Wednesday, January 9, 2013

January 8 & 9, 2013. New Orleans

The Big Easy, The Crescent City, The City That Care Forgot, Nawlins...all nicknames for one of the most fascinating cities I have ever visited. There is a lot to see and do in this city that is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina which hit here in 2005. Over 80% of New Orleans was flooded and The most common words I heard from a tour guide today were, " under renovation". 

We are staying in the French Quarter, the most historic and most famous area of the city.  All the must see spots are within walking distance from here and in 1  1/2 days we have visited most of them. The streets are narrow, the 18th century architecture unique, the restaurants inviting, and the tourist shops are filled with t-shirts, voodoo  dolls, Mardi Gras beads, and hot sauces. 

In spite of the damp, cool weather, we saw many homeless people huddled on benches. We were asked a few times for spare change and witnessed a few displays of public intoxication. 

Preservation Hall
We walked on Bourbon Street, Canal Street and many streets in between. We strolled along the muddy Mississippi and yet could barely see the other side through the fog, even though it is only about 1/2 mile across. We planned to take the ferry to Algiers on the other side of the river but just before we boarded were informed that the river was shutting down due to dense fog. Apparently, all traffic on the river was halted. 

Coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde is must. The hot, deep fried, icing sugar coated donuts have been a New Orleans tradition since 1862. Among other things, over the past two days we have eaten creole crab cakes, shrimp, redfish po boy, crawfish and praline bread pudding. The food here is excellent.

We visited Jackson Square, The Riverfront, St. Paul' s Cathedral and the Ursuline Convent. The Convent building is the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley, constructed around 1750. Most of the original, old buildings in New Orleans (founded in 1718) were destroyed by fire. 

Outside of the French Quarter we visited St. Louis Cemetery # 1, a cemetery of above ground vaults, most constructed in the 18th and early 19 centuries. It is the final resting place of many famous New Orleanians, most notably Marie Laveau, a renounced voodoo priestess. Since we were warned not to walk to the cemetery as we would have to walk through a high crime area (New Orleans is the murder capital of the US) we took a hop on hop off tour bus. The tour turned out to be great as we got to see other city districts and learn more about New Orleans.

All in all we walked about 10 miles today.

It looks like a big storm is headed this way and so we may spend another day here as warnings if high winds, flash flooding, dense fog and the occasional tornado are not ideal driving conditions. Fortunately, one of the things we have lots of is time.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

food,Food,and FOOD....culture..yes.. a real neat place.
saw you caught the above ground cemeteries
If the weather really hem's you in..good news..Mardi Gras starts in 32 days.
be good
BB