Mississippi River Boat Road Scholar Adventure-Part 2

Sat. Apr. 1: After a full buffet breakfast at the hotel we boarded our bus with driver, Nate, who would be with us in New Orleans and part of the way up the Mississippi. On board we met our local expert tour guide, the very dynamic Ann, who gave a rapid fire and continuous commentary for an overview of the city of New Orleans. We began with a drive through the Ninth Ward where devastation from Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005) is still apparent. While the rest of the city has largely recovered, the Ninth Ward is a different story. 

Ann took this picture of Marv and me "hanging off the streetcar" in the
dining room of the hotel at breakfast our first morning.

Along Canal Street from the bus.

New Ninth Ward houses are raised and often have solar panels but
the new ones are few and far between. The population of the Ninth Ward
is greatly diminished and many people will probably never return.

One of the many canals that overflowed during Hurricane Katrina from
the massive storm surge on Lake Ponchartrain.

From there we drove through areas along Lake Pontchartrain, Bayou St. John, one of the famed and mysterious above-ground cemeteries where the departed are interred and City Park with its magnificent oak trees. We were supposed to take a self-guided walk through the sculpture garden there but found that there was a big fundraiser going on for the Museum of Modern Art, making most of the museum grounds inaccessible without a ticket. Instead we had time to walk the grounds of City Park a bit before we drove to New Orleans Superior Seafood for lunch. 

Saint Louis Cemetery #3. We learned how the bones of the dearly departed over time were
pushed to the back of and off a raised pallet to allow a new family member to be interred.

Perpetual Care agreements keep some of the tombs in pristine condition. When a family
dies out and no longer uses the tomb, an exhaustive search is made to be sure there are no
survivors who will want to be buried there. Then an elite member of a Creole caste ceremoniously
clears and reburies all the remains and the tomb can be resold to a new family to use.

Shelby, Ann, Peggy, Mary & Chuck under an old Live Oak at City Park

A contented turtle basks in the sun in a pond at City Park

After lunch we took a walking field trip in the Garden District (named in the British style of calling a yard a garden, not for the gardens in the sense of flowers or vegetables). Ann does architectural tours as well as general city tours so she had a wealth of knowledge about the styles used in the graceful mansions. One of the loveliest neighborhoods in the country, it was laid out in 1832 for incoming, well-to-do Americans who were not interested in mingling with native New Orleanians (The feeling was mutual!) Grand houses were built on large lots that encouraged the development of beautiful yards. We saw the three houses once owned by author Ann Rice, including the house where our sister-in-law Janis Long had her wedding shower 30 years ago (before Ann Rice bought it) that included family friends Cokie Roberts and Lindy Boggs.

An original, open-car street car on Saint Charles Street

Some of the magnificent wrought iron work in the Garden District

Dinner that evening was on our own so the three of us went to Chartre House in the French Quarter for some authentic New Orleans food. Afterwards we went to two jazz clubs on Bourbon Street—Fritzel’s and Maison Bourbon—for Dixieland Jazz. It was nearly 11:00 when we walked back to the Holiday Inn and fell gratefully into bed.  

St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square in the evening

Bourbon Street

Fritzel's Jazz Club

Maison Bourbon Jazz Club

Bourbon Street after dark

Mississippi River Boat Road Scholar Adventure-Part 1

At the Beginning: The only hard part of this wonderful trip, our first Road Scholar Adventure, was getting started. We drove down to Detroit Airport Thursday evening, Mar. 30, in heavy rain. Upon arrival Ann and Shelby met us at the door to tell us that the Knights Inn where we were to stay 1) wouldn’t accept our very low, confirmed reservation price that Ann had procured, saying that it came from the National site and they don’t recognize it, and 2) that they had given away our rooms because we didn’t arrive by 6:00pm. Luckily (??) they managed to find rooms at twice the price for us. Since we had to be at DTW at around 7:30 Friday morning we reluctantly stayed the night there and from then on things improved. The flight, for which we all had been given TSA pre-check, was totally uneventful and we arrived in New Orleans before lunchtime, where our rooms at the Holiday Inn SuperDome on Loyola, right downtown, were not ready but they would store our bags for us. Sometime in 2016 Ann and I had invited ourselves to go along with Chuck and Mary when they talked about doing this Road Scholar Trip that began with three days in New Orleans, followed by a week on the American Queen, the biggest steam powered paddlewheeler in the world. We arrived before they did, so we walked down to the French Quarter and had lunch outdoors at one of the Café Beignets. It was the first of ten perfect, sunny days and a great beginning to our trip. Despite being just 9 weeks out from surgery for her broken ankle, Ann managed to walk over two miles with the rest of us before we returned to the Holiday Inn. We got our room (on 17 of 18 floors) but theirs wasn’t ready so we all hung out in our room for a while so Shelby could get a nap. When Ann and I got antsy we explored the hotel, including checking out the outdoor pool on the 8^th floor, and then went down to see what was happening with rooms. Though they hadn’t called to let them know, Ann and Shelby’s room was available so we got their bags and took them up to our room for her to collect Shelby. She and I met at the pool while Shelby and Marv continued naps in their respective rooms. Chuck and Mary arrived and we attended the 4:30 Orientation Meeting, where we got our Whisper Boxes; met our “wrangler”, Sharon; and got more information for the trip in general, and our three days in New Orleans, in particular. Following our buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant we had a Dixieland Jazz Trio of clarinet, bass, and banjo that entertained us for an hour or so before we all hit the sack to be ready for our full Saturday.

Ann and Louie Armstrong pose with John Hesse's Tiger

The French Quarter

The view from Room 1727 at the Holiday Inn

China Spring 2016 Part 15 and Final

Shanghai: Our last stop on this trip was Shanghai. Wiki-travel says Shanghai is a fascinating mix of East and West. It has historic shikumen (石库门）houses that blend the styles of Chinese houses with European design flair, and it has one of the richest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world. As there were so many concessions (designated districts) to Western powers during the turn of the 20th century, in many places the city has a cosmopolitan feel. There is everything from classic Parisian style to Tudor style buildings that give an English flair to 1930s buildings reminiscent of New York or Chicago. There is a saying that goes, "Shanghai is heaven for the rich, hell for the poor." People from all over China flock to Shanghai — everyone from farmers seeking jobs in manual labor to university graduates seeking to start a career or wanting to live in a cool up-tempo city. Even well-off people, though, complain that buying a home is becoming impossible; prices have skyrocketed in the last few years.

Our final hotel was one of the nicest we encountered. The lobby had lavish displays of real orchids like this one.
There was a wonderful buffet for our breakfasts and there was a lobby area on our floor where some of us gathered
on the last night to drink up and eat up everything we had bought and didn't want to take home as we visited for
the last time and bid each other a fond farewell since everyone was taking different flights back to Canada.

Our view from our room at night.

The same view in the daytime

.

We essentially had one very full day in Shanghai visiting a fascinating museum, 

Shanghai Cultural Museum

Fanciful figures outside the museum

Ancient carved jade funeral mask

An extensive display of traditional costumes highlighted the
incredible diversity of people and climatic needs in this huge country.

Artifacts in the museum include bronze pieces from 12,000 BCE

seeing a silk factory, 

These are the tiny looms where one cocoon is meticulously spun into single silk threads.

Silk thread

We all had a chance to "pull" the flat tight pad out to the size of this table. Many layers of the
delicate piece are placed atop each other to form the fill for a duvet or quilt.

and walking on Bund Ave. which runs along the Huangpu River. There you can see the skyscrapers of modern Shanghai. Walking on the Bund is very popular among residents and tourists. 

Old river signal tower along The Bund.

The very modern skyscrapers across the river from The Bund.

Older, more traditional buildings on the side of The Bund.

Shopping near Nanjing Road

No bundle is too large for the mighty scooters.

We also spent time shopping on Nanjing Road. You could find about anything you wanted there but we spent far more time there than we wanted; we would have been much happier with more time at the Museum. In the evening we went to see the famous Shanghai acrobats. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures there but it was a nice way to end our trip. We left China the next day, flying direct from Shanghai to Toronto on Canadian Air and then on to Detroit, where our car was waiting for us and we drove home. It had truly been the trip of a lifetime and all at a very reasonable rate. 

Old Town Shanghai is a labyrinth of alleys and passageways. It was easy to
imagine some young man being drugged. kidnapped, and pressed into service--Shanghaied--
in these dark places long ago. Modern lighting and busy shopkeepers have transformed the area. 

It was always important to remember to Look Up for some of the
best and most interesting features in the cities we visited.

Modern skyscrapers in Shanghai at night

China Spring 2016 Part 14

Afternoon of Day 11: After visiting the Garden, we had time to visit the local market in Suzhou and the shopping district which are adjacent to a main canal. Suzhou was the capital of the kingdom of Wu from the 12th to 4th centuries BC. Historically, it was the center of Wu culture, and the Suzhou dialect of the Wu language is still considered the standard dialect even though the language is now often called "Shanghainese".
Today, Suzhou has become a core city of China's Yangtze River Delta economic zone, given its high GDP contribution to China. More recently, it has been a center of the silk trade and a place of gardens and canals. Suzhou has long been a haven for scholars, artists, and skilled craftsmen, and this is still the case today. We had the opportunity to walk through a crowded market and also the main shopping area of the city. A real contrast between the two areas. On the day we were there, there were many couples having their wedding photos taken. The market was really crowded and noisy with voices and the sounds of chickens cackling and then suddenly silent as they met their fate on the butcher block, but you got a good sense of the local life.

Fish stand, with live eels

Poultry stand

This vendor was cutting up the pungent smelling durian fruit and offering tastes.
It's actually quite delicious once you get it past your nose.

Canals through the city market and shopping districts

Traditional wedding photos

This outdoor tailor's smile was utterly captivating.
Note the foot pedaled treadle machine.

I turned the tables on the paradigm of the Chinese seeking photos with Americans.

Peeking down the alleyways was a different view in the shopping district

Marv was fascinated by the many, many battery operated scooters.

Buick LaCrosses made in China like this one were everywhere, as were
the big billboards advertising them. Geoff told us you can buy a car fairly
easily but then wait 3-5 years to be able to buy the $20,000 license, which are
only awarded by lottery. Note the English on the left and Chinese characters on the right.

Bridges on the river next to the restaurant where we ate lunch.