A crazy night in cajun country!

If you couldn't tell, I was done with New Orleans, almost before we got there. On the way out, I had more beignets for breakfast - Cafe du Monde, much as I love it, was too crowded to bother, but Cafe Beignet served similarly yummy fare - and an oyster Po Boy for lunch - Louisiana Seafood Exchange/Crabby Jack's is another point for Road Food. Up river from New Orleans are many old plantation homes, including the one pictured in "Gone With the Wind". I'd already seen enough antebellum/plantation homes, so I will let Sarah describe that for you. I'm ready for a new style of architecture.

After my disappointment with New Orleans, aside from the jazz, Cajun country was a very pleasant surprise. You can see the influence of Cajun culture on New Orleans when you visit, but only faintly. The real thing - see the swamp tour from a previous post and what follows - is much more to my taste. The town we ended up in, Breaux Bridge, is the site of Louisiana's big yearly crawfish festival. Aside from that it looks like nothing special. But fortunately, we happened upon a very large and friendly B&B owner who took us under her wing.

It took patience and much time to get things moving with this wonderful woman, but in addition to letting us stay in her hunting lodge at our named price - the B&B was out of our budget though very beautiful - she toured us around a local lake where hundreds of Egrets were nesting, recommended the Crazy 'Bout Crawfish restaurant where Sarah satisfied her crawfish craving, took us twelve miles out to the local Friday night Cajun/jazz/blues hang-out, and insisted we get up early for the Zydeco breakfast at Cafe des Amis. Though all three of our guide books recommended this breakfast, the tip to arrive at a painstakingly early 7:30 AM was extremely worthwhile, as we would have otherwise waited in a very long line. We enjoyed an odd/amazing Cajun brunch - my dish was a surprisingly good crispy fried dough filled with a savory spiced shredded meat and topped with powdered sugar - then danced to a live Zydeco band on a packed floor, all early on a Saturday morning! (Zydeco is a fun, jazzy type of Cajun music, with Black roots and a strong rhythm, whose central character comes from the sound made by rubbing a spoon up and down an old metal washboard.)