The Good, The Bad And The Downright Unedible

You all know by now I visited New Orleans earlier this month One of the things I was most excited about was the food, as I am when I travel anywhere. In my eyes, food can make or break a vacation. 

I don't really like jambalaya, gumbo or etouffe, which might be a mistake to get psyched up over other foods. I really was looking forward to the seafood on its own, but I really didn't feel like it held up to expectations. There was almost no singular dining experience that stood out to me on this trip and, while it didn't ruin it, it didn't add value to my trip in any way. 

District Donuts in the Garden District: Worth it, but not the carrot cake doughnut

Aside from the staple dishes that were heaped with flavor, I felt that everything else was lacking. Why aren't there more seasonings? I don't get it. I also don't get the rave reviews I've heard from people I know that have gone before me. 

Cafe Beignet on Bourbon: Beignets and coffee are good, sandwiches are meh. There's free live jazz though!

Maybe it's just my personal preferences, or maybe drinking helps the food be more enjoyable. I'm certainly not trying to offend anyone who loves New Orleans foods. Perhaps I just had much higher expectations, considering the Southern brunch spot here at home has much better dishes than almost anything I ate during the week I was gone.

La Davina Cafe: Affogato (gelato with espresso over it) is a-maz-ing

Restaurant at Oak Alley Plantation: Breakfast was delicious

We aren't drinkers and I barely had any booze while I was in the Big Easy. Obviously, that puts me in the minority, but it is what it is.

Voodoo BBQ: This was recommended by our Uber driver, but it's a quick service restaurant. My po'boy was yummy.

Court of the Five Sisters: Brunch buffet. Lots of options and the courtyard is beautiful, but probably not worth the price.

Some of my venue choices were influenced by other travelers, some by Groupon, one by people we met, a few from my own research and a couple on-the-fly, so we had a good range of dining experiences to choose from and we couldn't necessarily blame any one person for not being satisfied, since it was such a mix.

Chartres House Cafe: Chosen on-the-fly for the balcony seating. The fried alligator was awesome. 

The hushpuppies were good, but the shrimp tasted like it was rinsed in dirty dishwater. Pass.

It's been a while since we have had such a meh experience with foods at a destination. In fact, we may not have been that disappointed since the first time we visited Paris and didn't research our options at all. That was in 2006.

Have you ever been disappointed by your dining experiences on vacation? Stay tuned for part 2 on Saturday.

Exploring Louisiana's Oak Alley Plantation

Whenever I travel, I look for historical sites to visit. There's nothing more "Louisiana" than plantations. I mean, I know that the French Quarter in New Orleans is basically a whole city of history, but I wanted to explore a plantation. I went online and searched for one of the most popular and everyone agreed that if you only view one, it should be Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, about an hour's drive west of Nola.

I know there is a lot of controversy regarding plantations, but there's no denying their cultural and historical significance in the South. I was hoping to learn more about the roles of the slaves in the household and on the property and I was both disappointed and saddened. Obviously, slavery sucked hard, but it was definitely interesting to learn more about the different roles and hierarchy among the slaves in a household, plus their creativity and perseverance. Did you know they raised chickens and gardened to help put a reasonable amount of food on their table? Or that they sold things they grew, like corn, to their owners? 

Let's talk about how fantastic the learning experience was: There were two large outbuildings at Oak Alley that housed slaves. These two buildings were basically separated into three two-room cabins, which was home to six families of slaves, each. Now, first of all, these buildings are recreations, so I have no idea if they are as accurate as they could be or if they were even as close to the house when they were actually on the property. Second, the size is horrifying, especially when you saw the different levels of comfort. Could you imagine your whole family living in what may amount to 100 square feet? Some of the rooms had beds and other (sparse) furniture, which would have been cast-offs from the plantation, and others only had a straw-stuffed mattress on the bare floor.

There was a lot of reading, which is great, but I honestly could have done that at home. The tour did not include these outbuildings, only the main house. This was disappointing. The grounds also included a Civil War Confederate Commanding Officer's tent, which you can see below. It was not all that exciting, which I assume is the point, but it's kind of an afterthought in my opinion. I could have done without it. Again, this is not part of the tour. Instead, there was a touchscreen near it to watch a video. I watched part of it, took a few pics and then wandered back up to the house.

We arrived early at Oak Alley (soon after they opened) and took the opportunity to have breakfast at the restaurant, which was actually very good and I hoped it set the tone for the rest of our experience. It may have been the highlight, actually. We had a nice chat with our waitress, who was surprised that we weren't staying at the bed and breakfast, because most people don't show up that early. It's located in one of the original buildings, which is one main house, but divided into four room around a central fireplace. This allowed for them to only build one chimney for the whole house, because it would heat all four rooms. The breakfast menu is limited, but we had the special, which includes two eggs, grits, bacon, Community coffee and toast, biscuit or beignet. It was very good.

The main house tours start every half hour, supposedly, but we were delayed for almost 15 minutes, standing outside, awkwardly taking more pictures or playing on our phones. The centuries-old oak trees that lined the front of the walk leading to the Mississippi were enormous and gorgeous, but there's really only so much you can look at trees. 

Once inside, we learned at almost nothing in the home was original. There were four pieces of all three floors that were salvaged. At one point, the home was sold and no one moved in, except for a herd of cattle that made the main house their barn for over a decade. We were told about the original family that lived there, nothing about the slaves that served them, and were herded around to look at probably 6 rooms altogether. The parlour and the dining room downstairs, then the sitting room and a few bedrooms on the second floor. I'd estimate that at least half the house (and the third floor attic) was closed to the public, much having been turned into offices or storage. I found this quite depressing. 

Though the rooms we were allowed to see were beautiful, every one of them besides the parlour and the dining, we had to look at from the ropes in front of the door. That's fine, except hard to really look when you're in a group of 30 people and everyone's trying to look at once. 

It's also difficult to learn about what you're seeing when everyone is milling around and looking at three rooms at once and the tour guide continues talking. It felt a bit disorganized on the second floor. When a new tour is coming in, you are ushered out onto the wraparound balcony to see the view and hear a little more about the trees and the grounds. You're then walked around the back of the house and ushered back in and down the stairs while the next group is learning about the parlour and the dining room.

While I liked listening to the stories of the family who built and lived in Oak Alley Plantation, I was still put off by the fact that I hadn't actually learned anything about the slaves that served them while they were there (that I hadn't read on my own), and that everything in the house was basically brought in to look like it may have looked.

I've been on other tours of historical buildings, the most recent being the amazing Conrad Mansion in Kalispell (of which I was not allowed to take any inside pictures, because of the fragile decor and furnishings), and almost all of them have been very informative and very thorough. You learned about particular pieces that were used in the home, but also very much about those that worked and lived there.

Oak Alley is beautiful, but for the price of admission, I felt kind of cheated.

I really wish there was more to learn from the docents (called hoop skirts), smaller tour groups and more rooms open in the main house. The gift shop (because there's always a gift shop) seemed more thought out and extensive. 

If I were to return, I'd definitely do my research before visiting a different plantation. There are at least four others within the same area. I'm also very glad that I didn't sign up and pay the exorbitant price of a tour from New Orleans, because I didn't even think the price we paid to go on our own was that fair for what we got. Luckily, we also spent the day at the Tabasco Factory and Jungle Gardens in Avery Island, so we didn't waste our rental car on a disappointing day trip. Oak Alley was definitely not worth the splurge.

Have you ever visited a plantation or been highly disappointed in something you really wanted to see/do on vacation?

Diving Into the Voodoo Culture of New Orleans

One of the things I was particularly interested in when visiting New Orleans was learning more about the Voodoo culture and visiting a few of the voodoo shops, which are all over the French Quarter. What we think of as traditional Nola voodoo culture is not exactly what it is. If you're thinking chicken blood, dolls with pins in them and witch covens, then you're definitely mistaking this with a darker voodoo, as I sort of was, too. It's more spiritual and earthy than that...and I didn't see anyone sacrificing a goat.

One day we walked miles around the French Quarter, up to Frenchman's Street and back. I'd wanted to visit Hex, an occult shop everyone was raving about, and we just ended up walking further out after that. On the way back to the streetcar, we passed by some amazing homes, including this one that I snapped a pic of because I loved the balcony and that they were definitely ready for Halloween. On a walking tour we did later in the week, we stopped here as well, as this turned out to be the house of Delphine LaLaurie.

Now, maybe you know about this socialite who was known for torturing and murdering her slaves from American Horror Story: Coven. This is the house they used on that show, which was right down the street from where we were staying in the Garden District.

Maybe you know about her from reading about here somewhere. If you don'tknow anything at all about her, then know that a cook, who had been chained to the stove, purposely started a fire in the house, because she would rather burn to death than work for LaLaurie another second. Fortunately, she didn't die and the authorities came in to question the employees and found slaves shackled in an upstairs room, held by the neck, ankles and wrists to the wall, with horrible mutilations and injuries. It was said that the probably survived thanks to the maggots in their wounds, which ate away the dead flesh. ::shudder:: 

Another, and probably the most famous, resident of New Orleans (who was also portrayed on American Horror Story: Coven) was Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen. She's said to be buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. Until recently, anyone could wander in and view her tomb, but there have problems with people defacing it. People used to just draw 3 Xs on the tomb, which is still a crime, but was tolerated , but after someone came in and painted the whole thing pink, the church put a stop to visitors who were not with a tour guide. Folks can no longer as Marie Laveau to grant a wish in the traditional way: Draw an X (I believe 3 Xs became the norm, because 3 is the most magical number), turn around 3 times, knock on the tomb and shout out their wish. If the wish was granted, they were expected to come back, circle their X(s) and leave an offering. In my opinion, it's just good manners to bring the offering first and follow up with another.  

On this tour, we learned about other residents of St. Louis No. 1, and then went on to explore the French Quarter, where we stopped in front of the home Marie Laveau actually lived in. It's nothing special, but it is historical.

I had the chance to wander around this shop named for the Voodoo Queen. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed, but there were spells and dolls and trinkets and candles to purchase, plus it smelled amazing. All the different incense they burned on any given day mixed wonderfully and I kind of didn't want to leave. Almost all of these voodoo shops have readings you can get done. I was tempted, but I'd purchased a beautiful new tarot deck at Hex and decided that would have to suffice for my future-telling experience for now.

Inside these shops, you can expect to find a huge array of occult books and spells, crystals and jewelry. 

There's a ton of different ways to to practice Divination, including spikeomancy, runes, tarot, tasseomancy (reading tea leaves) and even scrying (using crystals or a sphere). If you've ever used an Ouija board, you've practiced Divination. 

Before I even left home, i knew I wanted to visit the Museum of Voodoo. Considering the way photos were banned fro, a lot of other shops and facilities, I was pretty excited when they said to take as many photos as I wanted. I wanted!

It can be easy to miss this little shop/museum, but it's definitely a hidden gem. Admission is $7, but we were given a 2/$10 special. Score! The museum is miniscule, which might make you think that it's not worth the money, but it totally is. There's a lot to read and learn, plus you get to make a wish to the shrine in the back!

The museum starts in the tiny sitting room (where they do take credit cards). It also ends here, so if you're claustrophobic, this may not be for you, especially if there are more than 6 people visiting. You get a flyer telling you all about the history of voodoo in New Orleans and Marie Laveau herself. That's a portrait of her up there.

This stump is where you make your wish. Write your wish, and think hard on it, wrap it around some form of currency and drop it in the top and knock 9 times on the stump while concentrating on what you asked for. Then, leave and wait for the Voodoo gods to grant your wish. I don't know if you believe in such things - I always hope for the best - but I made my wish and did the ritual and thought hard on what I wrote on that paper and now, just a few weeks later, I might be seeing that come to fruition. I just realized this as I was typing this post. A dollar well spent! (You can call it a coincidence if you like, but I believe in the power of positive thought and asking nature and the powers that be for a little help.)

There are just two rooms at the museum and a long narrow hallway, but the amount of artifacts packed into it is amazing. 

This is not just about, traditional voodoo, but animal-based magic as well. I'll spare you the dried cat carcass on the wall. The point is that it was dead before it was used, and not killed. Instead, check out this case full of awesome voodoo dolls that are used to nudge someone in the right direction or help you in life, not to cause people pain, as that doesn't really work. Learn about symbolism in voodoo and how snakes are considered the ultimate in good luck and were often kept as pets. 

Though there isn't much about the dark side of voodoo, and the type of voodoo practiced in Louisiana is more like pagan and white witch practice, used in conjunction with religion, than anything else, but with a heavy influence on belief that the dead are instrumental in helping you achieve your dreams and goals. Treat them with respect and they will respond in kind. I can't wait to learn a bit more now.

Have you ever visited New Orleans and, if so, did you engage in any voodoo rituals or fortune telling?