I slept in. Yes, by golly, it’s my Fall Break/vacation and I wanted to sleep in. By the time I got up, showered, got ready, typed my Day 1 thoughts, packed my purse with everything imaginable that I could need, it was around eleven o’clock. Lunchtime!! My big plan was to walk along the Mississippi River until I got to where my Hurricane Katrina tour would depart. Next, I’d walk to where my ghost tour would depart. With the time left over, I’d wander around, taking in the sights. (I should add here that I have a really good sense of direction. I can count on one hand the times I’ve gotten turned around in my lifetime. I wasn’t too worried about getting lost.)
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| I'm ready to take on the city! |
I headed out from my hotel and began to walk northeast. I found a really neat riverwalk park (with an aquarium!) and took some pictures of the Mississippi and of the riverboats. At the end of the riverwalk, I found the place my Hurricane Katrina tour would leave from. Check! I started wandering around in the French Quarter, where my ghost tour today and my walking historical cemetery tour would leave from tomorrow. I found that pretty easily. I looked at my cell phone and saw that I had nearly two hours to kill. Hmm. Wandering around in the French Quarter was nice (I took lots of neat pics!), but I was starting to get hungry. I saw one or two of the restaurants the Loud Lady recommended on the plane, but they weren’t open. I bought some water from a street vendor, and he recommended a place just around the corner, the Gumbo Shop. I went, tried the Jambalaya, and loved it! Unfortunately, ever since my bout with Upper-G.I. problems two years ago, spicy foods are not my cup of tea. I ate about half my lunch and ate about half the bread (I didn’t have breakfast—by the time I left the hotel it was too late, in my mind, for breakfast). After lunch I wandered through a small park and headed to my tour bus site. I got there about 45 minutes early, so what did I do? READ!!! I brought my book with me in my purse. Told you I was prepared. J
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| French Quarter |
Hurricane Katrina Tour
Seeing the devastation from Hurricane Katrina was one thing on my long list of must-see things in New Orleans. I found a company, Gray Line Tours, that offered a three-hour bus ride tour of the places Katrina hit hardest and also a tour of some of the levees that were breached. While I was waiting for the bus, I met a nice, middle-aged couple from Connecticut who shared with me that they had been planning to come to New Orleans at the same time Katrina hit. I boarded the bus, and was unfortunate enough to get an aisle seat, but fortunate enough to be close enough to the front of the bus to get some good pics. I sat next to a young woman who was from Southern California. She and I chatted a few minutes before the tour began.
First of all, I cannot imagine what the people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas went through during the hurricane and in the five years since New Orleans was pretty much destroyed. We went through several neighborhoods that had 8+ feet of water standing for three weeks or more. We saw Lake Pontchatrain (in the daylight! I checked that off my list too). It literally comes right up to the road, so I can see how that area flooded. I didn’t realize that Lake P. has lots of canals the excess water drains into. It was the canals that flooded and caused the pumps to not work, not the actual lake itself. Which was pretty amazing. We saw levees that had been breached and rebuilt. We saw pump stations that had had so much water in such a short time, they couldn’t pump it fast enough, and eventually they failed. We saw vacant homes with the red X’s still spray-painted on them by rescue workers. We saw homes that reminded me of the ones you see on the White River—several feet in the air, built up so that the floodwaters cannot touch them (we hope). We saw the Intercoastal Waterway and all the swamplands. I got to see the Upper and Lower Ninth Wards (cross that off my list) that we heard so much about in tv. I also got a picture of the neighborhood Brad Pitt is building, all energy-efficient homes. I saw the neighborhood Harry Connick, Jr. is building with affordable homes (they call it Musician’s Row). It was amazing!! The tour guide was very informative. Many places we saw had just reopened within the past year. I got a picture of a grassy lot that had once been an elementary school. Rather than rebuild it, they bulldozed it down. There are about half the schools in New Orleans now than there were five years ago. I thought that was kind of sad. L
After my tour, I headed to Café du Monde for their world-famous beignets. They’re a lot like a funnel cake, only they’re in a biscuit shape. I sat in the café and filled out a few postcards (my only “major” purchase so far—Saturday is my designated shopping day). After Café du Monde, I hit one of the shops and went ahead and bought my dad’s Christmas present (I’d love to tell you, but he might read this. J) Next, I decided to take the long way around to my ghost tour, since I still had about an hour to kill. I’ve been trying to find a restaurant my brother recommended, Remoulade. I had a sneaking suspicion it was on Bourbon Street, so I decided to walk the length of the street and then double-back to my tour. Big Mistake!!! As a non-drinker, non-smoker, non-party girl, Bourbon Street on Friday night at five o’clock is not the place for me!! The music was loud, the people were drinking, and I finally gave up my search after about 20 minutes. I arrived for my ghost tour a little early, as did a lot of people. So I sat outside, enjoying watching the people walk by. When I do that, I like to imagine where they are from and what they are saying. It helps pass the time!
Haunted History Tours—Ghost Tour
I was a little nervous before we started the tour. My experience in Bourbon Street, while not harmful, rattled my nerves ever-so-slightly. Next time I go, it’ll be around lunchtime. During the week. Anyways, I walked up to my tour, which left from St. Peter Street (in between Bourbon and Royal). As soon as I saw it (remember, I’d been there around lunchtime to check it out), I got just a little more nervous. Who wants to meet for a ghost tour outside a place called Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo Shop?!?! During the day, it’s not so bad. With the approaching darkness and my experience in Bourbon Street, I was just hoping for as smooth a tour as possible. (Please know that if you are a drinker or an occasional drinker, a smoker, or a party person, I do not begrudge you that lifestyle any more than you would begrudge me of mine. I just want you to know my state of mind as I head into a ghost tour. Alone. ) After we were all assembled (60ish people or so), they put us in groups of 20ish and we were off. My tour guide, George, was all decked out in a top hat, devilish glasses, and a really neat spiral cane. The first stop was in front of a church. The statue in front of the church was missing a few fingers, broken off during Hurricane Katrina. The Archbishop said that as soon as the city was whole and normal again, he’d let the fingers be reattached to the statue. Fat chance of New Orleans ever being “normal,” according to George! We walked by several haunted sites and George was very informative on haunting and the general history of New Orleans. Unfortunately, my legs were starting to hurt (not my feet, thanks to my Sketchers Tone-Ups sandals). That’s a sure sign that grouchiness will follow. Thank goodness I’m traveling alone! Double unfortunately, it means I wasn’t listening very closely to George (he spoke very quickly anyways, and I always felt like I was translating what he said into what I could understand and I was always about three words behind). I took a few pictures. We stopped in a bar for a break and I waited outside with a few of my group members. When we continued, we saw Madame LaLaurie’s mansion. If you don’t know the story on her, I suggest you Google it. She was a sick, twisted woman. Everyone who has owned her home since she did has had very bad luck. Do you know who owns it now? Nicolas Cage!! I also got a picture of a tree where a “woman of ill-repute” hung herself after her beloved sailor died from disease. Very tragic. I would love to go back to some of the places in daylight so I can get better pictures and hopefully remember more of what George said!!!
We ended the tour at the bar with the hanging tree in the courtyard (M.R.B.’s I think it was). I was actually a little closer to my hotel from this location. I was beginning to get hungry, too. I’d passed a Walgreen’s earlier in the day and I went there to get some trail mix for the room (or in case I decide to sleep in on Saturday and miss breakfast again). I wanted to eat at a café I’d seen (the name escapes me at the moment), but I had a hankering for seafood and all their seafood was fried (I don’t do fried foods any better than I do spicy things. I know, I’m getting old.). As I was walking along Decatur Street, I remembered on the bus tour we’d passed a Bubba Gump Shrimp place very near where I was. I decided to try it out. As I got closer, I realized the Hard Rock Café was smack in front of me. Cha-ching! I crossed that off my list of places and bought my New Orleans Hard Rock Café pin (I collect them—double bonus was that it was a Bon Jovi New Orleans pin! I <3 Bon Jovi!). I went to Bubba Gump’s to eat, but as I walked in a bunch of party-people got in line in front of me and I suddenly lost my appetite for Bubba Gump’s. No problem, there was an excellent (so I have heard) seafood restaurant in my hotel called Drago’s. I’ll just eat there. Well, when I got to the hotel, something major was going on. A wedding, a Prom, a something. Young people were dressed up in their finest and limos were abundant. The other two hotel cafés were closed, so I came to my room, slightly hungry (thank goodness I got two bags of trail mix!). I know--a braver, less tired person would’ve just called a cab and went somewhere to eat. If you don’t know me, you won’t know that when I am this close to home (or in this case, the hotel room), I am not going to turn around just for food (yes, I don’t miss a meal. Trail mix is nutritious and is classified as food). So hear I sit, looking out over the nighttime view of the Mississippi, sipping my decaf tea, eating trail mix, typing my thoughts for the day, and anticipating a hot bath and bed very soon. Tomorrow’s adventures: shopping (this means purchasing, I technically shopped today), a test-walk to the Superdome to see how long it’ll take me, and my cemetery tour. I guess I better add eating seafood on tomorrow’s list, too!! J
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| The rescuers spray painted info on each house. This home had a cat and 4 people dead. |
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| The houses Brad Pitt is building in the Lower Ninth Ward. They're energy-efficient homes. |
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| Beignets at Cafe du Monde |
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| My ghost tour tour guide, George |
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