The Dead in the Big Easy

The Big Easy again

Our second day here started with a very long drive hoping to see the point where the Miss empties into the gulf.  However, since the river is so windy, it would have involved another ferry ride and quite a long trip, so we got halfway there.  What was so startling, however, was to ride alongside the levees and see huge ocean going ships floating quite high above our heads.  The sight really brought home how fragile New Orleans really is.  Even though we had seen the photos of Katrina, we really could not visualize levees, having only seen sea walls at the Jersey shore.  But, riding on a road with the river above us, contained only by a dirt wall, was quite graphic.

We spent the rest of the morning doing laundry and then made our first real trip into the city.  First we had beignets at Café du Monde.  Piggy that I am, I ate 4 and then pounds of powdered sugar that was left in the bottom on the bag.  I was completely white by the time I stopped and had to get out of the car and wash off.  David ate two with all the sugar brushed off and came out unscathed.  The Metaire Cemetery was all that!  No grass in site!

Then we took our own walking tour of the garden district.  You would think that the folks living there would get tired of tourists peeping in their houses.  Apparently not so.  We were gawking through the fence on one particularly lovely home when the women who lived there came out to get the mail.  We told her how lovely her home seemed; she thanked us for coming to New Orleans and said that the city really appreciated visitors…and then invited us inside for a tour.  What a wonderful person.  (Hello to you if you read this blog).  We have been so impressed with the welcoming nature of everyone we have met.

Right after our tour we spoke to Dylan in AK and he, having been here many times, recommended a great funky restaurant outside of the center of town where we had a great time!  You never know who knows what!

Even though we were getting really tired due to the great heat and all our walking, we went off to Bourbon Street , where, miraculously, our energy level soared and we heard GREAT jazz at one of the places we had passed the night before.