our first full day in New Orleans was sunday, march 12th. it was fun to take the quick ferry ride over to New Orleans proper. it was rather chilly and grey so we decided we’d head for the WW II museum.
here’s the Confederate Civil War museum next door…we decided not to go in, because maybe we wouldn’t get such a warm reception, what with kevin being in the 114th reenacted union regiment.
but just yesterday he told me that after hurricane katrina the confederate museum flooded and some members of the 114th went down and helped repair the guns that had gotten wet. so maybe they would have offered us doughnuts and coffee? we’ll never know…
it appeared that everybody else had the same idea, going to the museum because it was chilly. we stood in line for a half hour to get tickets. it was a pretty cool place to wait, though.
after leaving the entry building we were walking to another building in the huge complex, and there was a band setting up outside. a might chilly afternoon for playing, but i wanted to go out and watch them.
it was the Western Illinois University Jazz Band. funny that we drove all the way to new orleans to hear a band from illinois.
i don’t feel that the poor keyboard guy over there on the left got to play at all.
the first thing they played was a great version of America the Beautiful. now i wish i’d taped more of it.
my question is, why are there no females in the band? it made me wish i’d pursued a brass instrument instead of the violin when i was in grade school.
here’s “the stars and stripes forever.”
after this chilly entertainment we entered one of the vast buildings. upstairs was all about the conflict in the pacific, and downstairs was the conflict in europe. we chose upstairs, and there were many many things there.
and many many people. it was an incredibly cool place, but so crowded with crowds of crowds that it was hard to see things, and hard to get around.
the gun at the top was mighty huge.
a flamethrower – it’s something i’ve read about but never seen in person.
\ 
giant binoculars!
after a while we couldn’t take the crowds anymore, and decided to go to this enormous building filled with giant planes. we could have walked up all the stairs but opted for the elevator.
we did walk down the stairs, not like going up.
it felt like we hadn’t been at the museum very long, but we went outside to go to yet another building to see the featured movie that they call “4D”.
outside was this…
no chocolate bars inside, unfortunately.
the movie, which was had to pay extra for, is called “beyond all boundaries.” it was an incredibly experience, and i’m including the trailer here even though on youtube it says “this video is unlisted. be considerate and think twice before sharing.” i’m not sure why it says that, and maybe i’ll get some kind of chastisement from youtube for putting it up here, but if you get the chance you should watch it.
you can read more about it here. it’s funny – the movie kind of reminded me of the movie they show at the lincoln presidential museum here in springfield – both have seats that shake, for example, and all kinds of movie magic.
after the museum we walked over to the french quarter briefly, and i was happy to see these bubbles coming from this building.
a first day in NoLa full of quite a bit of walking.
ok then,
mrs. hughes.