The Brussels Post, 1980-08-20, Page 7FANCY BAL-
CONIES — One thing
the city of New
Orleans is known for
besides the French
Quarter, Bourbon
Street and Canal
Street is the fancy iron
grill work which is still
a part of many
balconies in the city.
ABOVE GROUND,
TOMBS -- Since New
.Orleans. is under sea
level,' most of the
tombs in which people
are buried must be
above ground. In this
picture is one of the
larger cemeteries in
, New Orleans.
-44,!.40,0*ItOre-d*
• BEAUTIFUL BELLINGRATH GARDENS
One of the highlights of the bus trip was a tour
through the beautiful Bellingrath Gardens
located in Theodore, Alabama
THE' U.S.S. ALABAMA—One of the many
tourist' attractions in Alabama is this battleship
which was used in the Second World War. A
tour of the ships was part of Debbie Ranney's
recent .trip to. the U.S. south
JACKSON SQUARE A tour of the city of
New Orleans wouldn't be complete wihtout
stopping at.Jackson Square which has a state of
General Andrew Jackson astride his mount and
a walking tour of the historic St. Lquis
cathredral.
BY DEBBIE RANNEY
I always had a notion that I would like to
see the city of New Orleans so when an All
Star tour had a 10 day bus trip of southern
romance featuring New Orleans, I jumped
at the chance.
Two other girls went with me. We
weren't to arrive in New Orleans until the
third day and since it took such a long bus
drive to get there, the trip at first looked
like it might be disappointing..
On On the second day we were to, arrive in
Memphis, Tenneasee itour of Elvis
Presley's Graceland home (if it was open)
as a highlight. Unfortunately, we did't get
there till suppertime and then two • men
armed with guns came down to meet us.
They allowed us only a few feet up the
drive because Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie
was at home-.I was further disillusioned by
the romantic graffiti scribbled on • the
outside walls of Graceland.
It wasn't until the third day that the tour.
started to look promising. We crossed into
the state of Mississippi and then ,followed
the !latches Trace National. Parkway to the
historic city of Natches. Although nothing
was said about it in the brochure, our guide
arranged a tour for us through one of the
old plantation homes in Natches—Stanton
_Hall.
CONFLICTING IMPRESSIONS
Although one can still tour the lovely old,
plantation homes in the south, I was left'
with conflicting impressions because I saw "
many black people sifting outside on the
steps of what could only be described as
• "run-down shacks." That racial conflict is •
still very much a part . of the south, was
made evident when we were in Alabama
and our tour guide noticed a 'sign
advertising a Ku Klux Klan meeting. From
Natches, it was on to New Orleans for the
night.
We didn't arrive at our hotel until about
9:30 p.m. and since we hadn't yet had
supper went into the hotel restaurant.
That's when the fun began. One of the
women from the bus tour who was
' occupying the booth :next to ours had
decided to try seafood gumbo soup on the
recommendation of the bus driver. As she
dipped her spoon in for the first: sip, she
came up with one of the many possible sea
creatures that can be put in the soup such
as clams, mussels or' lobster. Not knowing
what she was supposed to do with what she
had on her spoon she burst into fits of
laughter and said she couldn't eat the
soup.
VEGETABLE SOUP
, At the urging• of the people sitting
around her, however, she agreed to try one
more time and once again came up with a
shell creature from the sea. Once more we
all burst into uncontrollable laughter and
when the woman told the waitress she
Couldn't eat it, the girl understandingly
and without being asked, brimght her a
bowl of vegetable soup.
side
of
next morning we saw the pretty side
Of New Orleans when we, were taken on a
tour of the historic old city and our
attention was especially drawn to the
intricate iron grill work along the balconies
of the old buildings. We also had a walking
tour through St. Louis Cathedral located in
.Jackson Square.
During this tour we also stopped in at the
Cafe du -Monde which is famous for its
coffee and beignettes, small doughnuts
covered with an icing sugar-like substance.
Although Bourbon Street wasn't men-
tioned in the brochure either, our accomod
ating bus driver said he would take us
there.
Nobody had prepared, me for Bourbon
Street. I had heard of the jazz clubs of
course, and a group of us enjoyed
ourselves at a club called the Blue Angel
where we listened to George Finola. There
was no cover charge but it's the first time
I've ever had to pay $3.27 for a glass of
Coke. All drinks were the same price.
SEEDIER STREET
The seedier version of the street where
men were given a few seconds titillating
view of the girls inside the strip joints
before the door was closed was something
unexpected. When the bus driver asked
the next morning, however, if anybody
would like to go back to Bourbon Street,
nobody said, yes.
ONTO ALABAMA
From there it was on to Alabama where
we toured Bellingrath Gardens, known as
"The Charm Spot of the South." Since the
weather had been hot and dry, the gardens
were not at their peak but they were still
lovely. The Bellingrath home which houses
Bessie Morse Bellingrath's collection of
antique furniture, priceless silver, fine
china and rare porcelain was another
highlight of this tour. The black butler
Luther who greeted us at the door of the
'home was a match for the butlers of the
south in old Hollywood movies. From
Bellingrath Gardens we went on to tour the
Battleship, U.S.S. Alabama.
Pensacola Beach, Florida was the 'next
stop and although the sixth day of the trip
was supposed to be at leisure, it certainly
wasn't an idle one.
Our bus driver and tour guide took us to
a shopping mall and after about two hours
we had a choke of continuing to shop or
going to the dog races. My friends and
I chose the dog races because after all, we
wanted to see everything. I bet on two
races-=the first on the dog to win--it placed;
the second on the dog to place--it showed.
My friends both Won a little money,-I
didn't.
i The next morning we had a tour Of
Pensacola Beach, including a walking tour
of a restored area and then a visit to the Air
-Force Museum. For lunch we were taken to
Ma flopkin.'s Boarding House where
everyone sits down together at a table like
one large family ,and all the dishes, are
already sitting on the table.
The southern type of meal included fried
chicken, beans, rice, sweet potatoes,
black-eyed peas and cornbread. I had
never had sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas
or cornbread, nor do I wish to ever try them
again, but a lot of the people on our bus did
enjoy the meal which was included in the
price of our bus tour, but normally costs
about $3.50 a plate.
ROSIE O'GRADY'S
A few hours of leisure time and then it
was off for a couple more hours of shopping
at another of Pensacola's larger malls.
From there we went to the Seville Quarter
where we ate at a fancy restaurant and
were then taken to Rosie O'Grady's, also in
the Seville Quarter.
Rosie O'Grady's was my favourite part
of the whole tour. There they played
Dixieland music, and the waiters and
waitresses were dressed in the costumes of
that era.
One of the songs the band played was an
AmeriCan tribute with waiters and wait-
resses• bringing in the American flag and
knowing that a bunch of Canadians were
there that night they even brought in a
Canadian flag. All of us from the bus tour
stood up when we saw "our" flag.
In the alleyways of the Seville Quarter
were some old-time game machines where
you could put in a dime to find out about
your future or measure your sex appeal.
The next day it was off to Nashville,
"Music City, U.S.A." where we attended
the• Grand Ole Opry and. saw Grandpa
Jones, Hank Snow,: Roy Acuff and' Connie
Smith among the performers.
TOURING NASHVILLE
Touring Nashville was the highlight of-
the next morning when we saw the
beautiful homes of Nashville's millionaires
and country music stars such as Tammy
Wynette, Minnie Pearl, Ronnie Milsap and
others. We also went to a recording studio..
From there we journeyed to our accomo-
dations just north of Cincinatti, where, we
spent the night. The next day we travelled
back home from one of the best trips with
the best bus driver and tour guide I have
yet encountered.
The trip cost $459 for each of the three of ,
us and included everything except meals
and a trip aboard the Natches•steamboat in
New Orleans, a fair price, I figured, for all
the pleasures that were packed into those
ten days.
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