Goodbye to New Orleans and Welcome to Cajun Country

Our last day in New Orleans. After three days in town we had fully re-adapted to the pace and its special laissez-faire atmosphere and we were almost sad to have to leave, wouldn't we have looked forward so much to the visit at our friends’ place in New Iberia and the LSU football game on saturday.





After filling up with beignets and chicory coffee in the Café du Monde we walked along the Riverfront for the last time, said farewell to the „Natchez“ and noticed a statue of „Old Man River“ Mississippi we’ve never noticed before. Checked out at the hotel and drove out to Chalmette Battlefield, where the famous battle of New Orleans took place in 1815.


On the way back, we checked out the 9th Ward, the neighborhood where Hurricane Katrina hit worst and where the broken levees caused tremendous damage in 2005. We’ve driven through in spring 2006 and it was desastrous and a very sad sight, unpopulated and completely ruined. It is still not back to full swing again, roads are in bad condition and there are many houses standing empty, but there is hope and development going on. In one section they started to build new houses, each of them unique, in a different style and color (see pic). It’s based on a project initiated by actor Brad Pitt under the name „Make it Right“, and it seems to be a good start.

Across town on I-10 and on US 90, the Spanish Trail, across the Mississippi we drove east towards Cajun Country, passing beautiful plantation homes (e.g. in Franklin) and sugar cane fields and factories in full operation, since sugar cane harvest just started. Arrived to New Iberia at around 3 pm and were warmly welcomed by our friends Dave and Chris and Cocoa (their toy poodle). It’s good to have a comfortable, homey place like this one after almost three weeks of travel and living out of the suitcase! We probably have more friends in this town than at home and already in the evening we met a couple of them at dinner in a small, livingroom-like seafood restaurant in St. Martinville and enjoyed crabcakes and „swamp platter“ with alligator, froglegs and catfish, perfectly paired with a local brew.