Author: Chris

On our 3rd day in New Orleans Myra had scheduled a driving tour that showed us highlights of the French Quarter and the 9th Ward (heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina) and then stopped at St. Louis Cemetery #3.  This is one of the many famous above-ground cemeteries in New Orleans.

Our guide explained that the reason the graves are above ground isn’t so much about the water table, which is the common belief, but about the Catholic tradition of enclosing multiple people into the same tomb.  The tradition is when somebody dies they are placed in the tomb inside a rudimentary coffin, and after at least one year and one day, the New Orleans heat and humidity completely breaks down their body to just the bones.  If somebody from the same family dies within that one year, one day period they are placed in temporary vaults like these below.

When a new body is ready to be put into the tomb, the face plate is removed, the brick enclosing the tomb is broken down, and the previous person’s bones are placed in a sack and then pushed back into the tomb where they fall into a vault below the tomb.  The term “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole” supposedly comes from the pole used to push the remains into the vault.  Some of these tombs have as many as 50 peoples remains in them.

The vault in this photo is an exception.  This rather wealthy woman was apparently told by her daughter that she couldn’t wait until she died so she could get her inheritance.  This outburst prompted her to change her will and gave it all to charity and her dog.  She purchased an extravagant tomb where everybody would see it, and insisted her tomb only contain herself and her dog.  Maybe keep your persnickety remarks to yourself around your elders??

The tour also stopped in New Orleans City Park and we had 20 minutes to walk around the gorgeous grounds.

Apparently there are occasionally alligators in the park, so stay clear of the waters edge.

This park was created by the guy that planned Central Park in NY, only this park is larger!  Beautiful spot.

Here is William showing off his expert selfie skills!

After the tour we walked through the French Market, which is decorated for the holidays.  It’s one of those must-visit spots in the French Quarter, although the stuff in the market wasn’t French in the least.  Not even a cheap Eiffel Tower!

That night we had dinner at our favorite New Orleans restaurant, as we’ve eaten here each time we’ve visited NOLA.  It did not disappoint!  The waiter, Terrance, was awesome, and very entertaining!  If you come here ask to be seated in his area.  He’s worked here for 20 years so he’s not likely to leave any time soon!

After dinner we worked our way into Mahogany Jazz Hall, which was quite a feat for a group of 12!

The music was quite good.

On our way back we checked out Observatory 11 Bar at the Westin Hotel.  The elevator ride was the best part of the bar….not as scenic a spot as I had hoped for.  William, you took this photo and cut off your own head??

Myra and June challenged each other to ride down the bannister in the bar.  The things these kids get up to.

On our 4th day we all decided to break up and do our own thing.   William, Myra, Rob, June, Vaughan and Tina went to Commanders Palace, the famous restaurant in the Garden District.

While Rob, June, Jeff and Sharilyn went on an air-boat ride to check out some alligators!

Kim and I went back to the WWII museum to see what we missed the first time around.  The museum is huge, and if you are in to the history of WWII you will want to spend at least 2 days here.

I was impressed to see an original Enigma machine.  These are SUPER rare.  The only other one I’ve seen is at the MONA Museum in Hobart, Tasmania.  Very cool!  If you don’t know anything about it, I highly suggest you watch the movie “The Imitation Game”, with Benedict Cumberbatch.  It’s excellent!

This photo of General Eisenhower talking with Lieutenant Wallace C. Strobel became an iconic photo depicting his incredible leadership.  Lt. Strobel, chatting with the future President, is just 2 hours away from boarding his plane and leading his paratroopers into battle behind enemy lines on D-Day.

The museum really went out of their way to make the place as engaging as possible.  That’s a video of aircraft flying over an apparent hole blasted in the ceiling.

They even had a mock-up of the forest from the Battle of the Bulge.  I’m pretty sure the air conditioning in this section was turned down to 50 degrees!  Bear in mind the AC throughout is quite effective, so if you get cold easily bring a sweater.  I was very happy we went back for a second day, as I think this is likely our last trip to New Orleans.

That night we had dinner at Peche, just south of the French Quarter.  Another excellent meal!  Somebody seems to know what they are doing planning this shit out!

A good shot of best buds!

And Myra’s 4th of 5 Birthday desserts.  We are milking it!

The group celebrates a happy meal!

Kim and I decided to call it quits, but here is everybody else at the Cat’s Meow.

As well as on a balcony, I have no idea where.  No beads to throw?

Up next, we have last day/night  of debauchery in New Orleans.

 

 

 

Our flight from San Antonio to New Orleans was again uneventful.  The TSA seemed to be fully manned and security was a breeze.  The “Schumer Shutdown” continues to have zero impact on our travels.

We arrived at our condo and soon met up with our first set of travel partners for Myra’s birthday.  There would be 6 to start with, which would turn into 12 of us by the 3rd day.

We ate at the famous Brennan’s, which has been around since 1946.  The food was pretty good, and the famous dessert “Bananna’s Foster” that was invented here was a must order!  Here is a quick video as our host was preparing the dessert.

A shot of us at dinner.  The interior of Brennan’s is beautiful, particularly when it’s being graced by this group!

Here we are on Bourbon street later that night.  It actually looks cleaner than I remember, and definitely way less crowded than the last time we were here.

We had to walk pretty far down the street to actually find some jazz music.  We ended up at “Fritzel’s Jazz Bar”, the oldest operating jazz bar in New Orleans.  It’s located in a historic building from 1831, with the jazz bar opening in 1969.  We spent about an hour listening to “Fritzel’s All Stars”, and damn were they good!  Here’s a little snippet.

The next morning our group walked 15 minutes south from our condo to the National WWII Museum, an attraction that was built since we were last here in 2002.  Anybody that knows me knows I’m a huge WWII history buff, and this is the best WWII museum in the world!

The museum starts with a rather hokey train simulator where you pick up a dog tag of a specific soldier that you can interact with in multiple locations of the museum.  Not my thing, but the simulation was interesting.

Likely the most in-depth portion of the museum covers D-Day.  The original intent of the museum was to only cover D-Day, but they ended up deciding to cover the entirety of the war.  They definitely went out of their way to cover D-Day in exhausting detail.  Below is a depiction of a pillbox overlooking Omaha Beach.

This diorama depicts the volume of aircraft and vessels involved in the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

The museum is full of interesting items, this one being “Rupert”, a dummy paratrooper that was dropped in various locations to throw off the Nazi’s as to the actual focus of Normandy.  These were dropped complete with uniforms, boots and helmets, as well as with recordings of gunfire and exploding mortar rounds.  A few actual paratroopers would drop with them and set off other effects such as flares and chemicals to simulate the smell of exploded shells.  The allies really pulled out all the stops to ensure the Nazi’s had no idea where D-Day was actually occurring.

Another interesting item on display was this “Jap Hunting License”, a novelty item that was quite popular shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was actually used as a promotional item for several companies at the time, this one from a printing company in Oxnard, CA.

Below is an actual Western Union telegram sent to the family of Private James A. Sudecz, killed in action in Italy on July 12, 1944.  These telegrams were sent out to far too many families.

In the center of the vast museum is a Parade Grounds with numerous statues and interesting architecture.  Here is one of the major hero’s of WWII, particularly regarding D-Day, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

I really liked the angular design of the various buildings as well as the “Canopy of Peace”, which hangs over the Parade Grounds.  Below is Kelly, Myra, Kim and John.

Another view of the Canopy of Peace from the exterior of the museum.

Just outside the museum is this set of statues, called “Lest We Forget: The Mission”.  The sculptor, Fredric Arnold, drew from his personal experience flying P-38’s, and was one of the few pilots to survive from his aviation class.  Following the war, he vowed to convey the incalculable cost of war and pay tribute to the 88,000 U.S. Airmen killed during WWII.  He completed this seven year project at the age of 94, just two years before his death in 2018.

After the museum everybody needed a cocktail and a snack so we headed over to the rooftop bar Rosie’s On The Roof at the adjacent Higgins Hotel.  Rosie’s got nothing on Myra!

William got an excellent shot of the city from the rooftop.

On the walk back John decided he wanted to be photographed behind a “Police Line”.  Here you go John!  Power to the people!

That night we ate at one of the best restaurants in New Orleans, Dakar.  It’s also considered the 6th best restaurant in the United States.  From left to right; Kim, Tina, Vaughan, Myra, William, Kelly, John and yours truly.

We have to say, it lived up to the hype!  It was absolutely amazing!  If you come to New Orleans, make sure you book this two months out, when reservations first open up.

Coming up, we take a driving tour of New Orleans, Kim and I head back to the WWII Museum, we take a walking tour of the Garden District and a Ghost Tour of the French Quarter.