| Day 1 | Depart St. Paul at 7:30 am (or other points on the train route earlier or later) aboard Amtrak's Empire Builder for the journey east to Chicago. There you will be joined by travelers from the area and will then board the legendary City of New Orleans train for an overnight journey.
(If you are on the air version of this tour you will fly into New Orleans on DAY 2, below.) |
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| Day 2 | Arrive in New Orleans in mid-afternoon, settle into your hotel and get ready to tour the Big Easy. Air travelers will be met at the airport on this day. |
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| Day 3 | Tour world famous Bourbon Street, with its carnival atmosphere, jazz clubs and tasty creole cuisine. Board the Charles street trolley and tour the French Quarters and its amazing neighborhoods. You'll feel like you're in Europe! |
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| Day 4 | Today tour the city from another perspective: take a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi River and dance to the strains of jazz music while you soak in the local culture. |
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| Day 5 | Feeling lucky? Today we'll head to one of the casinos to try for the big win. Then it's off to the Aquarium of the Americas, with its wonderful collection of marine inhabitants. |
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| Day 6 | Say goodbye to tour participants who are flying home, while those returing to the Midwest resume the overnight train journey northward. (If you are on the air version your tour ends this day.) |
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| Day 7 | Arrive in Chicago this afternoon, and while waiting to change trains you can take a short tour of downtown Chicago. Then it's back on the Empire Builder through Wisconsin and Minnesota. Twin Cities participants arrive in St. Paul around 10:30 pm full of pleasant memories of our southern adventure. Those going on to western MN or North Dakota arrive home next morning (Day 8).
If you are on the air version of the tour you arrive home by air from New Orleans Day 6 (above). |
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