Wow, New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

Wow. That’s the only thing that sums up New Orleans. One amazing city. Sorry, this is a long one tonight. And not as many pics as I’d like given the great material I had to work with, but the wifi is so slow it’s taking just too long to upload. I’ll go back and add some more down the road when I’ve got better wifi.

After getting a ride into the French Quarter on the free shuttle put on by the campground, I started the day with a Grey Line Bus Tour that combined an orientation of the city with some information specific to Katrina and about NO post-Katrina regarding changes to the infrastructure, etc. It was fairly well done, although I found my attention wandering a lot as the guide got too technical or was assuming we had a base of information that I certainly didn’t.

We started in the historic Creole section of the city where the houses have a distinctive design and many are beautifully and brightly painted. They are long and narrow to fit the narrow lots and the house doesn’t have a hall way, but rather each room just flows from the front door to the back. They call them shot gun or double shot gun (side by sides) houses because you could shoot a shot in the front door and it would go through the house, hitting nothing.

Then it was on to the Lower 9th ward which was hit the worst by Katrina. There are still lots of buildings that haven’t yet been restored or demolished, and even the odd one that still has the “X” markings on the front where the first responders went through checking on each building after the storm and flood. We weren’t shown the hardest hit and still not reclaimed neighbourhoods, and I think I’m glad of that. There are some neat stories of help that New Orleans received from various sources outside of government such as Brad Pit’s Make it Right program which Mike Holmes got involved with. Barnes and Noble built 100 homes and gave them to those that had lost their homes and after they paid 5 years on the mortgage, they were given the houses outright.

We stopped along the way at Cemetery #3 to learn about how the bodies are dealt with here. The bodies are not buried beneath the ground but rather are put in cement or stone structures owned by the family. After someone’s body has been in the structure for a year and one day (to ensure disease is not spread) the casket is removed and burned and the bones are pushed to the back of the structure where they fall down an opening into the bottom of the structure. The next time someone from the family dies they do the same, so there are the bones of up to 100 bodies in some of the structures. If there is already a body in the structure when another family member dies that hasn’t been there the year and a day, they use graves in the walls of the cemetery as “rent-a-graves” until such time as the full year is complete on the family structure and the casket can be moved into the family plot.

Somewhere along the line we ended up at the City Park and we stopped to see the sculpture garden amongst the beautiful old trees, covered in ferns and Spanish moss. Our guide pointed out that we’d see the trees and ferns elsewhere in the city, but that the park was just about the only place we’d see the moss since it was more sensitive to the city’s pollutants.
Then we went on a tour of some of the sites of construction projects where they are building new pumping stations and shoring up the breakwaters on Lake Pontchartrain to try and prevent another Katrina. As they explained, it wasn’t the wind and rain associated with the storm that was the problem, but rather the problems associated with the physical infrastructure and evacuations plans. For instance, they had carefully planned out the routes people should use to get out of town during a hurricane, however, they didn’t take into account the thousands of people that had no means of transportation. They worked it out by setting up locations where they could go to be picked up by buses, but it took some time to get that happening. Now there are clearly indicated specific designated spots in the city which are meeting points for that purpose.

We also stopped at a lighthouse on the lake that marks the channel that is used for taking freight in and out and for boats using the marina. There is a NFP society set up to oversea the health of Lake Pontchartain, it’s shorelines, plants and animal life, etc. It is their job to educate and help in keeping the lake clean and the shoreline from being eroded further.

Then it was back into the city and down beautiful St. Charles Street. Most of the pics of the larger homes were taken along St Charles Street. It is a major thoroughfare and trolley route that runs through lovely neighbourhoods including the Garden District. It’s also the route of many of the Mardi Gras parades and you can see pictures of the chairs and ladders, etc that people had already set up to get ready for the parades which didn’t start for several hours after we were there.
We then headed back to the French Quarter were our tour ended. I spent the rest of the afternoon, eating my way through the French Quarter. Of all the suggestions I received of things to do in New Orleans, 90% of them involved eating or drinking and most of the rest involved something to do with music.

I was starving and it’s a good thing because my first stop was Central Grocery for a muffuletta sandwich. This Italian store sells unique grocery products from Italy and local specialties. And they developed the muffuletta sandwich and have been selling them since 1906. It’s served on round white bread with sesame seeds on the crust, which they bake there. It includes salami type meat, and cheese, olive oil, and the best ingredient, their own Italian Olive Salad. It’s to die for. I bought a jar of it and hope that I don’t break it on the way home, because what a mess that would be.

Then I wandered all over the French Quarter. Through the French Market, down streets whose names are familiar to many of us who hadn’t even been there yet. Bourbon Street, Decatur Street, Royal and St. Charles. I stopped in Jackson Square where the statute of Andrew Jackson is prominent. From there you get a great view of the beautiful St Louis Cathedral, and then I headed over to check out the inside of the church. Stunning interior.

The buildings in the French Quarter are so beautiful, with their intricate cast iron balconies, especially because they’re all dressed up for Mardi Gras. There was no end of Mardi Gras specific merchandise to buy as well as NO souvenirs. And no end of place to drink or eat. And no end of places to listen to music, jazz of course. On the street, in the bars, restaurants, in the park, in front of the church, but unfortunately not at Preservation Hall because it’s closed for private functions during Mardi Gras.

After picking up a couple of spices to take home, I was done. But I made one more stop, Cafe Du Monde, for their famous beignets (French donut-type pastry served with a pile of icing sugar on top) and a hot chocolate. Yum.
I had considered staying in the Uptown area for the 3 parades happening this evening, but I was just too tired and I wasn’t really dressed warmly enough. It was sunny today, but not that warm, with a cool breeze coming off the Mississippi. So I hopped on the shuttle back to the KOA, a tired but happy camper.