New Orleans, Day 5- Monday, January 12, 2015

 

When I ended the day last night, the 1812 Re-enactment was officially over, and I had pretty much done everything I had hoped to do when I came to New Orleans.  And bought the t-shirt.  I was kinda wishing that I was going home today instead of tomorrow, but it has turned out to be a great day.  The weather is sunny and in the 70s.  Nobody (except the locals) is even wearing a jacket.

Not only is the weather nice, but there's been fun things to do.  At breakfast, Dean and I decided to walk down to the National World War II Museum, which is just a few blocks down our street.  I had heard great things about the museum, but even so, I was really impressed with the size and quality of the displays.   The story of World War II is an epic, certainly, and this museum is built to that scale.  There are quite a few large buildings that are part of the complex, and any one of them was interesting enough to be an attraction itself.  

We started with the movie called, "Beyond the Boundaries," which is narrated by Tom Hanks.  It felt very "Disney" in it's production values and was very tastefully done.  It's a "4D" movie.  The seats shake as tanks roll over you or as guns go off, and physical pieces are raised and lowered into the scenes as the movie continues around them.  The total effect is quite impressive.  When life sized people marched across the bottom of the screen, it was hard to tell if the actors were really there or part of the movie until they morphed in front of you.  You can see a trailer for it on YouTube-  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yBQPWiPsL6Y 

The next presentation that we went to was the "Final Mission."  In this experience, you board the submarine, the U.S.S. Tang and are assigned a role to play.  I was Albert L. Hudson and in charge of engine speed.  Each of the 15 or so people had to follow orders that were given over the loudspeakers and I was moving about 7 levers that controlled the speed of the submarine.  In the end, the Tang is sunk, as in real life but there were survivors-- the only people to ever survive a submarine being sunk.  I didn't like the submarine experience as much as the Tom Hanks movie.  It was too wide open and didn't feel claustropobic like a real submarine.   However, we did find the U.S.S. Growler's name on a list of subs that were lost in the war, and found Howard Gilmore's name on the display on the Medal of  Honor recipients.  (Oddly, they didn't have his picture on the wall there.)  Many huge pieces of euipment were in the lobby of the next building, with planes hung from the rafters lke they are in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.  There was a Sherman tank, a Corsair plane, a B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber, and quite a few other vehicles.

From these displays, we went to a new exhibit called, "Road to Berlin."  It tells the story of the American fight in Europe.  It has only been open for three weeks and a new exhibit called, "Road to Tokyo" will be opening soon.  As a person walks from room to room, the exhibits do quite an amazing job in demonstrating each phase of the story.  The dressing in each room creates a different atmosphere.  For example, in Bastogne, there's snow covered forest all around you.   After this, we went to the oldest building of the complex.  The museum started here as the National D-Day Museum because the landing craft used at D-Day were made designed and made by Andrew Jackson HIggins, here in New Orleans.  This part of the museum focused on D-Day, and there were certainly interesting things here, but some of the story being told here was overlapping the stories told in the other presentations and exhibits.  Still, we had spent several hours at the museum and it was well worth it.

Dean picked a nearby tavern for a late lunch.  A sign said, "Soup of the day: beer."  We enjoyed a glass of "Nola Blonde" with lunch.  I had chicken and waffles to eat, which is exactly what it sounds like.  They had a beer-based syrup to go with it that was cinnamon flavored.  It was good.

Dean and I paused for a short break at the hotel, then headed into the French Quarter, where he wanted to revisit a grocery store to get some local things.  We were on Royal Street, and could see a commotion up ahead.  It looked like emergency vehicles, but there was a camera on a crane as well.   I said, "Oh my gosh... do you know what this is?"  Sure enough, they were shooting a scene from NCIS: New Orleans.  There was a "dead body" laying in front of a statue by the Louisiana Supreme Court Building.  The "coroner" was looking over the body.  I'm sorry I don't know the supporting characters well enough yet, but Scott Bakula was there.  I liked him a lot when he was on "Quantum Leap," and he is also a member of the very exclusive Star Trek Captains Club.  We were allowed to walk by without stopping, but I did manage to get some pictures.  It was pretty cool to see! 

After Dean got his foodstuffs, we went to Pat O'Brien's on St. Peter's Street.  I had read that they had a drink called the "Battle Crye" created as a part of the Bicentennial of the Battle of New Orleans celebration, and it comes in a souvenier glass. It was a bit stronger than I usually get, being based with bourbon.  The building is pretty cool, being built in 1790.  It has muskets forming arches in the ceiling in the entryway and has more than 500 steins hanging from the ceiling in the bar.  We talked to the bartender about his Mardi Gras experiences.  We then made our way back to the hotel for another break.

For dinner, we were joined by Dean's friends and went to the far side of the French Quarter.  They were interested in gumbo, jambalaya and local fare. I got a burger, but it was good to tag along.  It was good we were in a group.  I did have someone come up to me and say, ""Nice shoes.  I bet I know where you got them!"  We were warned about this.   They want you to bet them that they can can't tell, and then they say, "You've got them on the pavement!" and then they make you pay up.  We just kept on walking.  After dinner we got a little lost on the far side of the French Quarter.  We made our way back.   Some people made a few other stops to get things.  Eventually, we split up and I went with the group that was going back to the hotel.

It's been a great day and more than once I said that Julie would really love to be here now.  When I had a chance to call home, she said Emma had the flu and went to the doctor today.  Noodles nearly choked and she had to put her fingers in his mouth to clear the bone out.  The snow and Emma's flu kept them from doing anything fun this weekend.  :(  But they were glad I had a good time... I think.