A Very Busy Last Day

It takes a lot to get this group up early.  Our leaders cajoled about half of us to rise before six am to get in line for breakfast.  This was not just any breakfast, but a zydeco breakfast.  We stood or sat outside for over an hour taking amongst ourselves and with visitors and locals all in line for the seven-thirty opening of Café des Amis.

 

Their pancakes and omelettes are worth a wait.  The zydeco band that played as we ate was the major attraction.  The small dance floor filled as the band played this creole beat.  Locals come every Saturday morning to dance; visitors from all over the world join them and everyone has a good time.

 Peter even tried out for the band.

This restaurant is responsible for the success of the small town of Breaux Bridge.  After it opened and got attention from the Food and Travel Channels, antique shops, inns, and other restaurants opened to meet the needs of the increasing number of tourists.

Believe it or not, our next activity was a Cajun lunch at Prejeans.  We took this time to celebrate and thank our caravan leaders with appropriate gifts: for Rita, a book on New Orleans houses; for Art a collar for the new dog, for Betty and Jack, LSU fan paraphernalia.

Then we took a tour of St. Charles College in Grand Couteau.  Originally a plantation, it was donated to the church by the Smith Family.  It became a girls’ school, then a Jesuit boys’ school.  In 1907 the wooden buildings burned.  In 1925 it was rebuilt as a seminary for Jesuit boys.  Since 1970 it has been a seminary,  a retreat where parishioners come to contemplate in silence under the guidance of a priest, and a retirement home for aging priests. 

Brother Huck took us on a tour of the building that will be reopened from its latest renovation on Monday, April 29.  He explained the changes made in the building and how updates were incorporated.

The cemetery dates back to the 1800s.  General William Tecumseh Sherman’s son, a Jesuit Priest, lies next to the son of the vice-president of the Confederacy. 

This old classroom brought back memories for many of us.

We left the church and took a brief tour of the Acadian History of the Prairie Museum.  The time line detailed North American history from the arrivals of the Acadians to Canada in 1604 to their coming to New Orleans in 1785.

We ended the evening at Liberty Theater in Eunice with a presentation at radio station KRVS (note the call letters).  Every Saturday evening the station presents a ninety-minute program entitled the Cajun French Music Show.   The quintet of a guitar, bass, fiddle, drum and accordion played two-step and waltz music that members of the audience danced to.  A father and eleven-year-old son also played a couple of tunes.  It was nice to see this young boy continuing his heritage.