Texas and Louisiana Road Trip during Covid-19 ep.3 : The Old Capitol in Baton Rouge and First New Orleans Night

Texas and Louisiana Road Trip during Covid-19 ep.3 : The Old Capitol in Baton Rouge and First New Orleans Night

2020年9月21日 0 By goldeneuglena

A trip to Louisiana by car from San Antonio, Texas, in August 2020.

Last time, we saw the sea in Texas, where there are many wild birds, and stayed one night in Lafayette and were surprised by the high alertness against Covid-19 at the Chinese restaurant.

Texas and Louisiana Road Trip during Covid-19 ep.2 : Sea Rim State Park and Lafayette

 

 

This time I visited Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana.

  • Enjoy the scenery of Louisiana from the car…
  • Seeing beautiful architecture …
  • Stay in New Orleans.

 

 

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A must-see for historic architecture lovers! the old capital of Baton Rouge

 

Good morning! Today we are moving from Lafayette to Baton Rouge.

 

ラファイエットの朝ごはん

First of all, the take-out breakfast prepared by the hotel. Despite the Covid-19, a lot of breakfast. It’s more than I expected. Although not shown in the photo, there are oranges and bananas, bagels, yogurt, and milk. It also makes coffee.

 

For breakfast, we go to the cafeteria on the first floor for ourselves. It was a buffet format where you can freely get what you like, but everything is packaged in small pieces as shown in the picture.

Some hotels that originally serve breakfast do not have restaurants during the Covid-19. Breakfast conditions vary from hotel to hotel, so be sure to check that when making a reservation.

 

 

From Lafayette to Baton Rouge, take I-10 (Interstate 10) for about 1 hour.

You can enjoy this kind of scenery from the car window.

車窓から

Louisiana is basically low on the seaside, with many swamps. The I-10 we are passing through now is also high like a bridge through the road.

 

 

車窓から2

Very impressive landscape and terrain. I regret not having the words to express it well.

 

 

ミシシッピの端

I was fascinated by the impressive scenery and noticed that we were crossing a big bridge. The enormous river that flows under this magnificent bridge is the Mississippi River. Needless to say, it’s the second-longest river in America.

 

 

 

 

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Old Lousiana State Capitole, can we really watch it for free …?

 

Ok, why did we bother to stop by Baton Rouge this time is…

 

 

旧州議会議事堂

Volà! This is Old Lousiana State Capitole! Sooooo cool !!!! It looks like a gothic castle!

 

 

The inside looks like this …

 

議事堂

It’s like being in a kaleidoscope.

 

 

議事堂

The spiral staircase in the center of the hall, just after entering, was built when the State Capitol was rebuilt in 1882 and was built by architect and engineer William A. Freret.

 

This Old Lousiana State Capitole, which only mentions spiral staircases in this article, is now a museum of politics in Louisiana. It also explains the wonderful architecture. Even people like me who are ignorant of politics will found it is probably fun.

 

By the way, it’s free! It’s also a National Historic Landmark, so be sure to check it out when traveling to Louisiana. I highly recommend it.

 

 

 

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The building of the old post office is also good, and there seem to be other old buildings.

The area around the Old Lousiana State Capitole is downtown Baton Rouge, but there are other old-fashioned buildings around here. This building has a nice façade.

旧郵便局

I’m sorry that the roadside trees are reflected and a diagonal photo. Anyway a fine façade!

 

細部

When I was having a hard time taking pictures, a local-style uncle who passed by told me, “This is an old post office, maybe from the beginning of the 20th century …” (* According to Wikipedia it is the end of the 19th century). The details of the sculpture are also fine.

 

 

There are other old buildings around downtown Baton Rouge, so it might be fun to look for architecture and walk around the city. In such a case, the page Downtown_Baton_Rouge_Historic_District” on the wiki may be easy to understand and convenient.

 

 

 

 

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Louisiana Coffee Chain Store  ”PJ’s Coffee”

 

We did not know and it’s already lunchtime. We had a takeaway breakfast at a hotel in Lafayette this morning, and we were quite full, so let’s have a break at the coffee shop.

 

PJ's Coffee

My husband found this coffee shop, which seems to be a chain store from New Orleans. There are present in many places other than Louisiana. You could add flavor, but it wasn’t syrup and not get sweet. I love this coffee shop.

 

 

 

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Entered New Orleans! French Quarter Night: Day 1

 

Well, once we’ve enjoyed the wonderful architecture, take the I-10 again and head to New Orleans, the main part of this trip! From Texas, take the I-10 to New Orleans and you’ll see Lake Pontchartrain on your left before you enter the city.

 

ポンチャートレイン湖

We thought it was the sea because it was too wide to see the other side, but it’s a lake. This lake is said to be saltwater.

 

 

湿地

Wetlands are on the right. I like this landscape so far.

 

 

立ち枯れ?

Some trees are dead. It’s an interesting landscape, isn’t it?

New Orleans in no time when we saw this kind of scenery!

 

 

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New Orleans, French Quarter Traffic and Parking

 

We thought the same thing when we were in Houston, but when we went into a big city, we were scared because there were many cars …

 

We are staying in New Orleans for 3 nights on this trip, and we choose a hotel in the French Quarter. The French Quarter has a lot of one-way and the roadway is narrow, and I remember deja vu as if it were around Sanjo to Shijo in Kyoto.

 

 

Also, smaller hotels in the French Quarter often do not have on-site parking, so you should park in a nearby multi-story car park (or roofless car park).

We were worried about the parking lot, so we pre-booked the parking lot just in case. The reservation was made by Spot Hero, which can reserve the parking lot in advance.

However it wasn’t so crowded, so it may not be necessary depending on the timing.

 

 

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The hotel in the French Quarter looks like this!

 

フレンチクオーターのホテル

This room has a small kitchen and a table where you can eat. Since it is the Covid-19, we thought that we would take it home and eat it rather than eating out. This is why we choose a room that seems to be comfortable even if we eat in the room.

The story of the hotel will be summarized in another article, please wait a little!

So, let’s have a look at the town.

 

 

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Walk around the French Quarter

 

フレンチクオーター

After a short break, We went for a walk in the French Quarter.

I think many people admire this balcony in the French Quarter, and I am no exception. The ironwork and the beautifully colored walls are really wonderful.

 

 

旧醸造所

This is a former brewery! It’s similar to San Antonio’s pearls! San Antonio was in the Second Empire style, so is this the same style(I don’t know exactly)??  In addition, it seems that this style was often used in breweries …??

 

Reference article:

建築好きにもおすすめ!サンアントニオの旧醸造所パール・ブルーワリー(Pearl Brewery)の楽しみ方

 

 

ミシシッピ川と船

You can also walk to the Mississippi River.

What a big and calm river. My husband’s friend lives in St. Louis, and she said, “Go up the river from there and come home!”

You can take a  pleasure boat tour, but this time we did not participate in the tour to avoid maximum Covid-19.

 

By the way, New Orleans is more humid than San Antonio. we are walking around the city wearing a mask, so the humidity makes us sweat a lot! If you’re traveling and sightseeing during Covid-19, it’s better to be cool in the climate.

 

 

 

Take out the crocodile!

 

Well, We were very hungry thanks to walking around. Since we came near the sea, I want to eat Oyster today! And my husband, he wants to eat crocodiles!  Ok, I am not sure that I could eat them…So, at the end of the walk, we stopped by a seafood shop.

 

 

シーフード盛り合わせ

We order a seafood fried platter & crocodile fried at Oceana Grill(Google says ☆4.4(9965)&Yelp says☆4(6533). This photo is a seafood platter. 

 

 

ワニ!

This is a fried crocodile.

It really tastes like chicken … yes, finally, we ate them and I could. It had a slightly harder texture than a chicken breast, and I felt the muscles of the crocodile.

 

 

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Next―We try Po’Boy at the huge salt lake!

Today was a lot of days. The old Capitole of Baton Rouge was really beautiful, and the cityscape of the French Quarter was also magnificent. Besides, the taste of the crocodile was surprisingly eatable.

The next day, we will go to the huge lake we saw just before entering New Orleans! And we will eat the New Orleans specialty Po-Boy!

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