Lower Mississippi Trip
Apr 28 - May 9, 2022
Sunday May 1, 2022 New Orleans
This morning after breakfast we get on our Motor Coach and are taken to the World War II Museum. This is a huge museum dedicated to teaching all sides of WW II. We only have time to tour a small part of this museum. Why was New Orleans chosed as the place to house the museum? This is because the Higgins boats used in D Day Invasion in Normandy, France were built in New Orleans. We sit in a small theater and are shown a movie titled BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES depicting the horrors of war. We are shown all sides of the war and how our country reluctantly finally entered the war. It is a very intense movie and moves many of us to tears. We were warned ahead of time that the movie would be intense.
After lunch inside the museum, the motor coach takes us to the Hilton Hotel where we are all to be tested for Covid 19. This is a requirement for any one boarding and cruising on the American Queen steamship. Not only must all passengers be tested, but all staff. Everyone on the boat is tested the day before boarding. If you fail the test you may not enter the boat. Fortunately we all pass the test! We are taken back to our hotel and are on our own for dinner.
Al and I decide to try the Bistro Restaurant across the street from our hotel. We are shown right to a nice table at a bay window overlooking the street. My pork chop dinner is delicious. We ask one of the waiters where the flight of stairs lead.
"Oh"...he answers..."the stairs lead to the rest rooms. Actually the area downstairs is unusal as it is a long tunnel corridor between the dining area here and the bar area. I have often seen a customer from the bar go downstairs and then come back up into the dining area. I can tell he is completely lost by the puzzled look on his face!"
Sure enough. Not long after that I notice a man come up the stairs and look around puzzled. Then he walks around to the bar.
We leave the Bistro and step out onto the city sidewalk. Immediately a native of the area stops to say hello to us. Al compliments him on the brightly colored beads he is wearing around his neck. Then to our surprise he takes the beads off and hands one string of beads to Al and one to me! "My name is Jasmine," he tells us. Al gives hims some money for the beads. Jasmine beams and states, "Take a picture of me and her." We introduce ourselves by name and Al takes our picture wearing the beads. He is a very friendly young man.
On our way back to our hotel we hear sirens going off, see flashing lights coming down the street and the sound of drums. We wait and sure enough on comes a long marching band dressed in blue and silver uniforms. Of course right in the center is a Mardi Gras character elaborately and brightly costumed as in a Mardi Gra parade. Why the parade? We do not know. We know that the annual jazz festival is being held here in New Orleans at this time. We know that New Orleans is a big party and parade town at nights. Tomorrow we are going to Mardi Gras World and will learn more there.
