New Orleans

Kent and I have been back from New Orleans for several days and back in the thick of things at work. I was in New Orleans for a Reclaiming Futures meeting. What is Reclaiming Futures you ask? If you want to find out a bit more about some of the work I'm involved in check out this link. I can't tell you how often people ask me - "what is it again you do again?" It was so much easier to explain what I did in the days of being a counselor!

Food

Kent joined me after I had been there a few days and my meetings were ending and we hung out for four more days. I've not eaten so much great food and stayed out so late listening to great music in a long time. We ate at some terrific restaurants some of my favorites included - Bacco (I ate there three times) great dinners and the bread pudding was out of this world, Baru - Carribian/Latin food with Creole influences - it's BYOB so if you want drinks with dinner pick up a bottle of wine beforehand. There are several variations on the "bring your own bottle" theme in New Orleans, which mostly involve showing up with a bottle of wine in-hand. Some restaurants don't serve alcohol, although they have wine glasses and openers, and the restaurant allows you to bring your own bottle, some charge a small cork fee. The last is St. James Cheese Company - it's a great lunch place just a couple blocks off the St. Charles St. Streetcar. Great sandwiches, salads and of course cheese! There were other great meals but these really stuck out. Check them out the next time you are in New Orleans.

Music

We heard a lot of great music and saw a lot of great jazz bands. We danced and listened to Rebirth Brass Band a local jazz band at The Maple Leaf Bar - a must visit while in New Orleans. We were in town for the Jazz Fest another thing I highly recommend doing. It's worth a special trip to New Orleans at least once just to experience. Great music, food and local crafts. We spent one entire day at the festival - one could easily make an entire trip out of it. There is a nice mixture of all kinds of music - we enjoyed traditional jazz, gospel and even a little country! There were too many acts to list them all but these acts really stood out, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Pinettes Brass Band, Sugarland, Tony Bennett, The Iguanas, Bonnie Raitt and Kermit Fuffins. $50 gets you in - well worth it!

Sites

For the most part Kent and I stayed around New Orleans. We took a couple of short drives one to Baton Rouge to see the State Capitol and another across the 25 mile bridge across Lake Pontchartrain to the towns on the north shore. The picture below is the State Capitol Building in Baton Rouge. Take the elevator up to the top for a great view of the Mississippi river and the surrounding town.

The little town of Abita Springs was my favorite and they have a great local brew pub! We also toured Oak Alley (picture is the one prior to the Capitol above) one of the many plantations located outside of town. We took a couple a local walking tours - they are all over town and well worth it. The best one is free and happens every day at 9:30 a.m.. Rangers from the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park lead riverfront history walks to the Mississippi River, just over the levee from the visitor center, to share the story of how the city began. 25 free tickets per tour are given out beginning at 9:00 a.m. Walks last about an hour. First-come, first-served; each person wanting a ticket must be present. We had a really cute tour guide - Ranger Matt. Definitely do this - it gives you a lot of information on the fascinating history of New Orleans and the influences of the Native Americans, French, Spanish and British. We spent a lot of time in the French Quarter, Garden District, on the St. Charles St. Streetcar and in the shops and restaurants along Magazine St. You will not run out of things to do and places to visit. The streetcars are a real deal and a lot of fun. You can buy a day pass for unlimited rides for $5 or $1.25 for single one way tickets. It's a fun way to see the city and get oriented to your surroundings. The St. Charles line is the best as it goes from downtown through the Garden District past Tulane University, Audubon Park and Zoo and past beautiful old historical Mansions. One last recommendation - if you are looking for a place to run, from the French Quarter head to the Mississippi River and run along the river. It's not a long run but there is a free passenger ferry that runs every 15 minutes and once you have explored all there is to see on the downtown side take the ferry across to Algiers Point for a great view of the city and miles of trails along the dike on the other side. The ferry drops you off in the historic Algiers Point neighborhood where you can visit local pubs(later in the evening afer the run!), stroll the Jazz Walk of Fame along the levee and visit Mardi Gras World. I wanted to visit Mardi Gras World and went over there but to be honest it did not look like much from the outside and there was no one around. I would love to hear from anyone who has actually visited it so I know if I need to make a point of visiting next time I am in town. I also went for a nice run in Audubon Park and around Tulane University. There are great hotels all over the city - we stayed at the Omni Royal Orleans pictured below located right in the heart of the French Quarter and later at a Marriott near the airport.

Katrina

Lastly - you really can not visit New Orleans and not address Katrina. A couple of things, I was in New Orleans one year post Katrina for a disaster preparedness conference. To see the progress made to rebuild the city since my last visit was amazing. Sadly they still have a long way to go. There are still many vacant houses especially noticable if you rent a car and get out and about in the ninth ward and lake front areas. Some you can still see the water line and some still have the markings that the rescue works spray painted on each residence after completing their search. The picture below is from the ninth ward which was hit particularly hard. The markings show the date the residence was searched, who conducted the search, if there was any immediate danger and if any bodies were found. The resident of this home was found dead in the attic.

Hard to believe that 80% of the city was flooded and that in this day and age that some 1,900 people died; much of the city remained under water for two weeks; at least a quarter of a million houses were abandoned and the damage was over $82 billion. So devastating was the storm that the city of 455,000 - about the same as Staten Island - has since lost about 44 percent of its population however - New Orleans however is coming back strong!

Although I end this on kind of a downer - I hope this inspires you to visit New Orleans and the surrounding area. I think you would enjoy it! I heard several times - "tell people we are still here and to come and visit!"

Have a good one -

Jim