October 30 - Swamp Tour and Uncle Hubert

Another action-packed day, this time in Cajun country, beginning with a wonderful tour on Lake Martin, near Breaux Bridge. The lake was like a mirror, and gliding among the cypress and tupelo was like passing through a dream. According to our guide, we saw just about every kind of bird and animal that lives in the lake.

Our swamp tour guide, Norbert LeBlanc,
speaks excellent French but with a
strange accent, according to our cousins. 

Ready to tour

LeBlanc and Lloyd.

We saw an alligator sunning on a log
soon after leaving the dock.

Cormorants

Herons

The mirror-like surface of the lake.

Breaux Bridge - Café des Amies

After leaving the swamp, we ate lunch

at Café des Amies in Breaux Bridge. 

The food was delicious.

Chicken with dirty rice

Pasta with chicken

Shrimp alfredo

Shrimp gumbo and turtle soup

Our cousins were introduced to bread pudding. They at first seemed a bit skeptical about eating bread for dessert. Lloyd ordered a serving for himself and asked for five spoons.

This is what the plate looked like
about five seconds after it hit the table.
No time to take a photo!

And this is what our cousins looked like. 

After this experience, bread pudding was a regular order in most restaurants!

We were pleased. :)

Across the street from the café was a school. Lloyd and Bernard braved traffic to get a photo of Bernard by the sign. I stayed on the sidewalk and took this shot.

From Breaux Bridge, we drove to nearby Lafayette, to visit with Uncle Hubert Dobard and Valli. Bernard presented the first copies of his book, Le Voyage Baronnais: Le Genealogie, l'itineraire d'un affranchi de D'Albardaubus, a Daubard, a Dobard. This is an exhaustive study of the origins of the surname and a report of the family in France and in Louisiana. 

Presenting the book to Uncle Hubert.

The author explains.

Bernard was never without a pen
during his visit. It came in
handy several times. A mini
version of Pictionary often
bridged the language gap.

Rodney Trahan dropped by and presented
Bernard with a bottle of muscatine wine
that he'd made from the vines in his back yard.
Bernard was delighted. "I now have," he announced,
"the only bottle of wine in all of France grown and
bottled in Lafayette, Louisiana."

On the way home from Lafayette, we spotted
a truck emblazoned with the letters TMI.
It was too perfect not to memorialize it
with a photo.

October 29 - The National World War II Museum

Today began with an interesting discovery. In 1880, Edgar Dobard (b 1846) lived with his wife, Mattie Bruigniens (b 1854), and three sons -- Edward (b 1872), Albert (b 1875), and Claude (b 1880) -- at 338 Bouny Street in Algiers. Edgar was the son of St. Luc Daubard (b 1800) and Marie Antoinette Angeletti (b 1822). Sometime around 1881-1882, Edgar moved his family to Texas, where that branch of the Dobards remains today.

The really interesting part is that the house the Daubards are renting is at 527 Bouny, just two blocks away. Edgar's house is gone; the site is now an empty lot between the Dry Dock and Crown and Anchor restaurants.

World War II Museum

The National World War II Museum was on today's agenda. The Daubards were interested in the story of the Pacific Theater as well as the Normandy invasion. The war in the Pacific was not as well known to them as the war in Europe. We spent about four hours among the exhibits.

The facade of the building is impressive.

So is the American flag inside!

As happened many times during the visit,
we ran into someone who spoke French.

Make It Right

In the afternoon we toured Brad Pitt's Make It Right housing development. There was great interest in the "green" aspects of the houses. Bernard snapped these photos.

While in the neighborhood,
we passed by Fats Domino's home.

At their request, we dropped the cousins off in the French Quarter to do some shopping. Here's a glimpse of their evening via Bernard's photos.

Musicians along Decatur Street.

They saw some interesting characters.

Statue of philanthropist Malcolm Woldenberg
in Woldenberg Park, along the Mississippi River.

Sunset behind the Crescent City Connection.

Oct 28 - Alligators!!

Restaurant des Familles

On Sunday, October 28, we headed south, to Restaurant des Familles on the Des Familles Bayou in Crown Point, Louisiana, for a champagne brunch. As you can see from the photographs, the food was enjoyed by all. Often one can see alligators from the restaurant windows, but even with binoculars, there were no alligators in residence this day.

The entrance to the restaurant.

A kindly diner snapped this photo
of the five of us.

Turtle soup

Oysters and crab meat Benedict

Shrimp Diane with onions and
mushrooms over pasta

Soft-shelled crab

Redfish grilled with alligator sauce

Romain's expression says it all.

Jean Lafitte Barataria Preserve

In order to walk off the lunch (and look for alligators), we went to the Barataria unit of the Jean Lafitte State Park system, just down the road from the restaurant. There are several miles of boardwalks through the swamp, marsh, bayou, and along an old plantation canal. We chose a route which, according to the ranger, promised alligators.

It was about a mile and a half round trip. Bernard, Fabienne, and Romain made it the whole distance. I managed about a mile and a quarter. Lloyd napped in the car.

A lovely, peaceful walk, even though there
were many people enjoying the beautiful day.

Lovely scenery all along the pathway.

Part of the route ran along a bayou.

Part of the boardwalk is elevated.

An alligator, at last! Bernard snapped this
photo near the end of the boardwalk.

This little guy said good-bye as we were leaving.

It was a long day in the sun and fresh air on top of that rich meal.

 Bernard caught a little cat nap before
heading out for the evening activity.

Lloyd and our guests headed across the river to Preservation Hall for some good old New Orleans jazz. There were no clear photos, but I like this one that Bernard took. It looks like a painting.

With the time difference, our guests really start to flag in the early evening, but they are up early in the morning. We introduced them to Tout de Suite, our favorite coffee house in Algiers. They've adopted it as their favorite breakfast spot, where they can also use the wifi.