After school, I took the kids back into New Orleans on the ferry. I’m not a huge fan of getting in and out of cities but the ferry and close proximity to everything once we got off, made this one a little less daunting to do alone.
We made our way over to the Visitor Center for the Jazz National Historical Park, walking along the riverside, passing a stage which begged for dramatics! The Park was created to interpret the origins, early history, development and progression of the uniquely American musical art form of jazz. New Orleans was chosen as the location for a National Park celebrating jazz because it is widely recognized as the birthplace of jazz. The music got its start in the dance halls, juke joints and streets of New Orleans during the late 1890’s and early 1900’s.
We’d completed the Junior Ranger program for this one after printing off the booklet online. Once more, the four of them were sworn in as Rangers. We had timed our arrival perfectly for the start of a Ranger program on the history of the city’s music. Two of the Rangers regaled us with songs and music for about an hour; they were very impressive, great on the guitar and harmonica, wonderful voices – it was a little too long for the little ones but it was worth the effort of keeping them quiet! Becca (and Carson) had the chance to join the rangers on stage for one of the 'spirituals', accompanying them on tamborines.
As promised, we made another stop at Café Du Monde, those beignets were addictive!
We took more photos with and of some of the statues that are dotted around the city. It's so diverse and interesting, definitely a place we'll come back to.
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