Vacherie and on to New Orleans

Wednesday, March 11, New Orleans--This morning we finished our eight day voyage down the Mississippi, about 700 or so miles of twisting and turning through the channels. It's been a cultural experience, enjoying the company of 163 fellow passengers, our four friends, Jane and Peter, and Mark and Sheila, and a wide variety of lectures, tours and entertainment.  

Many of them have been lots of fun--the nightly entertainment, which last night was traditional jazz played by New Orleans artists, the food that ranged from classic French and Italian styles to Southern and Creole, and the variety of battlefields, mansions and plantations that we visited.

On Monday we visited the Whitney Plantation to see a documented plantation with many of its horrors.  Slaves were often penned up in small cells, like this one shown below, five or more to a cell on their way to market.  On the platation, the enslaved were expected to cut sheafs and sheafs of cane that were boiled down to raw sugar for later sale to refineries.  They worked up to 18 hours a day, with some time off for services on Sunday.  They were named, but few retained their African or Muslim names.   In Louisiana, following French civil law, the files record their sale as pieces of property--all done precisely by the French notaire, a position that includes the registry of purchases, (and slaves were treated almost like real estate) and the actions of our notary public and other government agencies recording property sales.

Yesterday we worked our way through the National World War II Museum.  We searched for information on the importance of radar to the victory, because it's what Ben's dad worked on with the Bureau of Ships, to no avail.  We did sit through the rumbles, bright lights , and gunfire of the film extravaganza that is shown every hour.  It is a magnificent production.  Although historically correct, it leaves out a completeness of story that would have pleased us as historians.

We were treated to a lecture entitled "Twain at Sea" about Mark Twain's travels and writings around the world after his Mississippi River writings.  "Innocence Abroad" is one about his worldly travels. 

Now, we are off the boat, sadly because we really enjoyed the trip and the friends we made.  We are now at friends John and Jon's home in the Quarter looking forward to New Orleans cuisine.  We even saw the St Charles Streetcar!