Our first stop of the morning was the French Market. We got approval from Zach's mom to get the picture letters. We searched the market, but Sabeen, the vendor we talked to yesterday, was not there. Oh crap. What do we do now? Nothing to do but tour some more.
A little more history. The flag Spain flew over Louisiana
for a short time, but then was returned to France in the early 1800’s. But by
1803 Napoleon needed money to support his battles, more than he needed Louisiana,
so he sold it to America. After this the
city started to expand out of the Vieux Carré (original city). One of the first
new tracts of land to be added was the Faubourg Sainte Marie, a suburb lying on
the uptown side. Faubourg Sainte Marie became the “American section” of New
Orleans.
We jumped on the Hop-on Hop-off bus again headed
for the WWII Museum. I explained to Zach the great thing about the Hop-on
Hop-off, is we will get a different perspective today, because we will have a
different tour guide. Guess what, our
tour guide was none other than Steve, the same guy we had yesterday.
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| Canal Street. The dividing line |
One of the stories Steve told about this time of growth
was how Canal Street separates the city. The American Side and the French side.
All the street names change when they cross Canal Street, Bourbon turns to
Carondelet, Royal turns to St. Charles, etc. His story is it was because the French
Settlers thought the new settlers were uncouth, they didn’t like the music of
they played, which was Opera. Steve
claims the new settlers were from KY. I couldn’t find anything to corroborate
his story, but since many of the original immigrants to KY were of Scottish and
Irish decent, I can understand why they wouldn’t want to give up their Gaelic
and Celtic music.
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| The U.S. was out manned 12 to 1 against Japan and Germany |
The WW II Museum was fantastic. I can see why it
is rated among the top Museums in the US. The first thing that strikes you is
one of the first displays you see, it’s the incredible imbalance of troops when
the US was finally provoked to join the war. Japan had 850,000 soldiers,
Germany had 3.2 million, and the US had 335,000. The US wanted no part of the
war. We wanted to stay out of a conflict that seemed so far away. That is until
December 7, 1941. The U.S. was ill prepared for war. It had a very small army that
was poorly outfitted.
The Museum exhibits relay the sacrifice that everyone
made for the war effort. There were so many raw materials being diverted from manufacturing
everyday products that it was a hardship on the entire country, not just the men
and women who joined the service. Refrigerator manufacturers converted their
factories to make bombs. Ford converted most of its manufacturing facilities to
make “jeeps”. Sugar, flour, gas, and
other commodities were rationed. The
fine was up to $10,000 and 10 years in jail if you sold you ration book. This
was serious stuff. I think the history lessons in school fall short on the
family sacrifices of the war effort. New Orleans’ ship building industry was
converted to the building ships for the war effort. Today it takes 5 years for
an automobile to go from design to production. These manufacturers in some
cases had to design and start production in fortnight or maybe a few months, certainly
not years. It was an amazing feat.
The museum didn’t fall short on its displays of
the warfare theaters either. It did a great job of displaying the struggles of the
men and women in uniform. There is an excellent movie at the museum called “Beyond
All Boundaries”. It is a 4-D experience. Your seat shakes as the tank rumbles up
the street. You are rocked back by explosions. When it snows on the troops, “snow”
falls from the ceiling. We had to rush
through the last section of the Museum, the 3.5 hours we allowed just wasn’t
enough. If you go, go early. We had to
get back to the bus stop, so we could catch the bus before they ended their
loops at 5:30.
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| A rather large ship in the Mississippi |
We boarded the bus, fully expecting Steve again,
but to our pleasant surprise Susan was the tour guide on this bus. Susan told
us that New Orleans sits at mile 100 of the Mississippi River (yep it’s
actually another 100 miles to where the Mississippi River officially ends at
the Gulf of Mexico). New Orleans is 2,200 miles where the Mississippi River
Starts in Northern Minnesota.
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| Beads get hung in the trees during the parades along St. Charles St. They could be up there for years. |
Susan also educated us on a couple of terms used in
New Orleans. She said most people outside of the area have an incorrect
definition about these terms, Cajun and Creole.
Cajuns are descendants of the original French speaking
Acadian exiles who were driven from what is now the Canadian provinces of Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island and mainly settled in either Louisiana
and Québec.
Creole refers to people of any race or mixture
thereof who are descended from colonial French La Louisiane and colonial
Spanish Louisiana (New Spain) settlers before the Louisiana region became part
of the United States in 1803. In order to be considered a Creole in New Orleans,
you must be able to trace your heritage back to the original French or Spanish
Settlers of what is now Louisiana.
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| Some buildings have Balconies and/or Galleries. A Gallery has post that go to the ground to support it. A Balcony does not have post to the ground. In this picture you see a Gallery on the left and a Balcony on the left. |
Lesson Learned:
WW II was a testament to American ingenuity and tenacity. Out manned 12 to 1, the U.S. rallied to win in both the European and
Pacific Theaters. Follow this link to a virtual tour of the museum: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/visit/exhibits
KY has more ties to New Orleans, according to our
tour guide, Steve. KY sent the first American settlers to establish the
American District.
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| I used to frequent a restaurant in Lexington, KY named Bourbon and Toulouse. I found its origins. |
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