Baton Rouge! - The Red Stick!

No I do not know why they named the place 'Red Stick', but I am working on it.
On Friday morning we made a packed lunch and set off along the bank of the Mississippi going into Baton Rouge.
Our normal routine for a new place is to:
1 find the Tourist Information
2 Find out about parking regulations.
Well we couldn't find the TI, so we stopped outside City Hall to find out about parking regs. The information desk was deserted, but a Shoe Shine Boy was happy to tell me that Sally's blue badge would be OK to use in Baton Rouge. He also told me where the TI Office was, so we were able then to get ourselves organised.
Baton Rouge is the Capital of Louisiana, so it has the Capitol Building as well, which houses the two houses of representatives and the Senate for the State. Often they are styled on the Washington Capitol building, with a big dome. Not Baton Rouge. It has the Old Capitol Building, which is square and looks like a castle and the New Capitol Building, which is a skyscraper. The story of this skyscraper is intermingled with its most famous Governor, one Huey P Long. He was the Governor from 1928 to 1932, He was supposedly a very corrupt Governor, with many stories attached to his term in office.
Anyway, back to the Capitol Building. The building was built, surprise, surprise, by Huey P Long (no not personally) and completed in 1934. Closely modelled on the Chrysler and the Empire State Building, it is a tower 30 floors high and was finished in 14 months! We rode the elevator to the top where you get a stupendous view of - well swamp, from every direction the land is flat and swampy, but that's what Louisiana is. It is still far and a way the tallest building in Baton Rouge and dominates the skyline. So Huey P Long was assassinated by his own men in his own building, just before he could declare himself as a presidential candidate. There were some very interesting politics in those days.
After visiting the Capitol we went to the Louisiana State Museum which gave us a good idea of the history and importance of Louisiana. In particular we learned about the Louisiana Purchase, in Dec 1803 the fledgling US bought 600 million acres of land to the west of the Mississippi for $15 000 000 from the French, only months after Spain had given it to France after Napoleon had given the assurance that it would never leave French hands. There appears to have been a fair amount of skullduggery attached to this land acquisition. This doubled the territory owned by U.S. and gave it control of the whole of the Mississippi Basin.
Anyway enough history. Our poor brains were sizzling. We drove home (back to the trailer) and made a lovely meal of burger for Sally, while I had the other half of the pork chops with red beans and rice that I had brought back form Sammy's last night.