We were packed at 8 am with luggage ready. We had breakfast downstairs (grits and gravy) and then it was off to our bus tour of New Orleans. The tour guide was full of true and odd facts (who knew that Nicholas Cage has a tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery? He loves this city and wants to stay here for eternity!) That’s the kind of knowledge that we learned today. Okay, there were some real facts about burial practices above ground and how high the water came during Katrina, and that grass and dirt make better levies than concrete, and that the pumps are like turbines working backward.
Early on, the bus stopped at the far end of French Quarter which gave us a chance to walk down Frenchman Ave where my personal poet told us there might be music. All the shops were dark, but we’ve now seen DBA, Snug Harbor, and the Spotted Cat… so I’ll know where to come next time when I want lots of live music and have the money to pay for it. Back on the bus, we drove down St. Charles Street and went right by Grand Victorian where we stayed for two nights and right by the colleges, the park, and the zoo. John caught me napping but woke me in time for the beignet stop. We have now eaten the powder-covered twist and washed it down with a swig of decafe. Yum. On that stop, we also photographed our first swamp, complete with low-hanging live oaks covered in Spanish moss—all with stories, all just gorgeous.
On our freeway ride back, we had a good long look at the Superdome, again with Katrina references. People were housed there until the roof started to go. And there was a watermark halfway up the ramp indicating how far the water had come. The place is gigantic, so big in fact that I suggested that patrons in the cheap seats might need very expensive binoculars to actually see the ball!
The tour ended at the boat (not a ship, even though it’s big.) And what a boat it was, much prettier than expected! It was freshly painted red, black, and white with crown-shaped smokestacks and wrought iron railings running fore and aft on every deck. The best was, as the bus door opened, Dixieland music wafted in. A live band was playing on the bow. Hooray!
I wanted to go right upstairs, but we were directed left and aft. We were under orders to first make sure our luggage had arrived before clinking a glass of “welcome champagne” at the music party. Finally, there, we sat listening to “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” When the guys took a break, I introduced myself to Dave, the clarinet player. When I asked him about his barrel and ligature, he said, “You must play clarinet yourself!” I learned he’d been in the Army band in Germany and stayed on in the business. Then I learned the best part— they are sailing with us! We’re going to get a steady, daily dose of really good Dixieland. They’re called the Steamboat Syncopators, and they syncopate very nicely!
Next, we toured around. We found the real steam-powered paddle and the engine room to take pictures of the piston arm—magnificent. True story. The engineer looked a little green so I conversed with him a bit. When we asked him about steamboat races, he knew nothing about it. “Not since I’ve been here,” he said. And how long has that been, I asked. “One week!” Thankfully, he’s not the first engineer, but the third… and still learning what all the dials do, I think.
There are shows on this boat. The show tonight was a preview of all the shows. It was a delightful variety kind of thing— a bit of song and dance, storytelling, comedy, and Dixieland, of course. Looks like a fun week. Stay tuned.