From Puerto Rico we returned to Louisiana to explore New Orleans for two days before finally embarking a cruise we were to have taken in 2020, but well, you know, COVID.

This was our third trip to the Crescent City and by now we have our favorite places and rituals to observe. This trip we opted to stay in an historic hotel in the Garden District, which was just a block from the St. Charles streetcar line. The first morning we boarded the streetcar and headed to the French Quarter where we enjoyed a second breakfast at Café du Monde.

The original Café du Monde coffee stand was established in 1862 in the French Market. The Café is open 24-7 and is closed only on Christmas Day and when the occasional hurricane comes along. Its specialties are dark roasted coffee and chicory and beignets, little square French-style donuts, liberally dusted with powdered sugar. The coffee is served either black or Au Lait, which means it is mixed half and half with hot milk.

After wandering through Jackson Square and taking our obligatory selfie with the St. Louis Cathedral in the background we walked through most of the French Quarter and found gifts for family and friends. Then it was time for another ritual, purchasing a Central Grocery muffuletta for lunch. Muffulettas are a Sicilian-American sandwich made of Sicilian sesame bread split in half and covered with layers of olive salad, salami, ham, Swiss cheese, provolone and mortadella.

As we approached the grocery, we could see scaffolding covering the front and were saddened to see it and the neighboring building had been heavily damaged in Hurricane Ida last fall. But the enterprising folks at Central Grocery knew how important their famous sandwich was to NOLA visitors and are making their delicious wares off-site and selling them at Sidney’s Liquor Store in the same block. So, we chalked off another item on our NOLA wish list.

That afternoon we strolled over to Bourbon Street to take in some classic NOLA jazz at Fritzel’s European Jazz Club and sip on one of NOLA’s classic drinks – a hurricane. The entertainer that afternoon was a talented piano player named Richard Scott who did a near perfect imitation of jazz great Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. Our day was complete.

On our second day we headed to the National World War II Museum. Founded in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum, the renamed museum covers the war from industrial efforts on the Home Front to the combat experience of the American servicemen abroad.

The museum is set apart from others because of numerous immersive exhibits, multimedia experiences and a wonderful collection of artifacts and first-person oral histories. We loved how they introduced people to the museum by walking you onto a train car labeled “North Platte” and mentioning the famous canteen there. Each train rider was issued a “dog tag” that covers the personal story of one WWII serviceman or woman which you follow at interactive stations scattered throughout the galleries.

There is an amazing movie titled “Beyond All Boundaries” narrated by Tom Hanks that provides a 4D journey through the war. These tickets are purchased separately from the general admission but are so worth it. This museum deserves at a minimum four hours of one’s time, but we could have easily spent an entire day there.

We did enjoy lunch in the “The American Sector” restaurant and bar, which features a menu filled with Southern and GI favorites from the 1940s. There is also a soda shop for quick snacks or a great shake.

Capping off our 48 hours was a trip to the Avenue Bar, just two blocks from our hotel. Frequented by locals we knew the fare was good and it gave us a chance to also sample Louisiana-made beer. Because it was right on St. Charles Street it featured a miniature streetcar on a track mounted up on the ceiling that ran throughout the evening to entertain guests.