13th Day Baton Rouge

Well we did have a very full day today. We went for a walk before Brekky across to the City Hall and Town Sq. The walk had to be brisk as the wind was very chilly but it was good to get off the boat for half an hour before our big food offering again. We then took the coach for a City Tour taking in the LSU Louisiana State University, which has 40,000 students on a campus of 2,000 acres of beautiful grounds, and the Old and New State Capitol, where we went inside and up to the 27th floor viewing tower - what a view over the city and the mighty Mississippi River! There was marble everywhere from all over the world. Remarkably the whole structure was built in only 14months - incredible! Huey Long who was the Governor at the time, was assassinated in the hallway there and we did see the bullet hole still there in the marble column. The legislature was in session and we were able to look down from the Gallery - they were quite noisy and no one seemed to be paying much attention. Probably just like home. From there we went to the State Museum which we enjoyed as it traced the history of life on the river and also the history of the music. Back to the ship for lunch and then we visited the former home of the previous Governors which is a replica of the White House right down to the Oval Office, East and West Wings and Rose Garden. Then we got brave and caught a local bus to the Louisiana Mall. Now I thought it might take 20mins or so but we bounced along through all sorts of areas on a very noisy, rough bus with a fast and furious driver ( a woman driver ) but we bounced along for 50mins and thought we were never getting there. By the time we arrived it was 3.45 and Eric wanted to catch the 4.30 bus back so you can see we did not spend much time in this 2klm long mall of Retail Therapy as it was described. There was Macy's, Sears, J C Penny and loads more but, maybe another time!We were waiting for another rattle bus to come back when we saw a nice little bus saying Downtown so he said he was going our way so there were only 4 of us on bus and it was like a Limo. We forgot to ask for seniors fare and paid $4 each return and our friends travelled for 35cents each way! Others paid about $25 each way in cab. What a treat tonight with our entertainment! We had a 5piece Jazz Band - The New Orleans All-Stars -who were just wonderful. Everything they played was the result of their many years of music experience and it showed. Several were band leaders of 20 years experience - wow! We hope to see and hear more in New Orleans.