San Antonio

In 1536, Álvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a shipwrecked Spanish explorer who was enslaved by Native Americans for a period, visited the interior of what would later be called Texas. He was probably the first European to take in the valley and the meandering waterway, which the Payaya Indians called "Yanaguana" (meaning refreshing waters), later to be called the San Antonio River.

By 1675, the Spanish realized the strategic value of this land and, feeling pressure from their rivals, the French next door in Louisiana, decided to send missionaries and colonists to occupy Tejas. Interestingly, believing they would acclimate well to the region, the King of Spain initially sent many settlers from the Canary Islands to settle San Antonio.

In 1691, a group of Spanish explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Native American settlement on June 13. As many of you may know.....that's the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padova, Italy, so they named the place and river San Antonio in his honor.

On May 1, 1718, a mission was completed and the responsibility for the establishment of the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar (Ok...pronounced Be-har...but in Texas it's pronounced "Bar". It's a Texanism...don't get me started), to the new governor. That mission, called San Antonio de Valero, (a name derived from "San Antonio de Padua" and Viceroy of New Spain, Marquess of Valero of course), will become today's "Alamo". By the way...the word Alamo does mean something too. In the early years, part of the old mission complex was used as the headquarters of a Spanish cavalry unit. During this time, the Spanish word alamo, meaning "cottonwood," was introduced by soldiers garrisoned there to honor their home at Alamo de Parras in the Mexican province of Coahuila. Now you know.

By 1821, Mexico had won independence from Spain and invited American settlers brought in by guys like Stephen Austin to settle the land and by 1833, then El President'e Antonio de Santa Anna (yep...the future General who retakes the Alamo) had mucked things up for the Mexicans and a civil war broke out. In Texas, the Anglo settlers joined many Hispanic Texans, who called themselves Tejanos, in demanding a return to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. In a series of battles the Anglo Texans, who called themselves "Texians", supported by a significant number of Tejano allies, initially succeeded in forcing the Mexican military to retreat from Texas. And so we come to the Battle of the Alamo.

By April of 1836, Santa Anna had had enough of those rabblerouser Texians and decided to make a political statement by defeating the insurgents and returning Texas back to Mexican control. By now, the Texian movement had moved from a political revolt to a full fledged secession of Texas from Mexico. Sam Houston was the leader of a small army of Anglos and Tejanos fighting a disparate war of attrition against the well-armed Mexican army. The Alamo was a shell of the original Mission having been abandoned back in 1793. It was basically four walls with no roof and a built-up dirt artillery platform for a cannon on the north end where the altar had been. Houston pleaded with William Travis not to defend the Alamo and fall back to Houston's lines but Travis, Bowie, Crockett, his Tennesseans and some Tejano volunteers numbering about 260 men decided to hold the fort anyway against an estimated 1,800 Mexican Army regulars.

The adobe walls were no match for Mexican artillery and gunfire and, after 12 days of siege, was overrun in a massive attack that wiped out all the male defenders leaving only the women and children of the defenders to be sent back to Houston to tell him of the battle and defeat. A message to them to quit the fight and surrender.

History shows the message was ignored and after rallying his forces under the famous battle cry, "Remember the Alamo", one of his Lieutenants, Juan Sequin, defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto a month later assuring Texas independence that same year. Interesting factoid, Juan was later elected Mayor of San Antonio but forced out of office at gun point by an Anglo mob. There would not be another Hispanic Mayor in San Antonio until Henry Cisneros in 1981.

Dianna and I have now been in Texas for about 9 years and had not been to San Antonio so we made it our 40th wedding anniversary destination. Yes, a mere 40 years ago we were young and impressionable without a care in the world. Now, two kids, a couple of houses, a grandson and several dogs later we are still together and trying to enjoy our later years as best we can.

As many of you (and to my wife's chagrin) have learned, I tend to make reservations at older historic hotels so I picked the oldest, the Menger in Alamo Plaza. Killing two birds with one stone in that it is literally steps away from the Alamo Memorial site. On our arrival, Texas was in the midst of its record setting rainy season and had just stopped as we checked in.

Menger Courtyard

The Menger Hotel was built in 1859 but was the result of German immigrant, William Menger's brewery, the first beer brewery in Texas. He decided to build a hotel to accommodate the many carousers who frequented his brewery. The beer was chilled by the Alamo Madre ditch, which passed through the hotel courtyard. Said to have been the finest hotel west of the Mississippi River, it once hosted such notables as Sam Houston, Generals Lee and Grant (no..not at the same time) and Presidents McKinley, Taft, Eisenhower, and Roosevelt; Babe Ruth, and Mae West.

River Walk view toward back of Menger

Little known fact is that the famous River Walk is based on a ditch dug by the Missionaries to move water from the San Antonio River to the farms adjacent to the Presidio. The ditch (Acequia Madre de Valero), is 6 miles long and was built to irrigate about 400 hectares. It was vital to the missions in order to grow crops and to supply water to the people in the area. Acequia Madre de Valero ran from the area currently known as Brackenridge Park and southward to what is now Hemisfair Plaza and South Alamo Street. Part of it that is not viewable by the public runs beneath the Menger Hotel.

Once settled in our room overlooking Alamo Plaza, we quickly walked over to the Alamo to get our vacation rolling. As we made our way around the front I was immediately struck by two things. The first was how small the Alamo Mission is. When you see the tourist literature or commercials on TV, you get the impression it's this big adobe monument to the heroism of the martyrs of the Texas Revolution. It turns out to be rather diminutive in size (which many friends had warned me about) but still revered as a sacred site by native Texans. I think I figured it out. When you shoot upward and keep the fence posts and people out of the picture, you skew the image and it looks bigger.

No matter your politics or where your from, Texans do hold this place in high esteem. You know...like when you overhear people speaking in hushed voices as they tell the tale of the Alamo to their children or guests as though they were in church. There's even a sign at the entrance reminding visitors the site is sacred, to speak softly, remove hats and absolutely no photography.

The inside is unremarkable except for the museum-like exhibits throughout. It's walls are clearly scarred with the remnants of battle, bullet holes and gouges from flying debris. Again the interior is not original in that the original Mission was converted by several inhabitants over the years to suit their needs. Recall that the building was roofless during its use by the Texians in the 1830s.

Different color roofline

After secession, in 1849, the U.S. Army leased the old Mission and added its current roof and made it a warehouse. They even split the space and made a second floor which was taken down for the restoration. It was used for the same purpose during the Civil War (TWONA). After the war, the Army got it back but abandoned it when Fort Sam Houston was established nearby in 1876. It was even a city jail for a time. It wasn't until 1892 that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas took over the property and began restoring the site.

The second thing that struck me was what surrounds the sacred Alamo historic site. Tourist traps. Not one but two Ripley's Believe it or not Museums among other touristy notables reside directly across the street from the Alamo. There are several prominent statues and memorials there as well but it's kind of cheesy, if you know what I mean.

When we got back to the hotel, we booked a Ghost tour that starts at the historic Colonial Room restaurant in the Victorian original wing of the Menger. It's a beautiful example of Victorian era architecture.

The original hotel space was originally two floors and 50 rooms but subsequent additions and remodels added floors and rooms which now hold 316 rooms. It was dinner and a walking tour of the haunted portions of the hotel as well as some hot spots by the Alamo and surrounding streets. Turns out the Menger is the most haunted hotel in America. Lots of crazy stuff happened in the hotel and significant figures have passed away within its walls. The historic Menger Hotel is said be called home or visited regularly by some 32 different entities.

Teddy's negotiation table 2nd floor

One of the Menger's most famous guests is that of former President Teddy Roosevelt. It was here, in the Menger Bar, that Roosevelt recruited hard-living cowboys fresh from the Chisholm Trail, to his detachment of Rough Riders. Reportedly, Teddy would sit at the bar and as the cowboys came in, he would jovially offer them a free drink (or several) as he worked his recruiting strategy upon the unsuspecting cowpoke. Many sobered up the next morning to find themselves on their way to basic military training at Fort Sam Houston before joining in the Spanish American War.

After a wonderful meal and the Menger's signature dessert, an incredible dish of Mango ice cream, we wandered around the three main floors of the old hotel and heard stories of apparitions who wander the same halls and bother the guests. We then walked out the front of the hotel for our street tour. First stop the Alamo. We were reminded of the horrific battle which took so many lives and that, while we walked on the street in front of the Alamo, we were actually walking on top of a mass grave which had been found when the street was excavated before paving. Excavations throughout San Antonio still expose graves of the fallen today.

Our capable guide Bethany of Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours reminded us of an incident which sparked the haunted history of the Alamo. Ghostly tales about the Alamo can be traced all the way back to 1836. Several weeks after the Battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna ordered General Andrade to raise the Alamo and in doing so ensure that nothing was left standing. Like any military commander holding the rank of general, Andrade delegated this unwholesome task to a trusted subordinate, Colonel Sanchez.

Upon the arrival of Colonel Sanchez and his men, all that remained of the old mission was the chapel. Resolute to carry out Santa Anna's demands, Colonel Sanchez instructed his troops to begin tearing down the church. As the detail set about preparing to carry out the order, work was abruptly halted when six ghostly monks materialized from the walls of the chapel.

The soldiers watched in stunned silence as these "diablos" slowly advanced waving flaming swords over their heads, while all the time issuing a warning in an inhuman screech, "Do not touch the walls of the Alamo" (I wonder if it was in English or Spanish). Heading the ghostly advice, Colonel Sanchez and his men retreated with their tails between their legs.

We traveled to several haunted locations some more interesting than others. One such location was a Holiday Inn Express. The building was multi-storied and rather box-like in construction. Bethany pointed out the metal bars which adorn the exterior windows. It wasn't just decoration, but the result of its former life as the Bexar County Jail between 1870 and 1960. The building often housed serious criminals and served for a time as a place of execution for convicted murderers. It was abandoned and purchased by Comfort Suites in the late sixties.

Nighttime carriages light the darkness

They renovated it into a hotel but were soon receiving complaints of apparitions around the third and fourth floors, one particular ghost seemed to be missing his head. What the realtor failed to disclose was that the hangings occurred on the fourth floor where the accused would fall through to the third floor. On occasion, the fall would cause the heads of some of these men to separate from their bodies (no doubt incorrect tension on the knots). The best tidbit was that the jail had a cemetery where they buried the unclaimed bodies in a side yard of the jail. Right where Comfort Suites (now Holiday Inn Express) have their pool. Fortunately, they stopped hangings in 1923 and went to an electric chair. Today, guests often call the front desk reporting what they believe to be a smell of burning wire or electrical equipment around the 3rd and 4th floors.

An interesting stop was the Cathedral of San Fernando. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the seat of its archbishop. The original church of San Fernando was built between 1738 and 1750. The walls of that church today form the sanctuary of the cathedral, which gives rise to its claim as the oldest cathedral in the State of Texas. In 1836, the cathedral, still a parish church, played a role in the Battle of the Alamo when Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna hoisted a flag of "no quarter" from the church's tower, marking the beginning of the siege. Bones of some of the fallen are entombed in the walls of the church raising spectors of those men seen walking or standing by the church by passerbys.

We were drawn to the church by a  video art installation spectacular on the facade of the Cathedral created by renowned French artist, Xavier De Richemontartist. It's a beautiful montage of the history of Texas and specifically a segment on the Alamo. Very cool.

Kind of like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland

Then back to the hotel for rest and re cooperation before our marathon second day of historic tours and wine sampling. Oh...in case you're wondering, I did have trouble sleeping and around two a.m. I got dressed and wandered around the hotel hotspots. The eerie silence was only punctuated by the sound of an unseen lone vacuum cleaner wailing in the distance. Sorry no sightings but I did get a chance to take some photos without dodging people to get the shot.

Oh yeah...the Wedding

The magical day arrived and I was kicked to the curb while the women folk got their nails and hair done. Left to my own devices I realized I was hungry. I decided to do a little street surfing and locate something off the beaten path. I walked several blocks eastbound along Royal St. hoping to find something unique. As I walked, I came across a picture of the Mona Lisa hanging from the balcony floor above. I turned to discover a quaint Italian Restaurant hiding behind the thin framed French doors. I entered and was immediately seated amidst four walls covered….I mean covered with various paintings of the Mona Lisa both traditional and modern to abstract. Very cool and weird at the same time. What was important was the menu. Very traditional selections and the best thing was they had Lasagne. Now, many of you may know Lasagne is my Kryptonite. I gauge every Italian restaurant I attend by it’s Lasagne. Lasagne is a sacred delicacy, mana from the Gods and can only be properly enjoyed by true believers who risk everything as they approach the serving alter (lots of genuflecting here). Kind of like my Great Pumpkin, if you will.

I ordered the Lasagne and waited patiently, sipping cautiously on my ice tea, munching on my cheesy and lightly toasted garlic bread in clear view of the kitchen door, like an expectant father watching for the doctor to burst forth with the new bundle of joy.


And then, the door creaked open disgorging my server cradling what can only be described as a football of Lasagne. He gingerly maneuvered it around me like the arm of a great crane arcing its load gently to the ground. As it settled onto the table cloth steam rose from it as though it had gently exhaled from the exertion.

This thing was big. It consumed the entire oval metal baking dish and swam in a sea of red tomato sauce like a great ship seeking shelter in the dry dock of the hot metal dish. It was three layers of pasta oozing cheese and more red sauce trying to reunite with it’s siblings below. The tender pasta had ever so crisp edges where it was touched with the heat of what I'm sure was an Italian brick wood-fired pizza oven. None of this high-tech stainless steel convection oven crap….no, not in my Walter Mitty world.


This Lasagne was amazing. Not too hot…you know…not that over baked kind where the first sample of cheese sears then sticks to the roof of your mouth and from then on, you’re incapable of tasting anything thereafter. The sauce was sweet without being obnoxious and not stepping over the bay leaf and garlic infused inside. The three tiered monster was sturdy enough to require a knife to carve it like a block of butter. I was only able to eat half of it and was further disappointed when I realized I was unable to box it up for the trip home. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend as my server reluctantly returned it to the kitchen for disposal.

But luck would have it, there was a dessert menu. A limoncello cake was calling to me on the menu and I ordered it to salve my wounds. My wedge of a delightful yellow two layer cake cemented to the plate with a delicious strawberry shmear and Mascarpone frosting was sweet and enjoyable.

But I digress. The wedding was a modest affair in the back of a bakery. It was a favorite haunt of Nicole and Rob and they thought it would be cool to have the wedding there. The  Croissant D’or Patisserie is on Ursilines St. in the French Quarter just a few blocks east of Canal. Far enough away from the tourist madness, it serves breakfast and lunch to the natives and the tourists that stumble upon it. It has a neat outdoor courtyard behind it which reaches up to all three floors above.

The owners made the place available after-hours so we had it to ourselves. At the appointed hour, we all assembled and laid out the bubbly and cake the bakery made for us (how appropriate). A small crowd of family and friends watched as Jared, our preacher (newly ordained Internet Cleric), did a fine job and impressed those assembled with the depth of his invocation. Really nice.

Then came the picture taking. I had asked our good friend Tameka to come along and document the event. Tameka is a native of New Orleans and it also gave her a chance to sneak in a visit with family and friends. Tameka brought along her cousin Lorraine to help photograph  the proceedings. Check out Tameka’s work at her website: Passionate Photography.

With all of the wine and champagne gone, we moved to  Deanie’s, a seafood restaurant on Iberville St. just a block east of Canal Street. Pretty much everything seafood is there and much of it batter fried and delicious. I'm not much of a seafood guy but I must say their presentation was “family style” with big portions and awesome service. After making sure everybody was able to get back to their hotels without a police escort, we wandered back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep…hey, we’re old and it was way passed our bedtime.

Our last full day we decided to try a whole-city tour of the Crescent City (although there are many theories about the nick-name, a favorite is the shape of the bend of the Mississippi at what was the site where Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (namesake of our hotel) landed with his crew. I admit the Grayline Tour is a little lame but I try to get a tour of a place to help us plan for future visits. We got an opportunity to visit all the major neighborhoods and got to see some cool homes and landmarks.

What we (I) walked away with was a little trivia for those of us unfamiliar with the origins of New Orleans is about Cajuns and where they come from. Most of us have been led to believe Cajuns are just the wilder side of original French settlers who make some spicy food. There's more to it. The word Cajun derives from a French ethnic group known as Arcadians. It was land named by explorer Giovanni Verrazanno for pretty much the whole east coast of Canada and the U.S as "Acadia" (also referred to on maps as Arcadia). Arcadia derives from the  in Greece which since Classical antiquity had the extended meanings of "refuge" or "idyllic place"). The French referred to it's people as "les Cadiens or Les Cadiens or les Acadiens". They originally settled in what's now Nova Scotia in the early 1700s but came under British control after the French lost the Seven Years War in 1763 (yes...the French and Indian War for you purists).

Over time the name was mispronounced and shortened to Cajun.  And it kind of sounds like the origin of "Canada" but that's "kanata" the Huron-Iroquois (native Canadians) word for "village" or "settlement" (I know...more useless information). The Arcadians didn't cotton much to their British rulers and refused to sign an oath of allegiance so the British forced them to leave. This is known as the Great Upheaval or Le Grand Dérangement in their culture.

Now these folks are not to be confused with French Creole people (don't make this mistake in a crowd of Cajuns....that wouldn't be wise). The term creole was first used by French settlers to distinguish between anyone born in Louisiana and someone born "from away." So creole people are considered "native born" in Louisiana. They too have had a major impact on the state's culture; hence, Louisiana is known as the Creole State.

Our last night we dined at the House of Blues on Decatur. Dining was cool but I admit a little creepy. In the ceiling were soffit boxes with the images of famous dead musicians.

Seriously..creepy, right?

Each inset was back-lit in a soft blue light. Really weird...but the bar was pretty cool, to the memory of Jake Blues of Blues Brothers fame (you might know  
Dan Aykroyd is a part owner of the chain)

Wedding accomplished, we made our way back to rainy and cold Texas for what will become one of our coldest winters on record. Lots of ice and snow to come. As the weather improves so will our chances to get out again for more adventures.

Cowboy Stadium Tour

Since we moved to Texas, we have seen few visitors from the old country (yes...you know who you are) and so it was, with great pleasure, we had the opportunity of hosting my sister for Presidents Day weekend this year. She is my only other sibling and we have a very special bond we cling to over the vast (cultural and geographical) distance between Costa Mesa, California and the hinterlands of North Texas. Of course, as an added bonus, we were in the midst of a cold snap and I had to warn my dear sister not to bring her flip-flops or tank tops and resort to a heavy coat and some long underwear. On her arrival, in typical Texas style, we made it through the weekend with a Sunday high of 73 to be met on Monday morning as a Canadian low blew through with starting temperatures at 28 degrees with a howling North wind and threats of snow.

My crazy sister insisted on this shot

Undaunted, we were able to get her to the Dallas Arboretum and a couple of first run movies which she loves to do. On Monday, I decided to take her for a tour of our Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Of course, since it's completion in 2009, the owner, Jerry Jones, has sold the naming rights to Dallas based AT&T further disappointing hardcore Cowboys fans who are still reeling to this day over the moving of the Dallas Cowboys from the famous Cotton Bowl Stadium in Fair Park in 1971, to first Irving, Texas and now to Arlington.

Mr. Jones has always been the bad boy of Dallas Football. He's the rich guy everybody loves to hate but he does put on a pretty good show. It was his dream to have the biggest and best stadium to keep Dallas, his beloved Cowboys and...lets face it, his legacy (well and his ego) the center of attention throughout the world, and I dare say he has succeeded.

The original plan was a $650 million dollar wonder which Arlington residents ponied up half in a bond proposition to help with the costs. But Mr. Jones' desire for greatness and additions drove the ultimate price to $1.5 billion. There is a litany of reasons why this happened and most have to do with up-sell. You know the concept, when you go in to buy a two-door sedan and drive off the lot with an Escalade.

An example is the floor tile. The architects envisioned standard grey tile interspersed with stock black tiles strips. The black tiles were around $5 a tile. But knowing how Jerry loved his Cowboys, somebody did the research and found a tile from Labrador called Labradorite in which the crystals produce an iridescent play of colors which, when struck by a light ray, flashes a bright blue color as you pass over it. It's quite remarkable to see in person and mimics the Cowboy Blue of the teams logos. Well... he had to have those tiles and they are everywhere and cover the floors of all the elevators. He purchased them by the thousands at $35 dollars each.

The structure is mammoth. The roof is the largest free-standing dome in the world weighing in at 14,100 tons of structural steel (which, I am told, is equivalent to the weight of 92 Boeing 777s) covering 3 million square feet of stadium (73 acres) which stretches 900 feet from end zone wall to end zone wall. The roof soars to 292 feet over the field and the arches stretch 1/4 mile from end to end. Of course, for strength and durability, they had to be made of the strongest steel in the world. Grade 65 steel..... from Luxembourg of all places. Little known fact is that the roof is not in contact with any of the sides of the building. The entire roof is held up by the twin arches which are anchored into the ground on the exterior of the building like two huge Roman Arches gathering strength as each welded and bolted section transmits the weight to the ground at each of the four points.

The arches are also responsible for holding up the giant video display of the two 1080p main 72’ high by 160’ wide panels are made up of 5,168 individual lighting units or panels per side or 10,336 total. End Zone Displays (which the fans sitting in the end zones view) are each 51 feet wide and 29 feet tall. Each end zone display screen weighs 25,000 pounds. Mitsubishi custom built this thing which weighs about 400 tons and can also accommodate another 90,000 lbs of lighting and sound for concerts and other events. The tour guide remarked that the $40 million dollar cost of the video complex cost more than the original old Texas Stadium this stadium replaced.

Astro Turf storage

Thus we were led into the bowels of the stadium and its inner workings. We were given access to Jerry's booth where he monitors every home game. It's almost "bunker" like in that is surrounded by thick concrete and very thick glass (Hey Jer. What are you worried about?). Went into a Suite and were told the stadium had the most suites of any stadium (of course). 360 suites occupying all levels and you too could be an owner. Prices range from the high 6 figures to several million and six percent of the suites remained unsold. Our tour guide pointed out that 60% of all the bathrooms in the facility were women's bathrooms and he has never heard a complaint of lines in the bathrooms yet.

We made it down to the basement where all the warehouses and team rooms can be found. We visited the Dallas Cheerleader dressing rooms and Cowboy locker room as well as the press room where Head Coach Jason Garrett and Jerry explain the victories and loses of the team to thew media.

Sister and the Burlwood

Little known facts about the Cheerleaders is that there are no tenured Cheerleaders. Each of the 40 Cheerleaders must try out each year in May when several hundred other women come to tryout as well. Jerry Jones’ daughter, Charlotte Anderson has been in charge ever since her family bought the team in 1989. And if you're caught dating a Cowboy...you're out, no appeals.

The Cowboy Locker room was very spacious with defense on one side and offense on the other with a separate locker room for the practice (read second stringers) team members. Our tour guide often pointed out the extravagant appointments of Jerry's Stadium and this place was no exception. He noted that the wood used for each locker was a special Burlwood which was commonly found in the interiors of fine cars like Bently's and Rolls Royce cars.

A very fine tour and kudos to our tour guides Bob and Susie, both were fellow retirees and this was a part time gig a couple of times a week and on game days. On a personal note, I have been to many sports facilities and I was struck by how clean this place was. I firmly believe you could eat off the floors of this place and clearly these folks take their jobs seriously. Bob said, on any given day, there are about 350 employees working but on game day....as many as 6,500 are roaming around tending to the fires and making your visit as seamless as possible. Amazing place.

New Orleans

We find ourselves in New Orleans, not for one of our cruise adventures (which I know many of you are pretty much done with), but for our daughter's wedding. Some of you may know Nicole and Rob Orbe had already tied the knot here in Texas but wanted a more formal ceremony where Rob's family could easily travel to. And, coincidentally, in  a place they found special at a bakery in New Orleans which also had a an area behind the store which could become a neat wedding venue. Now that their 13 month old, Rob Jr., was more able to travel (and is now making those first furtive steps walking) it was a good time to make it happen.

Loaded up with festive decorations, wedding dresses and the smallest luggage bag I have ever seen Dianna use in the 40 years we've been together. This is the woman who had to bring four bags of her own on our first trip to Hawaii. Recalling all we ended up wearing were shorts, T shirts and bathing suits for five days but we were prepared for the possibility of winter snows, tsunamis and an unannounced invitation to dinner on Air Force One if the the President called. We did a midweek run out the I-20 to the I-49 descending to the I-10 almost running into the Mississippi and lodging at the Bienville House on Decatur, a short walk to Canal St and some of my favorite people watching in my small world.

The boutique Hotel is pretty cool, typical of the small footprint Pensiones in other lands, but very clean and on-site parking in a town where parking is at a premium if you don't park in the large pay-lots. Originally occupied by Planters Rice Mills, the space became home to Thompson’s Rice Mill and Southern Syrup Manufacturing. By 1835, the building had been completely transformed and the North American Hotel opened. However, by 1837, the hotel’s owners had parted company, and the building was split into a small French Quarter hotel for boarders and a Fire House. Eventually the building would become the Royal Bienville, 20 luxury apartments that marked the revival of Decatur Street. By the early 1970’s the building was once again a New Orleans hotel and after surviving a fire that destroyed a warehouse across the street, the 82 room “motor hotel” was purchased by the Monteleone family in 1972. The Bienville House hotel is still family-owned and operated by the Monteleone family.

A quick walk west and you hit Canal St. Just down the street is the House of Blues where we passed a bevy of blacked out motorhomes parked and fenced off from the public. Rumor had it they belonged to the NCIS New Orleans crew taping episodes in the French Quarter.

The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (La Nouvelle-Orléans in French) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the Vieux Carré ("Old Square" in English). The district is more commonly called the French Quarter today, or simply "The Quarter," related to changes in the city with American immigration after the Louisiana Purchase.

Most of the French Quarter's architecture was built during the late 18th century and the period of Spanish rule over the city, which is reflected in the architecture of the neighborhood. The Great New Orleans Fire (1788) and another great fire in 1794 destroyed most of the Quarter's old French colonial architecture (and a law placing the building facades closer to the streets to be used as fire breaks for future fires creating the French Quarters very narrow sidewalks), leaving the colony's new Spanish landlords to rebuild it according to more modern tastes.

Many of the buildings date from 1803, when New Orleans was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase, although some late 19th century and early 20th century buildings were added to the area. Since the 1920s the historic buildings have been protected by law and cannot be demolished, and any renovations or new construction in the neighborhood must be done according to city regulations to preserve the period historic architectural style.

When Americans began to move in after the Louisiana Purchase, they mostly built on available land upriver, across modern-day Canal Street. This thoroughfare became the meeting place of two cultures, one Creole and the other American. The median of the wide boulevard (Canal St) became a place where the two contentious cultures could meet and do business in both French and English. As such, it became known as the "neutral ground", and this name is used for medians in the New Orleans area.

Our first night, we dropped into the Palace Cafe for dinner. I had the Pecan Crusted Catfish and Dianna had the Rotisserie Chicken. We followed up with the White Chocolate Creme Brulee for Dianna and I got the Cheesecake. Oh, yeah.....baby.


The following morning, in an attempt to mix business with pleasure, I had set us up for a tour of two plantations. I have always wondered how they worked and how the slave workers conducted their lives. We booked with Old River Road Plantation Adventures. A cool feature was that they pick you up at your hotel so no driving and parking. Our guide, Richard, was very informative and reminded Dianna of me if I became a tour guide, you know, the perky bearer of all useless information about anything.

The first plantation was the famous Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie (pronounced Vashery), Louisiana along the Old River Road. In the early days of French occupation, the area was all dairy farms thus the French name for cow is Vache (pronouned Vash) so the place where the cows are. Richard said there had been some 160 major plantation homes prior to the Civil War (The War of Northern Aggression in the South) and there were probably 20 left, all Antebellum homes, that is, built in the period prior to the Civil War. Most were formed facing the east and west banks of the Mississippi. Today we would be visiting properties on the west bank along the original "Old River Road" which is now LA 18 with the east bank road the LA 44. The road didn't exist until the 1930s because the Plantations mostly used the River for transportation since La Salle "discovered" (let's not forget the place was crawling with Native Americans when he arrived) the Mississippi in 1682. Most suffered destruction during the last months of the Civil War or stopped operating because of the collapse of the Southern Economy mostly due to freeing of the free labor force of slaves.

Another misnomer of that period was that cotton was grown on most plantations. Cotton was grown primarily in Northern Louisiana but here in Southern Louisiana, it was Sugar Cane. It required lots of water and thrived in the warmer (and more humid) South. Most plantations were constructed by slave labor from on-site materials. Still growing prolifically in this region are the famous Bald Cypress (taxodium distichum) trees seen everywhere. These were majestic trees wrapped in Spanish Moss. Ok...kind of useless information, it's called Moss but it's not a parasitic plant. Contrary to popular belief, it may appear to have roots growing within the host tree, but it is (big word alert!) an Epiphyte. Epiphytes grow on other plants without taking any water or nutrients from them, and use the host plant for support and protection. Little known factoid is the stuff was so plentiful, Henry Ford had the stuff collected, shipped to Detroit and used it to stuff his early car seats. Cypress proved to be a hardy material for the heat and humidity typical in this part of the world. Bricks were from mud and clay dredged from the River, molded, dried and kiln fired all within the plantation grounds.  

From the street (or River), these homes seemed large and spacious. They were all built in the Greek Revival style which was the rage during that period. What was surprising was how small the homes actually were. Recalling the cost of building the homes, they were built to impress passers-by as to the relative wealth of the owners. Because there was no air-conditioning, they had to build walls of deep brick up to 16 inches thick. Thus the interior spaces suffered and made the rooms small. They were usually two floors and generally had 6-10 rooms. Figure a Master bedroom, a children's bedroom, a guest room, dining room and a parlor and there wasn't a lot of free space. Many had faux columns and woodwork to look like marble to trick the uninformed into believing the owners were wealthier than they were. Because of the danger of fire and the heat generated by a 24/7 kitchen, it was located in a separate structure outside the main house. The outside wrap-around porches were actually the primary living spaces where people met, read, conducted business and even slept on during various times of the year. Oh yeah, no basements with such a high water table it would have always been flooded.

Our hoop-skirted guide walked us through the Bon Séjour Plantation, as Oak Alley was known then. It is a very well preserved example of an Antebellum Plantation home (anything built in the period before the Civil War) and has been used as a location for several movies and TV shows with it's most prominent feature being the 28 Virginia Oak trees (Quercus virginiana, also known as the southern live oak) lining what was the main approach to the mansion. No one knows who planted the trees but they were already there about 175 years before the house was built by Jacques and Celina Roman in 1839. Cool detail of the house was the signed door panel of Jacques and by some of the workers on the second floor. It was a tradition back then for owners to sign a feature of the house when it was completed. The trees are now ready to celebrate their 300th birthday.

During the question and answer period, there was a moment of high drama when our guide went to explain why she was missing her arm. It's a frequently asked question on the tour so she went on to give the sorted details of an innocent swim and a chance meeting with an alligator. At the end, there was a stunned silence broken by her laugh and further explaining she was actually the victim of an auto accident in her youth. It was quite the ice-breaker. What a hoot!

Success was short lived. Jacques Roman died in 1848 of tuberculosis (ridiculously common back then) and the estate began to be managed by his wife, Celina. She wasn’t very good at managing a sugar plantation and her heavy spending nearly bankrupted the estate. In 1859, her son, Henri, took control of the estate and tried to turn things around. The Civil War and the end of slavery made it no longer economically viable; Henri became severely in debt, mainly to his family. In 1866, his uncle put the plantation up for auction and it was sold for $32,800 to John Armstrong.

Successive owners could not afford the cost of upkeep and by the 1920s the buildings had fallen into disrepair. In 1925 the property was acquired by Andrew Stewart as a gift to his wife, Josephine, who supervised an extensive restoration and modernized the house. The Stewarts ran Oak Alley Plantation as a cattle ranch (Longhorns were often seen grazing in and around the beautiful oak trees lining the yard. Josephine had grown up on a cattle ranch in Texas and was familiar with this type of industry. Sugar cane cultivation was reintroduced at the plantation in the 1960s. The Stewarts were the last owners to live in residence. Josephine Stewart left the historic house and grounds to the Oak Alley Foundation when she died in 1972, which opened them to the public.

Thus we went down the road to the Evergreen Plantation in  Edgard, Louisiana originally built in 1790 as the Becnel Plantation. It's claim to fame is that it was originally a Creole style home which meant it was a raised home with an open ground floor like the stilt homes of the Caribbean in case of flood with the living spaces on the second floor.

The home was remodeled in 1832 where the ground floor was enclosed which added three more rooms making a total of six. It too went into disrepair after the Civil War and was purchased by the Songys in 1894. The depression hit in the 30's and the house remained vacant until 1947 when Matilda Geddings Gray from Lake Charles, took over. An oil heiress (yes, another Texas oil success story), Gray was the ruling matriarch of her family and its highly successful businesses. There was an extensive renovation in 1944 and today, it remains a private residence opened to the public when the owners are not occupying the residence. The property contains 37 original structures including 22 original slave quarter cabins which housed most of the 150 slaves the plantation needed to function. Even after the Civil War, many of the then freed slaves and their descendants, continued to work the plantation up until 1947 when it changed hands.

Original Slave quarters

It's considered the most complete example of plantation life in existence and thus was used by Quentin Tarrantino for the backdrop of the movie Django Unchained.

Very moving to walk along the Oak Lane of that plantation where slaves would have been scurrying to work the fields or service the house and tending to their own Cypress shacks in the humid shade of those trees...if they could only talk and speak of the 300 year history they witnessed, what would they tell us.