New Orleans has been called The Big Easy all along. The name fits. They seem to work at it. The Sternwheeler Natchez does cruises, as well as sitting there looking pretty.
The Mississippi
This should keep somebody eating for a while...
The MississippiThis should keep somebody eating for a while...
One of the better satirical rags we've seen. Note the motto just underneath the title. Actually, as the locals will point out, the levees along the Mississippi did hold, this time. It was the flood gates on the canals from Lake Ponchartrain, to the north of the city, that gave way.
For the uninitiated, Ray Nagin is the mayor of New Orleans, now and during the Big Blow - did not cover himself with glory, but got reelected anyway. The Governor of Louisiana, Catherine Blanco, came in for a lot of flak too. The picture of her portrays her as barechested, tatooed and partying.
Some cities have contests decorating plain-white cows, fish, buffalos, what have you. This is New Orleans'.
The Cafe du Monde, one of the 'must' places. Their specialties are Cafe au Lait (part coffee, part chicory - which they used during the War of the Northern Aggression because they couldn't get coffee) with lots of milk) and Beignets.
Beignets are a fried donut with about a half-pound of powdered sugar on top. Very tasty, but not nutritionally correct. 
The Cafe du Monde, one of the 'must' places. Their specialties are Cafe au Lait (part coffee, part chicory - which they used during the War of the Northern Aggression because they couldn't get coffee) with lots of milk) and Beignets.
Beignets are a fried donut with about a half-pound of powdered sugar on top. Very tasty, but not nutritionally correct. Ornamental Ironwork
Joan of Arc, a present from the French. The whole place is still very French, and very Catholic. Mardi Gras was over (see the posting on Mobile for that), but they were having a New Orleans Days do, billed as a party the Orleanians give for each other, not for the tourists.
There were bands all over the place; This was at the Jean Lafitte National Park Service Info Center. The gent with the umbrella, who pumps it up & down in time with the music, is a sort of drum major. When they parade, he blows the whistle if there is a pothole, or a drunk lying on the street, that they have to watch out for.
A list of all the things they gave celebrations for; Not all as big as Mardi Gras, of course. 
A Mardi Gras poster. Btw, Mardi Gras is French for 'Fat Tuesday; since they aren't allowed any meat during lent, on this Tuesday they search throughout the house for any meat/fat, and either throw it out or consume it. Can make for a big meal.
What gave way and caused the flooding were the floodgates along the sides of the canals - there were three major ones that led from Lake Ponchartrain thru the city, for the convenience of loading oceangoing ships. The Army Engiuneers could have/should have put Force-Five-resistant gates where each of them entered the city from the Lake, for reasons nobody will now own up to, they didn't. This one, parts of which gave way, has been restored.
One of the players down here is Habitat for Humanity. There are a lot of others, many of them churches who have their people come down for one or two weeks to work.
The Zoo: According to the AAA Guide, our Bible, this is rated as a Gem. Rightly so.
Giraffes necking.
A guy told us this was an $800 car with about $4000 worth of wheels on it.
A tableau - real guy,standing just that way, for an hour at least. We watched for several minutes and he never moved a muscle. No wires or anything - how does he keep his balance?
Note the hole in the roof. People who didn't evacuate were advised to have an axe with them; that way, if they retreated to the second story and then to the attic, they could chop their way thru the roof to get out.
This roof has a square hole; these were made with chainsaws by the search teams, to see if anyone was inside.
The Ninth Ward. The houses are not fancy, but it is definitely not a slum. Some owners have restored their houses, many have not. Citywide, housing is very short; restaurants that are open often keep shorter hours because they can't get workers.
A tableau - real guy,standing just that way, for an hour at least. We watched for several minutes and he never moved a muscle. No wires or anything - how does he keep his balance?
The Disaster Tour: Yeah, they did have one, by bus; it was an experience. They take the Big Easy bit seriously; so amidst the tragedy there is a great deal of hope, determination and accomplishment - though to finish with the latter will take a long time. By the way, there are still a lot of people coming down to volunteer help clean up. If you've got any spare vacation time...
This is not the first time such a disaster has happened, of course. One of the reasons it wasn't even worse is that other floods - especially the 1927 flood caused by huge snowpacks in the northern states feeding the Mississipi - had led to lots of work on the levee system. In some ways the 1927 disaster was worse, in other ways this one was.
Remember, this is nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina hit.
One of the famous Blue Roofs. FEMA had teams going around putting these on buildings that needed them. They were free, but after two years most of them that haven't been replaced are in tatters.
An X. These were painted on houses that were flooded, by the motorboat search teams; this one is on the second story . The X indicates where the water came up to; on top is the date, to the left the origin of the search team, on the bottom the number of people found. Some houses have lists of the animals found and removed. The animals with licenses were returned to the owners if they could be found. The others were adopted by various people.
Note the hole in the roof. People who didn't evacuate were advised to have an axe with them; that way, if they retreated to the second story and then to the attic, they could chop their way thru the roof to get out.
This roof has a square hole; these were made with chainsaws by the search teams, to see if anyone was inside. A FEMA trailer. These were provided to people whose houses were unlivable, until they could be fixed (Since many were underwater for three weeks, this involved removing all furnishings, walls and ceilings down to the bare wood; thoroughly spraying the wood with fungicide and completely drying it to kill all the mildew; and then replacing everything.)
One problem was that FEMA wouldn't give you a trailer unless you had electricity, safe water and plumbing to hook it up to, and in many cases these weren't restored for months.
The Ninth Ward. The houses are not fancy, but it is definitely not a slum. Some owners have restored their houses, many have not. Citywide, housing is very short; restaurants that are open often keep shorter hours because they can't get workers.
A Macdonald's that has just reopened - it's not always that a Macdonalds is hailed as a good thing! Many people are reluctant to move back when all the shops and stores are closed; on the other hand, the shops can't open if there are no customers.
A memorial to the disaster, and the efforts of the people to restore things. The chairs represent the front porches, where people would sit and converse with their neighbors as they passed by.
What gave way and caused the flooding were the floodgates along the sides of the canals - there were three major ones that led from Lake Ponchartrain thru the city, for the convenience of loading oceangoing ships. The Army Engiuneers could have/should have put Force-Five-resistant gates where each of them entered the city from the Lake, for reasons nobody will now own up to, they didn't. This one, parts of which gave way, has been restored.
One of the players down here is Habitat for Humanity. There are a lot of others, many of them churches who have their people come down for one or two weeks to work.
The Zoo: According to the AAA Guide, our Bible, this is rated as a Gem. Rightly so.
To start with, we bicycled from the KOA Kampground, about 11 miles up the levee, to the Zoo.
The Entrance.
A sign in the Men's. A staffie told me that kids love anything to do with bodily funtions; they have programs about it and stock four books about the stuff, one having to do solely with various kinds of barf. Hey, we've gotta prepare the kids for the modern world.
If you didn't get the fine print, it says that certain South American tribes use a tea brewed from the poop of the Maned Wolf to cure a bad cough. And you thought cod-liver oil tasted weird...
Giraffes necking.
A kangaroo.
A white tiger. Cats do like to sleep.
Barbara achieving a state of meditation.
Barb with monkeys.
Barb with monkeys.
This is a Komodo Dragon, one of a very few in captivity. Sorry but to me it just looks like an alligator.
This girl was feeding the birds. This particular bird liked to perch on her head, so she fed it there.
Mud, Mud, glorious Mud;
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
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