One last delicious breakfast in the J.M. White Dining Room. Much busier than usual. We then had to be in the Grand Saloon by 8 am. From there we departed the ship one last time and headed to our tour bus. We were so lucky that this post excursion through New Orleans was available. It was timed perfectly for us. The excursion ended at 12:30 and our plane was to depart at 2:25.
We traveled through the city with a great tour guide. No Mardi Gras parade this morning. We were able to drive down St. Charles Street where many of the parades travel. I believe there are 70 parades with the first one occurring on Friday, January 6. Of course, there are more per day the closer you get to Fat Tuesday. I wish I had snapped some photos of the ladders along the parade route. One is allowed to put out a ladder to claim their spot along the parade route. It stays there until Mardi Gras is over.
We then stopped at City Park for beignet and café au lait at the Morning Call.
One of the many live oak trees we could see from our table.
Next stop, City Cemetery #3. As you probably know, New Orleans is at sea level or below. Actually, mostly below. Consequently, people must be buried above ground.
A row of the many tombs in the cemetery. Some are family tombs. Some are for a single individual. They cost more to build than our house. We saw one that was rumored to have cost a million dollars.
Paupers are buried in the wall around the cemetery. Also, if you have a contagious disease you will be buried in one of these. After 1 year and 1 month, your body has decayed enough to move the bones to a permanent tomb.
Back on the bus and off to the airport. Our flight home was uneventful except our plane was delayed in Denver for a couple of hours. I guess a small mechanical issue then it had to be de-iced before takeoff. I'm glad I wasn't in Denver.
This was a wonderful experience. We didn't adjust to the boat as quickly as we should have. I think we probably missed some activities we would have really enjoyed if we had gotten our act together sooner. Next time we will be wiser. We do like shorter trips and most of the steamboat cruises are 8 or 9 days long. If you go the length of the Mississippi the cruise is 23 days long. I would like to go on one that goes further upstream from Baton Rouge. The river is kept 35 feet deep until Baton Rouge to accommodate the bigger ships. From that point on it is only guaranteed to be 9 feet. The American Queen needs an 8 1/2 foot depth. I think the upper river is less busy and one would see more wildlife. The lower river up to Baton Rouge has lots of industry. Much of it oil related.
Stay tuned. We should be off on another jaunt before you know it. By the way, my husband also keeps a blog. His account will be similar to mine but there will be some things that are different. Here's the link. You'll need to scroll down to find this trip. He blogs about many different things.
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