November 2015: Chicago to New Orleans

OK.

This is the "Travelogue Thread" so I'll indulge myself:

Mrs. George and I went to New Orleans last week. We departed on the City of New Orleans on Sunday evening, at 8:05. Our accommodations were a bedroom, with private bath/shower for the 19 hour ride down south.


We waited to board in the Metropolitan Lounge at Chicago Union Station:



Shortly after boarding, we had dinner. I had the Chicken/Sausage Jambalaya which was pretty tasty (although the broccoli looked sad):



Mrs. K had the beef tips, polenta and veggies. Accompanied by some Jack and Ginger:



We slept well, and I used ear plugs because we were so close to the locomotives - heard nothing. The next morning, after some coffee...



We stopped in Memphis at about 6:30 for refueling and crew change:



After showering and cleaning up, we went for breakfast. We had French toast, cheese blintzes and sausage:

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The train ran pretty much on time:

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Last time we went, it was my impression that Mississippi is pretty much a ****hole. This trip didn't change that impression. Once we crossed into Louisiana, Mrs. K enjoyed the ride along Lake Ponchartrain:

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We arrived in NOLA on time, and after a $10 cab ride, we were in our hotel.

More to follow.

We stayed at Le Pavillon (yes, I spelled that correctly). It's a grand old hotel on Poydras Street - about 4 blocks southeast of the French Quarter. The place really captures the flavor of New Orleans. Here's what the hall outside our room looked like:




We had the "Junior King Suite" which had a sofa, faux fireplace and a nice cushy king bed.





We weren't that hungry, so that night, we did room service: BLT and a burger:

The next day, we had breakfast at the Crystal Room at the hotel:



For breakfast, they put bacon on top of the bacon:



No, I didn't finish it.

After breakfast, we took a swamp tour with an outfit called "Cajun Encounters". Fantastic. They picked us up at the hotel, and drove us about 40 miles to the tour site. There, we boarded the "small boat" (10 people) for tour of the bayous and swamp. Very well organized tour. Imagine my surprise when I happened to run into my ex-wife!



Upon our return, about 5 hours later, neither of was was that hungry, so we did room service again. I had the French Onion Soup:

Thursday was shopping day in the Garden District. We took the bus along Magazine St to the district where Mrs. K found a great needlepoint store.



Waiting for the next bus, Mrs. K sat under an old old oak (?) tree, trying to cool off.



Ended up in a quirky store with all kinds of interesting apparel, including platform penny-loafers.



As I said, it was hot that week, so that evening, Mrs. K took advantage of the rooftop pool:



It has great views of the city:

Friday was *my* day, so I went to the WWII museum. Saw some neat stuff, including an enigma machine:



And a lot of restored aircraft:



But, having said that, I was, sadly, a bit disappointed in the museum. All of the "story of the war" exhibits were very superficial. The display that covered the war in the Pacific especially so. I paid $5 for the "Beyond all Boundaries" IMAX movie. It lasted 40 minutes, and after I walked out, I though that the US was the only country that fought the war. Granted, its the UNITED STATES WWII museum, but I would have liked some background of the other nations. Nevertheless, it was neat seeing all the artifacts that have been collected, including the parachute dummies that were dropped into France as part of the Normandy invasion.

We left Saturday at about 1:45.

Traveled along Lake Ponchartrain again looking at the swamps:








We didn't get lunch on the train, and the diner was pretty empty when we got there:



We were running on time by the time we went to bed. When we awoke (near Centralia, Il), we were about 90 minutes late. Seems the rail had broken nearby, and they had to dispatch a crew to repair in the middle of the night.

We ended up arriving in Chicago at about 10:25, scheduled for 9. A redcap took us to the cab stand, and we were home by 11:15. Our cat was happy.

Great report and photos, George K! I almost ran and grabbed a spoon when I saw that bowl of soup! I've been to NOLA over 20 times and still can't get enough. Did Mardi Gras in '69, honeymoon in '87 and numerous solo and family trips since then. One of my favorite things to do is ride the St. Charles car through the Garden District all the way to the Zoo. A fantastic zoo experience. I have been staying at the Le Richelieu for the last dozen times or so. Very nice old hotel in a quiet section of the Quarter. Five minutes to Cafe DuMonde and the French Market. Hey, if it's good enough for Paul McCartney, it's fine for me. Thanks again for a great trip experience.

http://www.lerichelieuhotel.com/

Hi,

Interesting report. I am not sure the WW2 code breakers here in the UK at Bletchley Park would be happy with that museum description on the Enigma machine... After all, they did read the codes without knowing the daily settings!

I was surprised also to note that Missisippi is a ****hole... As a tourist it was somewhere I thought of visiting. Can you be more specific as to what you did not like?

Cheers,

Ed.

I'm sure that there are nice parts of Mississippi, and even of the Mississippi Delta, but you don't see those parts from the City of New Orleans. Instead, you travel through piney woods punctuated by depressed (and depressing) parts of towns and cities.

It's sort of like New Jersey in that regard. If you only travel through New Jersey on the NEC or I-95, you'd think that their motto, "The Garden State," is a poor joke.

That being said, I've seen the nice parts of New Jersey. Scenic Mississippi is still hypothetical to me.

Mississippi, like all places, has its good and bad areas.

The Delta is Very Poor, lots of people live like they did 100 years ago.

Along the Mississippi in Historic Towns like Vicksburg and Natchez, tourism is a major revenue source as are the Gambling meccas in Tunica and along the Gulf Coast.

The Capitol, Jackson, is close to being the most uninteresting one of all the states, with the possible exceptions of Tallahassee,Olympia, Sacramento and Trenton.

As the saying goes, it's a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.( I have no idea why persons of color would want to live anywhere in the South!)

Some Natives might disagree, but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.Most people I know that grew up there couldn't wait to leave, and don't plan to move back! YMMV

Totally agree about Jersey, it has horrible places as was said, but also very beautiful and amazing areas. Our ex-pat members that now live in Florida can expound on this!;

Bob Dylan said:

Mississippi, like all places, has its good and bad areas.

The Delta is Very Poor, lots of people live like they did 100 years ago.

Along the Mississippi in Historic Towns like Vicksburg and Natchez, tourism is a major revenue source as are the Gambling meccas in Tunica and along the Gulf Coast.

The Capitol, Jackson, is close to being the most uninteresting one of all the states, with the possible exceptions of Tallahassee,Olympia, Sacramento and Trenton.

As the saying goes, it's a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.( I have no idea why persons of color would want to live anywhere in the South!)

Some Natives might disagree, but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.Most people I know that grew up there couldn't wait to leave, and don't plan to move back! YMMV

Totally agree about Jersey, it has horrible places as was said, but also very beautiful and amazing areas. Our ex-pat members that now live in Florida can expound on this!;

Click to expand...

I've lived all over the South and spent a few years in Oxford, Mississippi. I'd rank it as one of the most beautiful towns I've ever seen. William Faulkner must have agreed as he adopted Oxford as his home town and did most of his writing there. I also spent time in Natchez and Vicksburg....being sort of a Civil War buff I never tired of the history in both towns. Fantastic antebellum architecture and a lot of culture. Oh, did I mention the food? I've ridden the CONO several times and agree that this route exposes one to the not so beautiful areas, and much poverty. Maybe get off in Memphis or Jackson and spend a few days exploring the Magnolia State.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez,_Mississippi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicksburg,_Mississippi

Enjoyed your trip report to and from New Orleans. We have made three trips there in the past few years and enjoyed it immensely.

If you travel on the Crescent across the south, you will see a more prosperous part of Mississippi. Nice small towns and a stark contrast to the poor towns along the CONO route.

Nice report. I'll be on 59 again next month.