This morning we headed out on foot in the heat of the morning sun to explore Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral.

Jackson Square, formerly the Place d’Armes in French or Plaza de Armas in Spanish, is an historic park in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Declared a national historic site in 1960 for its central role in the city’s history as the site where in 1803 Louisiana was made United States territory pursuant to the Louisiana Purchase. In the center of the square is an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans and seventh U.S. president.

St. Louis Cathedral is one of New Orleans’ most notable landmarks and was dedicated to Saint Louis, also known as King Louis IX of France. Since 1718, residents have worshipped in churches on this site. A fire in 1788 started when a candle ignited the lace draperies of an altar nearby the church and the original church was burned to the ground. The current Cathedral was first completed in the 1850’s although many modifications and additions have been made to the Cathedral over the years. It was designated as a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1964 and Pope John Paul visited the Cathedral in September of 1987. During hurricane Katrina the roof was torn open and extensive damage was done to the organ which has since been restored.

We then headed over to Royal Street for brunch at The Court of Two Sisters where they feature jazz music on the patio. The property had once been home to a notions shop owned by two sisters of an aristocratic Creole family and this is where the restaurant name comes from. In 1963, an established local restauranteur acquired the property and began preserving it. For the past 60 years the several generations of the same family have been operating the restaurant.

We dined on the rear brick courtyard with trellises covered in wisteria vines, a fountain and balconies of wrought iron railings. The buffet they serve includes a variety of 80 different items from salads to Creole and New Orleans’ favorite entrees. The food and service were excellent and the jazz music was quiet not to overwhelm the dining experience.

By mid-afternoon we headed to the airport for our flight home to San Diego. We changed planes in Dallas prior to arriving home in San Diego about 10:30pm.

After breakfast at our hotel, we visited Mardi Gras World, a 300,000 square foot working warehouse where floats are made for more than 40 Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans each year. A man by the name of Blaine Kern, Sr. founded this family of float builders back in 1946 and in 1984 began allowing visitors a behind the scenes look at the float building process. Mr. Kern traveled to Europe to learn his float building techniques and gained an international reputation in float building. He has also created floats beyond New Orleans for Las Vegas, Mobile, Galveston, Montreal, Universal Studios Mardi Gras parade and for many corporate events.

Our next stop was at the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum containing artifacts related to the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War. It houses the second-largest number of Confederate Civil War items in the world, behind the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia. It was established in 1891 by New Orleans philanthropist Frank T. Howard to house the historical collections of the Louisiana Historical Association. The museum is a beautiful reddish stone building built in the Romanesque style as it was designed by the architectural firm of Sully and Toledano of New Orleans. The interior main hall is constructed of rich Louisiana Cypress wood and features seven main trusses that transverse the room overhead.

The museum quickly grew a vast collection of Civil War items, mostly from personal donations. Today the museum contains more than 5,000 historical artifacts and continues to receive donations to its collection, mostly from families of those who served.

Next door to the Confederate Memorial Hall is the Ogden Museum of Southern Art dedicated to art by artists from 15 southern States and was established in 1999. The museum has been located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans since 2003.

This collection began with the donation of more than 600 works of art by New Orleans businessman Roger H. Ogden’s private collection. Since the original donation the museum’s collection has grown to more than 4,000 paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, wood and crafts. The current exhibits were remarkedly interesting by subject matter as well as media used.

In the afternoon we took a historic river cruise on the Creole Queen paddle wheeler. A local historian narrated the cruise offering 300 years of local history along the way. The cruise takes you downriver to the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and the Chalmette Battlefield. The narration included stories of the founding of the city by the Lemoyne brothers, the expansion of the city into the “French Quarter,” the Louisiana Purchase and the Battle of New Orleans. At the battlefield we had one hour to tour the park with a National Park Ranger and to check out the visitor center. In the visitor center they have many exhibits and films about the Chalmette Battlefield.

For dinner we ventured out to a local restaurant not far from our hotel called Creole House. They serve all types of food from traditional New Orleans Po’boys and gumbo to salads, shrimp, fish and more. The food was good although it was a very noisy restaurant.

After breakfast onboard the American Countess river boat, we disembarked in New Orleans where we embarked on a four-hour city tour through a city radiating an eccentric and unique atmosphere. On our New Orleans driving tour we had an Irish woman for our guide. She had come to the U.S. in 1975 as a young woman and got married. She had been living in New Orleans ever sense. We saw the city through her eyes and she sprinkled our tour with first hand experiences and with a lot of humor. Our motor coach took us past some of the most iconic attractions in the city, including Jackson Square, the French Quarter, the Garden District, and the Lakefront Area.

During our morning tour we stopped at the beautiful New Orleans City Park which dates back to 1854. The park encompasses 1,300 acres and is one of the largest urban parks in the country. The park is also home to the largest collection of mature live oak trees in the world, some over 800 years old. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 95% of the park was sitting in floodwaters for weeks causing nearly $50 million in damages to the park. With government assistance and local donations, they have replanted all of the lost trees (some 2,000) and made extensive upgrades to the park. In the park we stopped at New Orleans’ famous Café Du Monde for their beignets. The beignets are squares of fried dough eaten hot with plenty of powdered sugar. They were delicious and messy as everyone left covered in white powdered sugar.

We stopped at one of the many local catholic cemeteries to explore some of the ornate family vaults. There are many Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans that had traditionally been owned and operated by individual parishes. In 2016 management of all of the cemeteries were combined under the Ministry of the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries.

On our bus there were also travelers who were heading to the airport to fly home so we had to make a trip to the airport which took up about 90-minutes of our day. Very frustrating.

We finally arrived at our hotel for the next two nights, the Intercontinental Hotel near Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. After getting settled into our room we headed out to explore the city.

Our first stop was at The National WWII Museum, formerly known as the National D-Day Museum which is a military history museum. The museum focuses on the contribution made by the US to Allied victory in World War II. Founded in 2000, it was later designated by Congress as America’s official National World War II museum in 2004. The museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution outreach program.

When the museum opened, its main gallery focused on the invasion of Normandy. The Higgins boats, vital to the amphibious operations, were designed, built and tested in New Orleans by the Higgins Industries. Other galleries, built since its opening, consist of an aircraft pavilion with airplanes suspended from the ceiling, a theater, a Road to Tokyo exhibit which focused on the Pacific war, the Road to Berlin focused on the European theater, an Arsenal of Democracy focused on the experience on the home Front and room for temporary exhibits which rotate.

The museum is beautifully done and incorporates many personal stories of families across the nation who experienced the war personally through military service. It has extensive film footage shown throughout the museum, photos, weapons, exhibits, personal history recordings and more. It is so large that it takes up two city blocks and is connected with a bridge over the road. You can easily spend hours exploring the museum.

After the museum closed we got on one of the historic streetcars for a ride up and down St. Charles Road. This is one of the most beautiful streets in the city with oak tree lined sidewalks and gorgeous homes. This road passes the extensive and beautiful Tulane University campus. The St. Charles streetcar line has been running since 1835 and is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. Most of the cars running today date back to the 1920’s.

In the evening we explored the French Quarter on foot but it was not really my cup of tea. The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. Today you still see many influences from the Spanish period with the ornate cast iron galleries or balconies, many buildings having several tiers of balconies overlooking the narrow streets below. Bourbon Street is closed to car traffic at night so they can accommodate many people in the street and on the sidewalks. Most of the people have oversized drinks in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Every block seems to have multiple card tables set up with a table cloth and candle and a sign advertising tarot card readings or psychic readings.

We stopped for a bite to eat at a local restaurant called the Royal House where we tried the local specialty, the Po’boy Sandwich. Kent tried the fried fish sandwich while I tried the shrimp sandwich. They serve the fried fish on a toasted French roll with lettuce, tomato and pickles. On the side French fries to top off the large quantity of grease. Also available are alligator Po’boys in case you were wondering.

The river boat pulled up to the famous Nottoway resort on this day where we remained for the entire day. It was our only stop of the day and the resort is located just a ten-minute walk from the boat. The temperatures were about 90 degrees and somewhat humid, making it uncomfortable to stay out in the sun for very long.

We took a 45-minute tour of the Nottoway Resort, the South’s largest remaining antebellum mansion situated on 31 acres of majestic oak trees. This stunning historical plantation built in 1859 at a cost of $80,000, lies between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and offers a view of a truly grand plantation. The 53,000 square foot mansion flaunts three floors, 64 rooms, and displays an incredible 22 white square columns which contribute to its nickname, the “White Castle of Louisiana.”
The home enjoyed 19th Century novelties like a bathroom on each floor with flushing toilets and hot and cold water, gas lighting throughout the home and a complex servant call-bell system. The most popular room among guests is the White Ballroom, which is painted entirely in white and displays elaborate gold décor throughout. Rooms are trimmed in custom plaster frieze made from Spanish moss, clay, plaster and mud and are all original to the house. And as if that weren’t enough, this immaculate mansion was constructed with 365 openings (165 doors and 200 windows), one for each day of the year. We also enjoyed a stroll through the grounds and gardens.

The home has been owned by a gentleman from Australia since 1984 who uses the property as a hotel or bed and breakfast. They have built many modern cottages on the property to supplement the number of rooms as well as a restaurant and business center.

Even after investing $14,000,000 in the property since 2008, the property needs many upgrades and maintenance to make it shine. Any property of this scale would require an extraordinary amount of money to maintain. Hopefully this unusual property will be able to stand the test of time and will be here for many more years.

Late in the afternoon there was a very short and sweet champagne toast with the captain and some of the crew in the theater. It was a way of saying thank you from the crew to the guests and from the guests to the crew.

The evening’s entertainment was a show by Michaelyn Oby who performed the tribute show to Diana Ross earlier in the cruise. She was back with a show titled “Feeling Good” featuring jazz, blues and soul music.

Natchez is about 85 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and has a population of about 15,000 inhabitants. It is named after the Natchez tribe of Native Americans who inhabited much of the area from the 8th century AD through the French Colonial period. Natchez was established by French colonists in 1716 and is one of the oldest European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley. By 1779, the area was under Spanish rule but in 1797, Major Andrew Ellicott of the US marched to the highest ridge in Natchez and raised the American flag claiming Natchez and all former Spanish land east of the Mississippi above the 31st parallel for the United States.

Preceding the Civil War, Natchez was the most prevalent slave trading city in Mississippi and second in the US only to New Orleans. In 1883 the most active slavers in the US were John Armfield and Isaac Franklin who sold slaves individually, the buyers were allowed to survey the people much like items in a modern retail store.

In town we visited The Old South Trading Post to sample Southern muscadine juice, dips, salsas, jellies, cappuccinos, and coffees. There’s something for everyone here, including a wide selection of books, candies, one-of-a-kind shirts, hats, holiday ornaments, souvenirs, drug store items, and even alligator items! There were 6,000 items on display and for sale.

Our next stop was at the magnificent Rosalie Mansion, an outstanding example of Federal style architecture, built by a wealthy cotton planter in 1823. The Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution have since gained ownership and have been maintaining the house and grounds since 1938. On this self-guided tour, we discovered the history of the house and the artifacts found throughout. Period-dressed docents throughout the home were there to answer questions and to provide more information. We explored the extensive gardens, gift shop, kitchen, library, and carriage house. The rooms are all beautifully furnished with antiques, accessories and 95% of the personal items from the second and final owners of the home. The home has been a museum since 1958 when the last descendent of the family died after 101 years in the same family.

Our next stop was the William Johnson House. In 1809, Johnson was born the son of a mulatto slave woman in Natchez. At the age of eleven he was emancipated by his white slave owner, also named William Johnson, who is presumed to be his father. Johnson became a well-known barber in town for a mostly white clientele. He not only provided barber services himself, he hired free blacks, had apprentices and also owned slaves. From his barber business he was able to purchase land and become a farmer as well as a business owner.

William Johnson was able to read and write which was unusual at the time and he kept a detailed diary of his life for sixteen years, from 1835 to 1851. This has provided historians with a vast understanding about what it was like to be a free black man during this period of time in this part of the country.

We stopped at Magnolia Hall, a Greek Revival mansion built in 1858 before the breakout of the Civil War but it did not make it through the conflict unscathed. It took a direct cannonball impact to the kitchen, although it is now fully restored. The main floor offers a showcase of many antiques and furnishings and the upper floors offer a costume collection in the Historic Clothing Museum. Upstairs, we viewed a short film that outlined the history of the Natchez pageants and Garden Club, an organization founded in 1927 with the mission to preserve the rich history of the city.

Stanton Hall is a Palatial Greek Revival style mansion built between 1851 and 1857 by Irish immigrant and cotton merchant Frederick Stanton. Frederick built the home as a replica of his ancestral home in Ireland and named it “Belfast.” The palatial home occupies an entire 2-acre city block. The home is approximately 14,000 square feet in size, its lower level has 17-foot-tall ceilings and upstairs there are six spacious bedrooms. Many of the original furnishings continue to be reunited with their original home as family members who inherited them decide to donate them back to the home. It was built at a cost of $83,000 even before it was furnished. Unfortunately, Mr. Stanton only lived in the residence for nine months before he died of yellow fever.

In 1890 the home became the Stanton College for Young Ladies and by 1940 it was acquired by the Pilgrimage Garden Club, which uses it as its headquarters and operates it as a museum and event venue.

The evening’s entertainment was a variety show titled “Anything Goes Tonight” with the crew performing musical numbers from ABBA to Broadway and everything in between. The cast and the band did a great job with the musical numbers.