In honor of Super Bowl Weekend, here's another photo of the
Super Bowl host city, New Orleans. Well, more accurately, it's a photo of the
Mississippi River that runs through New Orleans and one of the famous sights, a
Mississippi sternwheeler, the Natchez.
New Orleans will be crazy this weekend and especially today
with some 80,000 fans cramming the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. I'm sure there will
be tens of thousands of other football fans in town partying. I imagine this
weekend's crowd is only second to Mardi Gras later this month.
The Natchez is one of only a small number of surviving stern
wheel steamboats. These small ships were common transportation not only on the
Mighty Mississippi, but most of the major navigable rivers in the U.S. They
were a major form of passenger transportation and cargo shipping. Additionally,
many of them had onboard gambling casinos. As the Super Bowl is a symbol of
modern times, sternwheelers, like the Natchez, are symbolic of another, slower
and possibly more refined time in our history.
2 comments:
Wow how beautiful! I think (assuming I don't get sea sick) riding on that boat would be very relaxing. Have you ever taken a ride?
Thanks, Melissa --
No, I haven't taken a ride, but it's something I may add to my "Life List." I actually have been on a paddle wheeler, but I can't say it was an honest paddle wheeler ride since it was in Disney World in Orlando many years ago with my son. I never looked into it, but I imagine it probably rides on tracks underneath the boat. So, that doesn't count.
Ed
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