Day 56 – We had booked the 9 a.m. “Super City Tour” and had to be at the French Quarter waterfront to get our tickets by 8:30, so we got up early. The first Park shuttle leaves at 10 a.m. so we knew we had to find another way into the City. We’d looked into driving in ourselves but secure parking is $18 every 3 hours and we were going to be there all day. A one-way taxi ride is $22 not counting tipping. Uber was much cheaper than these alternatives so we decided to try Uber for the first time. We called, allowing plenty of time for them to get to the Park, and 5 minutes later a nice gentleman arrived to pick us up. Our driver had been an extra in the HBO series “Treme’” and claimed to know quite well a major star from the show (whose name has escaped me at this moment). Our driver’s name was Michael Charles and he’s writing a first-hand, “real story of Hurricane Katrina and the Treme’”. We got $10 off our first Uber trip so our ride cost us one dollar and change. Way to go!
We arrived at the French Quarter with plenty of time to get to Cafe du Monde for the “must-have” Cafe au Lait and Beignets before the crowds lined up. Every single person we had asked for recommendations in NOLA said that of course, you must go to Cafe du Monde. They were right. We’d gone by there yesterday but the line snaked around the block. Today we got right in, but when we left at 8:15, a line had already started.
Cafe du Monde is the perfect way to start your day in the French Quarter, and we thank everyone who recommended it! If you are looking for a big breakfast with an omelette and fresh fruit, forget about it. Cafe du Monde is situated at a prime location near Jackson Square and the waterfront, and it’s perfect to sit there and watch the people as they stroll by. Its original venue was a small enclosed Cafe but they obviously had to expand and also have huge outdoor, canape-covered seating, too. The “menu” is printed on the napkin holder, and basically all that’s offered are their signature beignets and various coffees, teas, hot chocolate, etc. This place has obviously been here for quite awhile as proven by the memorabilia on the walls. We needed to use the restroom, and when we asked where it was we were pointed to the kitchen. Charming really.
What is a beignet? I didn’t know, and had to ask our friend, Mark T, before we went there. I have to admit I was skeptical because I don’t eat anything sweet in the mornings, just coffee or tea; I don’t eat donuts or cinnamon rolls or apple fritters. Now Rob, on the other hand, loves this stuff. An order of beignets comes with 3, so I said to just get 1 order and I’d have just a bite to taste it. Rob also got a black coffee and I ordered the Cafe au Lait. Rob is critical of most coffee, but he thought his was excellent and I loved the Cafe au Lait. But the beignets? I should have gotten my own order of three, or maybe 2 orders of 3 since I’ve been craving them ever since. They were SO good. Their beignets were airy, slightly buttery dough, lightly fried and covered with a humongous amount of powdered sugar and served fresh and warm. Do NOT wear dark clothing when you go there. You are brushing the powdered sugar off yourself for days! Don’t lean on the table with your forearms or they’ll be sticky for the rest of the day. And yes, it’s worth waiting in line if you need to.
We walked over to the tour ticket sales booth on the waterfront and picked up our tickets. We had booked & reserved several tours through the Gray Line New Orleans Sightseeing Tours – http://www.GrayLineNewOrleans.com, (800) 233-2628 or (504) 569-1401. Since it was our first day in the City without the insanity of French Quarterfest, we thought doing the overall Super City Tour would give us an idea of where to start on our long list of things to do. This tour was 2 hours, 20 minutes and it stopped at two places. They offer many tours, this one gives you bits of each of those tours. It was good and quite informative. The tour bus was full; book early.
The tour went thru the French Quarter & Jackson Square; by the French Market & thru historic neighborhoods; Esplanade Avenue; the Arts, Garden, & Warehouse Districts; by Victorian & Greek Revival Architecture; by Tulane, Loyola, & Xavier Universities; Audubon Park & the waterfront; Treme’; and stopped at New Orleans cemetery and City Park (for Morning Call Cafe & Besthoff Sculpture Garden). The driver was the narrator. The tour covered 40 square miles. City Park is an amazing place; you could spend all day there. The Garden District & mansions is a tour in itself, and if we’d had time, we would’ve taken that one, too. NOLA has many statues; a recent one was of 11 men in a circle to honor those who died during the BP oil spill.
The stopover at New Orleans cemetery was very interesting. The early Spanish settlers started the tradition of creating large, above-ground tombs partly because of the high water table and partly to honor the dead. The cemeteries have to be on high ground and there’s only so much high ground, so space at the cemeteries is at a premium. This led to sharing the existing tombs from generation to generation within a family. If the family couldn’t keep up the maintenance of the tomb, those tombs were purchased by a new family that could afford them. The existing remains had to stay in the tomb. They were pushed to the back and the new remains were placed inside the front of the tomb. This could happen over & over. When a new family took over a tomb, the names of the prior occupants were marked on the side and the new family names went on the front.
We finished the bus tour, and decided to go to the World War II Museum in the central business district. It was highlighted on the bus tour, and we’d heard from several people that this was a fantastic museum. We decided to try to navigate the public transportation system. Not being from big city environments, we had a bit of trouble figuring it out, but eventually we got there via a Streetcar and a City bus. The crowds were surprisingly heavy for a Monday; we heard it was because people were still there from Quarterfest & some roads were still closed for clean up from the event. By the time we got to the Museum, we were hungry and we’d heard that the restaurant, “The American Sector” at the Museum was good. We had lunch and indeed it was good, and upscale; the staff dressed in period clothing & photos on the wall were from WW II. We both got the New Orleans Shrimp & Grits (be fore-warned if you don’t eat meat, it does have tasso ham in the sauce which we picked out & pushed aside), and Rob had Apple Pie ala mode.
We headed into the Museum with full bellies and used the discount tickets from Pontchartrain Landing. We read that this Museum was considered to be one of the top five museums in the World. We thought it was awesome, very modern and completely interactive. We learned more there than we ever did in school. If you go, you should also see the movie shown there from Tom Hanks, “Beyond All Boundaries”. It is excellent and ties everything together. In addition, there are other exhibits which travel through at different times. The Museum encompasses several large buildings, and you start by going to a kiosk and picking a person who was in the War, either fighting in Europe or in the Pacific. You are issued a “dog tag” and you use it to tour and follow this person’s journey. One building houses both segments of the War with one floor showing the progression of the War in the European theatre, and the other floor showing the progression in the Pacific theatre. You walk thru the building following the timeline of the War thru multiple interactive exhibits. Both floors have dog tag stations where you stop & get the story of your chosen character at that point in the War by putting your dog tag down on the screen so it can read the bar code. Rob chose the Pacific, I chose the European; so we were able to each follow both parts of the War from the perspectives of the soldiers we chose. Without seeing it for yourself there’s no way to describe the incredible amount of work they put into this Museum to make it so realistic and engrossing, right down to the rocks, snow, sand, plants, and sounds, etc. It’s almost like a movie stage and you are walking thru it. This is an absolute MUST on any visit to NOLA, but allow an entire day to do it all; we ran out of time!
We left the Museum in the late afternoon near closing time and weren’t able to finish with the other buildings and displays. It had become hot and more humid. We were still full from lunch and called Uber to take us back to the Landing. This ride was not as good with very heavy traffic and the driver drove aggressively, he blew a stop sign, and his car broke down briefly on the thruway. We stumbled back to the RV, collapsed into the air conditioning and hugged the cats. Eventually we got hungry and walked over to the Landing’s restaurant, had drinks and appetizers since the Chef who does the great version of the shrimp was not working. Exhausted, we went back to the RV and slept hard. End of Week Eight.