We woke up much earlier today as we knew we had a full day ahead of us. Headed to the Cafe Rose Nicaud on Frenchmen and had bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast — my normal fare. We then headed down Frenchmen to Esplanade and picked up the street car. We all bought day passes for $3 each and rode the street car to Canal Street then another street car up to the St. Charles line (which has green street cars rather than the red found on the Riverfront and Canal Street lines). Those street cars were packed, however, so we decided (OK, I decided) to walk towards Lee Circle and hopefully catch an emptier street car if possible. That never happened. The CBD of New Orleans is not a bad walk at any rate and the weather was beautiful — partly cloudy and 70s. We walked past Lafayette Square as well, the location of free concerts every Wednesday. We also saw some really neat old buildings and the Civil War Museum which is in this crazy brick building.
Street car interior
St. Charles street car
Lafayette Square in the New Orleans CBD
Neat old buildings in the CBD
Civil War Museum in that funky red brick chateau looking building
We arrived at the National World War II and D-Day Museum about 11a or so. Since we had been walking and Addison hadn’t eaten that much of a breakfast we decided to make our first stop the American Sector restaurant. It was a bit pricey but good fare, I had a French Dip with Creole Jus with some lightly salted chips. Addison and Michelle had chocolate milkshakes that looked yummy and Genetta a chicken sandwich with three full-sized chicken breasts on it. She had some S’more Pie afterwards that she thought was very tasty. Dinner is probably quite good there, and it’s neat as all of the hostesses and waitresses dress in period 40s clothing.
World War II museum buildings
As we had been to the museum a couple of times in the past we headed straight for the newest building that had opened since our last visit in 2012 — the Boeing Freedom Pavilion. I don’t know about it being filled with freedom, as such, but it was filled with awesome planes! They had six World War II planes suspended in the building with several levels of catwalks with which to view them from several angles: a Corsair, Avenger, Dauntless, Mustang, B24, and B17. Only the Thunderbolt and the Lightning were really amiss, and of course a B29 — but that would not have fit. There were in incredible restored condition and accompanied by all sorts of neat artifacts like flight suits, logs, and the like.
Wide view of the planes on display, including a B17, B24, Avenger, Corsair, Dauntless, and Mustang
P51 Mustang
Dauntless (a dive bomber)
Cockpit of the B24 Liberator
B24 Liberator
The B17, “My Gal Sal”, has an interesting story. It was among a very early flight to help out England but had crashed on an icecap in Greenland along the way. The crew needed to get a propeller turning in order to operate the radio but the blades were dug into the ice and bent, making the propellers impossible to start up. They used a hacksaw to hack through three of the blades on one of the propellers and got it turning, radioing in what had happened. They then had to endure ten days on the icecap before a rescue operation was mounted. The plane was largely forgotten until 1995 when it was salvaged. A businessman in Ohio bought it and over many years a team of 23 worked every week (over 80,000 hours total) to restore it for display in an airport in Ohio. That airport closed, however, and the owner decided to donate the plane to the World War II Museum.
"My Gal Sal", B17 lost on a Greenland ice cap during World War II
Also present were a selection of oral histories. We all enjoyed listening to them, including a man who fought with my grandfather’s division, the 45th Fighting Thunderbirds, in Italy. There was also this fellow that managed to take out seven pillboxes of enemy soldiers in four hours with not a scratch! There was also a video playing every so often where several situations were presented by actors (two of whom were on Treme — Wendell Pierce and John Seda) and the audience got to choose A or B and compare it with what actually happened. Really cool.
At 1:15p reported for duty at the USS Tang “Final Mission” interactive experience. We were all given a station (Genetta and Addison were on the periscope, Michelle and I the torpedo launch mechanism). They re-enacted their final mission, a five and a half hour engagement with a Japanese convoy off of China in eleven minutes. It was really neat, and we (mostly) did our role correctly — I did manage to fire one torpedo early. Oooops. In the war the USS Tang sank 33 ships and was the most successful submarine of the war. This being the final mission, however, it did not end well. The boat was lost but nine managed to survive and were picked up by a Japanese ship (uh-oh) carrying wounded from the convoy they had just attacked (double uh-oh) and taken to P.O.W. camps and tortured. Luckily the experience did not include that. Very sobering. The commander of the sub did receive a Medal of Honor.
Torpedo firing station at the USS Tank Final Mission experience
After a brief stop in the bookstore (where we purchased a book, a coffee mug for work, and another trinket or two) we headed back out towards the original building of the museum, the Louisiana Pavilion. Along the way we passed the nearly finished buildings that will cover the European Theater (Road to Berlin, coming November 2014) and the Pacific Theater (Road to Tokyo, coming June 2015). Something to look forward to when/if we get back down here in the future!
Looking at the rest of the WW2 Museum and the distant buildings of the CBD from the Boeing Freedom Pavilion
In the Louisiana Pavilion we tried out a new mini-exhibit that was a Pullman rail car and showed photographs and recorded thoughts of soldiers heading off to and returning from war. It was neat. We also decided to run through the entire exhibit space again as it had been a couple of years. The exhibits cover mainly the Home Front, D-Day, and the Pacific War (including the dropping of the atomic bombs). Lots of really cool artifacts, information, movies, etc. Everything from an Enigma machine, reproduction of the wooden glider used the night before D-Day to land advance forces, steel pennies as copper was scarce, pictures of the campaign of deception the Allies ran prior to D-Day including fake inflatable tanks, etc. There was a reproduction of the observation deck of a 55′ Fire Direction Tower that the Germans built four miles inland that could detect incoming invasion forces and direct fire onto them.
Imperial Japanese weapons and uniform on display at the World War II Museum
After all of that we checked a special temporary exhibition about the shameful interment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Wrapped it all up by going up to a catwalk and checking out the coolest fighter ever built, the British Spitfire. Visited the gift store and headed out. The museum is truly spectacular, a world-class museum. It is well worth the visit if you ever find yourself in New Orleans.
Underside of the Spitfire, the most beautiful plane ever made
Another view of the Spitfire, again, beautiful
Headed up to Lee Circle and managed to get a not-packed street car back to Canal. We let the kids get some sweet tea and fries at McDonalds and then headed into the French Quarter on Royal Street hoping to get some beignets at Cafe Beignet. Sadly they had just closed when we got there shortly after 5p wo we missed out. Headed back to the unit for a little rest. Addison was tired and Genetta had a headache so it was just Michelle and I heading out with mom and dad to a local very small eatery on Frenchmen called Adolfo’s.
Canal Street street cars
Court of the Two Sisters on Royal Street, French Quarter
Adolfo’s is a very small restaurant (maybe 500 square feet) at the top of a steep and narrow staircase. Michelle had the flounder, mom and I peppercorn steak, and dad some mussels in marinara sauce. Very excellent, as was (apparently) the mousse cake that Michelle and mom both had. Afterwards we stopped by nearby Praline Connection for some sausage for the girl and chicken for the boy. Headed back to the unit, watched Justified, and blogged. Busy day tomorrow, early-ish to bed!
Adolfo's on Frenchmen Street, Marigny