Our first excursion today was to Oak Alley Plantation. The Big House (plantation house where the owners lived) was the main attraction, of course, along with the alley of oaks which gives the plantation its name.

The plantation was built by J. T. Roman in the 1830s; it was a sugarcane plantation, which meant they had lots of enslaved people – more than 200 at a single time. We took a tour of the Big House; our guide focused on the Roman family, of course, but spent a lot of time discussing the lot of the enslaved people and the economics of slavery. Roman had to take out a loan to build the plantation; it was partially secured by using his slaves as collateral. In fact, Roman mortgaged each of his slaves at least once; they may have been as valuable as capital as they were as laborers!

There was also an exhibit of six slave cottages which were used as housing well into the 20th Century.

I would have liked another half-hour at Oak Alley to be able to see everything, but it was not to be; we had to return to the ship for lunch.

Our second excursion took us to Cajun Pride Swamp Tours, about 45 minutes away.

Captain Danny took us out into the Manchac Swamp and showed us the wildlife and told us stories about life in the swamps many decades ago. We saw wild pigs, raccoons, birds, and, of course, lots of alligators.

We saw the graveyard that was hastily built after a hurricane destroyed the swamp town of Frenier in 1915 – one day after the local voodoo queen Julie Brown died after cursing the town. We saw her grave marker, too – she was buried a few hundred yards away, just in case!

Captain Danny passed around his turtles, Mike, Ike, and Stinky, as well as a baby alligatorso that we could see them upclose and personal. You were even allowed to hold the alligator; I passed.

We checked out of the hotel early this morning and boarded the bus for our first excursion, a visit to Preservation Hall. We’d walked by it several times on previous visits to New Orleans but were never able to go in and take in a show; today, there was a show just for us (and the other 40 or 50 people on the bus, of course). Buses aren’t allowed to drive through the French Quarter itself, so they dropped us at Jackson Square.

We walked the three blocks to Preservation Hall, where we were treated to a short lecture about the history of music in New Orleans (especially jazz and blues), followed by a too-brief concert from the Preservation Hall Legacy Band. Photos and recordings were not permitted during the concert, of course, but I bought one of their CDs when we left.

One of the points made during the lecture was about the pervasiveness of music in New Orleans; this wasn’t a surprise to me, but I was more aware of the bands we passed on our way back to the bus. They’re hoping for donations and learning their craft at the same time.

We had a few minutes to look around Jackson Square before we had to get on the bus; we popped into St. Louis Cathedral for a quick look.

We got back on the bus and headed to the Cruise Ship Terminal to meet the American Splendor. We had to take a slightly circuitous route because the Mayor was holding some sort of event which closed some roads, but that gave us a chance to see Pete Fountain’s giant clarinet on the Holiday Inn.

The ship was docked under the Crescent City Connection; we were the first bus back to the ship, so we had plenty of time for a leisurely lunch before everyone was on board. I was pleased to see some familiar faces from previous trips on American Cruise Lines – that was a first for me!

We got one last chance to see the New Orleans skyline and the Mercedes-Benz Caesar’s Superdome as we steamed upriver.

We passed under the Huey P. Long Bridge about an hour-and-a-half after leaving New Orleans; we should pass under another Huey P. Long Bridge in the next couple of days when we’re sailing through Baton Rouge.

John Meffert gave the before-dinner talk, “Shadows of the Dream: Architecture of the Lower Mississippi”; the audience was enthralled, even though he ran a couple of minutes into cocktail hour!

After dinner, we saw the first show by our Entertainer-in-Residence, Stephen Merritt; he told us how he’d wanted to be a piano player on the Mississippi ever since he was eight and finally achieved his dream after playing many years at Disneyland Japan and Walt Disney World. He was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to his other shows on the cruise.

We’ve just docked in Vacherie, our first port of call. I guess we could get off the ship and roam around, but we have an early excursion tomorrow.