Today is Dales 59th birthday!!!
The boat docked at Baton Rouge last night at about
8pm and it was an early start for breakfast as the tour to Rosedown Plantation started at 8:15am - sharp! We thought we were on holidays!!!
After a 45 minute bus ride we arrived in the small town of
St Francisville for a short guided tour of the historic buildings around town.
St
Francisville is built on a narrow ridge, sometimes only 20ft wide, and is one
of the very few villages on the Mississippi that doesn’t have or need a levee
system. We then travelled on to the Rosedown Plantation which is now owned by
the National Parks Service.
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| One of the beautiful historic buildings in St Francisville |
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| Rosedowm Mansion |
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| One of the many bedrooms |
Rosedown was a sugar cane plantation and the house and many outbuildings
have been restored to look as they would have just prior to the American Civil War in 1862.
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| Another bedroom complete with top hat and travelling box |
Interestingly the original owner/ builder of the mansion
didin’t like wasted space so all of the wall cavity’s which would have been
voids such as beside the fire places which have been designed as cupboard space. The
majority of the cabinetry is Mahogany and all is beautifully crafted. Once
again all of the materials to build the house and outbuildings was sourced on
the property.
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| View of the Garden from Second floor balcony |
After returning yo the boat for lunch we then did a bus tour
of downtown Baton Rouge and visited the old capitol building which is now used
as a Museum. Our guide gave us a great insight into some of the “rogues” who
had been governors from time to time (just like everyone’s politicians). And as
was explained to us later by Judy Davis, the evenings entertainer., the only
difference between a corrupt Louisiana politician and most of the others was the
ones from the South were on display and proud of it!
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| Golden Orb spider - a welcome garden resident as they keep the mosquitoes down. |
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| Dome inside Baton Rouge's Old State Capitol Building |
On the way back to the boat our bus decided to take a special detour to Louisiana State University to visit Mike the Tiger in his new $2 million enclosure. He is the mascot for the universities football team, "The Tigers". Life looks tough. This Mike is number 6 and he looks very healthy and well cared for. Interestingly there is a sign posted at the keepers gate stating - no pets allowed!
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| 700lb Bengal Tiger, Mike the tiger (VI) - the mascot for the Louisiana State University football team - "the tigers" |
After dinner tonight we had local well known entertainer and story teller Judy Davis. What a great character. Extremely funny and a lovely singer - she had the crowd in stitches. We are also enjoying the free red wine on board - if this keeps up we will likely run out of supplies!!
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