Another
day of sight seeing in New Orleans.
Today
was the day to see the WWII museum. We again parked in the same lot
as yesterday and caught the trolly near the parking lot for Canal
Street where we changed to another trolly up Canal Street to the St
Charles Street trolly. A short ride on that trolly brought us to Lee
Circle where we got off and walked a short block to the WWII Museum. We buy all day passes for $3.00 each which allows us unlimited use of all RTA trolly's and busses in New Orleans. Hop on and off as we please.
I
got a price break on the tickets as a Navy veteran. Instead of $40 it
cost $28 for Clyda's and my ticket. A real deal.
The
museum is much bigger than I expected. It is 3 stories tall with lots
of displays and short videos explaining the World War II. There is a
display of vehicles and airplanes in a separate building and a
theater with special movies. The displays are really well done and
explain in great detail all facets of WWII. In all it is very hard to
see it all in detail in one day.
There
is an ongoing building project to add more details to the main
building and to make a pedestrian over crossing above the traffic.
There is a new building planned called The Liberation Pavilion. No
idea what is planned for this building.
As
we left the museum, we passed another building which houses a large
Higgins built boat. This building is under construction but the boat
is so large it is inside while the building is being built around it.
The boat is PT-305 and is available for guided tours. Higgins was the
builder of most of the landing craft used in WWII and employed large
segments of the New Orleans workforce.
We
walked several blocks to Mother's Restaurant which was recommended to
us as a good place to eat. Mothers features ham dinners. Budd and I
had ham dinners which come with 3 sides which included red beans and
rice, and fries. I only wanted two side so they gave me an extra
order of fries. Just what I needed. Clyda and Brenda had Po Boy
sandwiches which included ham, turkey, roast beef, slaw and original
debris. Your guess is as good as mine as to what debris is.
We asked about the sign. They said it was old and tipping was encouraged.
After
eating we walked to Canal street then on toward Decatur Street with
our object being the Central Grocery store where we planned to
purchase a jar of the tapenade used on Muffallata sandwiches.
We
had one more item on our list and that was to have a Sazerac before
we left New Orleans. Budd had talked to a man outside of Mothers who
said the best was an original at the Roosevelt Hotel which was a cab
ride away.
Instead
we decided to detour to Bourbon Street to find a proper bar in which
to imbibe. Bourbon Street is mostly beer joints with loud music more
fit for 20-30 somethings in age but not us old folks. On the corner I
found the Maison Bourbon which fit the bill. It is a jazz bar with a
great jazz band in residence. I talked to the bar maid who said they
made great Sazeracs but she also showed me the menu which listed
Sazeracs as costing $12 each. They were however made with Makers Mark
bourbon. I ordered. They were good. Mission accomplished.
A nicely decorated balcony on Bourbon Street.
Back
to our quest for the tapenade at the Central Grocery. By then we
realized that we may be to late as it was after 5 PM. Yup! Closed.
We
walked back towards the truck when we heard calliope music and
followed it to the river where a lady was playing on the stern
wheeler Natchez prior to it departing on a dinner cruise. A great
way to end the day as the sun set over the Mississippi River.
We
got to the truck and drove back to Slidell. The end of another great
day in New Orleans.