October 12, 2008

Sunday12~~~ When we made our reservations for the campground in New Orleans, the lady said we could check in at 9 AM if we wanted to, so we got there early and we were off touring the city early in the day. We thought we knew what to expect concerning the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but we were shocked to see so much devastation still there. It looks like some of the problems must be with the insurance companies, because some of the homes were beautifully redone with new paint, siding and roofs and then the houses on both side if them were still trashed. We wonder if maybe those houses didn't have homeowners insurance or a poor insurance agent. There are so many businesses that have not reopened and probably never will, one was a bank about 4 stories high, (2nd picture) the damage didn't look all that bad. On the outside some of the homes looked good, but you could see in the door or window that all the walls were stripped of sheet rock and there are just the studs all over. It looks like a hopeless situation with probably no money and knowledge of where to begin and maybe the lost of ambition to try. The picture of the foliage growing over the house is very common here, anything left without care soon is grown over with vines and leaves. After we looked at some of the housing situation, we headed for the French Quarters and Bourbon Street. We had a terrible time finding a parking space,(the bikers have no problem) but when we did, it was a good one right in the heart of Old New Orleans. We even walked to Church as it was close by, we got to see the above ground cemetery as it was close to the church. All the graves are in tombs, as the water level is so high they can't bury below the ground, the cemetery's are very old and whole families are buried in the same tomb. Kent thought they needed some maintenance done there, but I thought it was so beautiful with the elaborate, old styles of tombs. The cemetery's are closed on weekends, so we took a couple of pictures through the gate and we couldn't show much. We had dinner here in the evening after dark, Kent had fried shrimp with dirty rice. It was a spicy dish and he said it was very good, I had Gumboil with a side salad. It was so good, I think I will make it for us some night for dinner. I asked the waiter what the guy across from us was eating, as it looked so good,the waiter told me it was red beans with rice. He said that on Mondays, every family serves red beans with white rice for dinner. It is just a custom they do and he said we always have them at the house on Mondays. They cook the beans all day usually with a piece of pork of some sort. We finished up the evening walking all over the busy streets listening to the music and watching the guys on the balconies try to get the girls to lift up their shirts and they throw them a beaded necklace. New Orleans is a fun place that I think everyone should go see sometime in their lifetime. There is a lot of old history there and great stories.