, but I had to be nice. We left as soon as I could say ‘yea, let’s see what happens this year’ :-)

The French Market was almost closing, so we quickly walked around and came back. On the way there, we had seen a nice place for potentially eating dinner at. We decided we had to taste the Cajun/Creole food, so on the walk back, we stopped at the dinner place. There was band playing some cool music, which was nice to hear. All I wanted to hear was ‘What a Wonderful World’, and they did sing it! Without my request :-)

We had Veg Jamabalaya and Moufellatta. Both were nice, and very flavorful. I preferred the Moufellatta, because it was more like a sandwich, and it had a nice salad in the middle, with a lot of olives of different types. Awesome.

Then we went to the Moonwalk, which is a walkway by the riverside. We walked very little, because we were both quite tired from the long day. But we sat by the river and chatted for a bit, and then came back to the trolley station. Took the train back, came home and crashed.

After all, we had a morning flight the next day. It was the end of a nice vacation. I am glad we took it. Just wanted it to go more and not end that quickly. Oh well, next time around :-)