New Orleans, LA (October 22)

At 8:00 AM, they threw us off the boat.  More accurately, they disembarked us expeditiously so that they could quickly get AMERICA reading for its new passenger manifest.  It had been an interesting experience that I will not dwell on further in this or subsequent posts.  I did post a review on Cruise Critic.

We took a taxi to the Pontchartrain Hotel where, miraculously, our room was ready.  Since we had not anticipated this, we were dressed for a day of touring, so as soon as our bags were delivered headed out, with a stop at the coffee shop for breakfast.

We left the hotel a little before 10, walking about a mile to the World War II National Museum where we rendezvoused with two of our AMERICA shipmates (boatmates?) from Montana - Nancy & Bruce.

We started with a movie that was moving and disturbing, putting in stark terms the magnitude of the destruction in human life not just in terms of combatants, but the far greater number of civilians.  We then visited the exhibits on the European Theater.

Saying good-bye to Nancy & Bruce, we walked to the St. Charles trolley to Audubon Park, rolling past our hotel along the way. 

Audubon Park is across St. Charles from Loyola and Tulane.  We opted to walk in the park rather than around the campuses. 

Leaving the park, we decided to walk back part of the way along St. Charles.  Doing so, we passed a number of houses decorated for Halloween.  One house in particular stood out.  It was locally known as Skeleton House.  While we were standing there cars would pull up, someone hop out and take a few picture, then hope back it and the car depart.

We walked to dinner at Commander's Palace, a restaurant in the Garden District, considered by many as the gold standard for upscale dining in NOLA. 

We had a truly excellent meal served by Britt, Rebecca and Bella, that began with the three soups appetizer. While coat and tie were not required, I was definitely glad that I wore them.

After walking back to the hotel we went to the top floor bar to look out over the city.