For the record, Wally and I have a bit of history with the City of New Orleans. It was one of the “high profile” destinations that we made a point of visiting back in 1998 when we first went “on the road”. Traveling in our 1958 bus conversion, we camped in Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, LA. Each day we’d drive to the ferry landing in Algiers and, as pedestrians, we’d cross the Mississippi River into The French Quarter. While sitting on a bench watching the tugs swing their tows around one of the tightest turns in the mighty river, a passing jogger in his retirement years stopped to ask, ”What can I tell you about my city?” We were not sure how to respond, so Wally asked about good places to eat. With great enthusiasm he recommended Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait… Central Grocery for Muffuletta sandwiches…
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| Cafe Du Monde |
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| You cannot leave Cafe Du Monde without being covered in powdered sugar! |
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| Central Grocery |
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| The olive salad makes the muffuletta sandwich |
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Acme Oyster House and Mr. B’s Bistro for fresh seafood. He went on to encourage us to ride the streetcars into the Garden District and stroll through the upscale neighborhoods. We learned that there was a festively flaming “Bananas Foster” to be had at the Commander’s Palace Restaurant, but we didn’t own the clothes required to get through the front door! We followed our new friend’s advice and tried all the highlights he suggested, and we fell in love with “N’awlins”… as the locals call it.
Now it has been 12 years since we visited the Crescent City. This time we booked four days downtown in the French Quarter RV Resort and began to work our “Must See” list. As the following pictures show, we had a fabulous time.
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| We did a 2-1/2 hr Segway tour through the streets of N.O. |
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| Music abounds |
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| Jackson Square |
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| Cannot go to New Orleans without a trip down Bourbon Street |
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| Streetcar ride through the upscale Garden District |
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| The French Market has a little bit of everything |
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| HardRock Hotel collapse |
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| Six buildings telling the story of WW-2 |
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In 2005, we watched with horror and dismay as New Orleans and her people were inundated with floodwaters from breached levees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We returned in 2007 to find that The French Quarter, perched on the high ground of the riverbank, was pretty much unscathed. Much of the city, however, had been built in a bowl. Those homes were devastated and the people were gone. By the busloads, New Orleans’s displaced residents were carried to far-flung places. To this day, 250,000 of them have not returned!
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| The white areas of the city are below sea level... therefore, were underwater for months |
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| One of the canals whose levee was breached |
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| The new protection of the city |
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| Over 1,100 citizens died as a result of the levee failures after Katrina |
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