Day 10: New Orleans, LA

The weather was unpredictable so we headed out the door with sun hats, sunglasses and umbrellas. 

On our walk we passed “The Roundabout Formerly Known as Lee’s Circle”. The statue of Robert E Lee that had been here since 1884 was just removed 18 days ago on May 19, 2017. Wynton Marsalis called for the removal of the Robert E Lee Monument and the renaming of Lee Circle after the Charleston Church shootings in 2015. Today, below the empty 60 foot high column pedestal is a simple sign “LOVE”. It was a powerful message and nearly made me cry.

If you are in NOLA spend some time in the WWII museum. It was unexpectedly fascinating.

A 30 minute documentary narrated by Tom Hanks outlined how the US involvement changed the war, and how the war changed the US from a largely agricultural society reeling from the Great Depression to an industrial, military and nuclear superpower. It also showed how the war change the world. Over 60 million people were killed which was about 3% of the worlds population. 

The museum had 4 large buildings. One building contains several real WWII aircraft including a B-17 "Flying Fortress". Another building has walk through exhibits that explore the US involvement in Europe and in the Pacific. There are many vehicles and weapons on display. We were riveted to the audio and visual recordings of WWII veterans who recounted their experiences.

When we walked out of museum both of us were silent while we digested all we had seen. Walking in front of us was a young guy wearing a black shirt with white supremacist emblems on both shoulders, like military badges. Again I felt like crying, but for a different reason.

To cheer ourselves up we went to the ACME Oyster House for char broiled oysters. Yum. Then we wandered around the French Quarter and later had gumbo and crab cakes at the Oceania Grill. Yum.