Day 6 - New Orleans (last day) to Tunica, MS

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Day 6 – July 2^nd

Our Last morning in N’awlins. We had breakfast around the big dining room table and chatted with other guests and the lady in charge of the breakfast room – what a Sweetie she is! She told us there will be a celebrity staying with them next week, but she didn’t know who it was. Then she went on to tell us about last year when Jennifer Gardner stayed there. Jennifer Gardner is one of my favorites. I loved watching her in the TV series Alias. I asked which room she was in and as it turns out, she stayed is the same room we were in. We slept in Jennifer Gardner’s bed!

We had two things left on our NOLA “to do” list so we got right to it this morning. Everybody we talked to raved about the WWII museum. They told us it was a “must see” and one person told us it was the best museum he’s ever been in. With recommendations like that we had to go. I must say they had an impressive collection of artifacts and memorabilia. They also had a huge area to display everything. But, (you knew there had to be a “but”, right?) it might have been the worst museum layout I’ve ever seen.

The flow, the path the guests took around the displays, was very confusing. At least twice the path came to a “T” where we had to take a left or right. If we went left we’d have to backtrack to see what was on the right side. It was annoying. Another annoyance was the lighting –it was awful! Lighting inside the display cases was insufficient plus more times than I can remember I ended up standing with the light behind me so that my own shadow was keeping me from seeing what I wanted to see. What a shame, the place could be a great museum but inept displays made it fall short of the mark.

Having said that, not all sections of the museum suffered from these deficiencies. Many areas were well thought out and carefully illuminated. They had numerous aircraft hanging from the ceiling, including a B-17E “My Gal Sal” that had crashed in inclement weather on the Greenland icecap and stranded the crew there for nine days before they hiked 26 miles to be rescued.

The highlight of the museum was a 45 minute movie narrated by Tom Hanks. I was basically a synopsis of WWII. Instead of using the standard B&W film we’ve all seen, they used state of the art CGI to replicate various battle scenarios plus occasionally a B&W clip. To keep things interesting, they also used 3D props that came out of the stage, additional lighting sources, and (to the delight of the kids in the audience) vibrating seats. I found the movie to be very sad but still, well done.

One last streetcar ride back to our car and we were outta here. Well almost outta here. There was still one more item on the “to do” list. When we were walking in the French Market we saw a photo of a reclining, weeping angel sculpture and wanted to find it. We were originally told it was in St. Louis Cemetery #2, but after doing some research we found it to be in Metairie Cemetery on the other side of town, beyond walking distance or the streetcar lines.

Jill is an excellent navigator and directed us to the cemetery easily, however, getting into the cemetery proved to be a bit more difficult. The Cemetery was originally built overlooking a canal. Today that canal is Interstate-10. We drove around the cemetery and couldn’t find the entrance. As it turns out there is a “spur” road off of the entrance ramp to I-10 East that crosses oncoming traffic exiting I-10 West that then winds its way to the cemetery.

The Metairie Cemetery was like the St. Louis cemeteries in the French Quarter only much better maintained and clean – no tourists here. It was also HUGE and after driving up and down a few of the wide streets in the cemetery Jill wisely decided to ask for help. She asked a stone mason working on one of the tombs about the Weeping Angel. He was familiar with it and said he’d take us there, indicating the directions would be too difficult follow. So, he stopped what he was doing, brushed the dust off his hands, and hopped in his pickup truck so we could follow him to the tomb.

A short while later he pulled over and pointed out the window to a white marble tomb. The glass and steel doors were open and a lady with a camera was standing there taking pictures of the inside of the tomb. After getting out of our vehicles, we shook hands and thanked him for his trouble and even offered him a couple bucks for his trouble but he wouldn’t have any of it.

The lady with the camera was leaving as we approached the tomb. There was also a cemetery employee standing on the steps of the tomb. He had opened the tomb for the lady (not really sure how that all came about). He politely greeted us and told us of the history of the tomb and the Weeping Angel inside. Not only did the gentleman tell us a bit about the tomb but also gave us a brief history of the cemetery and the surrounding area. He also gave us a lesson on what a big business cemeteries and funeral homes are. A corporation just bought the Metairie Cemetery and its associated funeral home for one billion dollars, yes billion!

I’d like to stop here and take a break from the narrative to mention how impressed we are with the people of New Orleans. We all know that Southerners have a reputation for being warm and hospitable, just as we Northerners have a reputation for being cold and aloof. Anyway . . . the people in NOLA are everything Southerners are supposed to be – and more. We’ve come to the conclusion that the hurricane season of 2005 has injected these people with a new outlook on life. So many of the people with whom we’ve come in contact have lived through a watery, wind-blown hell and come out the other side alive and well, and are respectful of that fact. They are glad to be alive!

We met many people during our stay in New Orleans. Here are a few of the people that impressed me:
The lady that took care of the breakfast room at our bed and breakfast had every reason to be a grumpy middle-aged woman, her personal loss as a result of fallout from Katrina is overwhelming yet she seemed to have a permanent smile etched on her face.The waitress in the restaurant that ran half a block in the French Quarter sun to return the credit card I left behind<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">The two laborers in St Louis Cemetery #2 that stopped what they were doing to answer stupid tourist questions for usThe stone mason who stopped laying bricks so he could direct us to the Weeping AngelThe cemetery employee that took twenty minutes out of his day to proudly tell us about the place he worked and history of the area.



There were many other instances that brought smiles to our faces not mentioned here. None of these people will ever see this blog or know that I told everybody how glad we were to have met them. I just hope that we somehow conveyed our pleasure to them.

The Weeping Angel was our last stop in the Big Easy. We navigated our way out of the cemetery to I-10 then to I-55 northward to Memphis (more exactly to Tunica, MS where we were staying for the night).

We had intended to stay at the famous Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis, that is, until we saw the prices of the rooms. So we started scouring the internet looking on Priceline, Travelocity, etc. We found a room at Harrah’s Terrace Hotel, a non-smoking room with a king bed for $30.00. SOLD! We grabbed it and held our breath, hoping that it wouldn’t be like other $30 rooms we’ve had in the past. I suppose Tuesday night is very slow at the hotel, they needed to get bodies into their rooms. The room was nicely appointed, large, and clean. Tunica is thirty minutes outside Memphis but worth the drive when you can save $200 on a nice hotel room.

It was a long day and we pulled into the hotel parking lot after dark. We checked out our room then took the shuttle over to Harrah's Casino for a late supper. We walked past the slots, the high roller blackjack table, and then watched them shoot craps for a few minutes before getting the shuttle back to the hotel – all without spending a dime on anything but our dinner.

Thanks for reading,

Don and Jill

PS: I just realized I never talked about hyperlinks. Any words on these pages that are highlighted in color (usually blue) are links to other pages of interest pertaining to the topic highlighted. These other pages will open in a new window so you can easily come back here.

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Photos

New Orleans Streetcar
Most all streetcar lines run down the center of New Orleans' boulevards

My Gal Sal
Rested on the Greenland icecap until 1995

My Gal Sal
B-17E

The Weeping Angel
In tomb of Chapman H. Hyams, dedicated to his sister. Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA

Weeping Angel
Metairie Cemetery

P-51 Mustang
National WWII Museum, New Orleans, LA

My Gal Sal
A B-17E on display at the National WWII Museum, New Orleans, LA

Civil War Tomb
A tomb for the combined armies of Louisiana and Tennessee

Civil war tomb
Inscription on walkway

Comments

[Dad]

Clarksdale, MS
Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club. and other attractions. Sorry I forgot to mention it.

[Jay and Patsy Fay]

Dear Don and Jill Whether
Our greeting is Pat's work, having noted the absence of a comma in your blog intro. I think she has been living with me too long!! Really enjoyed your last post from Newarlens, or however they say it. I must agree with your assessment of the southern folks. When Sherry went to Wofford College in Spartenburg, South Carolina, we were very impressed with the personal way we were spoken to and treated. We are enjoying sharing your adventure. Happy motoring. Love, Jay and Pat.