November 28, 2011

Super lazy morning today - NICE!! Lots of time to reflect back on all that we have already seen and done in a very short time.

No rain today which is nice as we've had our share of the wet stuff. Temperatures have ranged from warm and humid to absolutely freezing! People walking by the front window of the hotel right now are wearing everything from parkas and fur lined caps to shorts and tee-shirts. Layers has quickly become the order of the day!!

This afternoon was another tour. Katrina, a cemetery (cemeteries are only open till 3 pm each day), and the Garden District of the city where there is a plethora of majestic antebellum homes.

Once again....we learned so much it's hard to think of what to include in this missive....there is so much! Our driver, Henry, was a local and brought his own opinions and experience to the tour. We learned that there are no bad neighbourhoods...just bad (or good) streets. Everyone here lives in very close quarters with one another. We also discovered that the rich streets that are lined with oak trees have natural "speed bumps" built in as the roots of the trees play havoc with the road and the sidewalks!

Through the garden district (the American side of the city) the antebellum homes are absolutely gorgeous! I always thought that those big estates were only on plantations with property around them but in fact....that part of the city if full of them and they're all very close together. Generally, their entire plot of land is covered by the home.

In contrast to the garden district....the 8th ward (that's the word they use for their electoral districts), which was the hardest hit and right where the levee broke, was devastated. There are still very few people able to return to their homes in that ward. It is very sad and as Henry explained....has become a tourist attraction so may take a very long time to repair - if ever :( There was a memorial that depicted a home that had lost everything. Looking at the memorial and thinking about all that the families had lost and that more than 900 of the 1100+ people who were killed during Katrina had lived in this ward made for a very somber part of the tour. The water at this location had been 22 feet deep at it's worst which meant that homes were completely submerged and some families had escaped at the last minute only by cutting a hole in their roof with an axe. Of the homes that had been repaired or replaced...there was one that was really unique....it is a floating home! The bottom of it looks sort of like a flat bottom boat - what a great idea for this region! Another new home that was really unique and interesting was designed/built by Mike Holmes on Homes and according to Henry....Mike Holmes is from Canada - I didn't know that....huh! As well, this is the area that Brad Pitt is heavily involved in helping to repair and rebuild.

The levee along that part of the river is nothing more than a seemingly unsupported concrete wall, unlike the 30 foot earthen dykes that lined other parts of the river. Looking at it - it doesn't appear to have enough support to hold back much but....the engineers signed off on it so.....but maybe they're the same engineers who are building the overpass in West Kelowna that just had a section collapse!!! People here are very angry about the fact that the engineers are completely indemnified from any responsibility - and I must admit it really doesn't seem fair or make sense. Before we left that part of the city we also visited a narrow strip of land between Lake Pontchetrain and the Mississippi. It was all roped off due to the fact that the lake had just been blowing up and across the road due to the bad weather we've had here the past day or two. Seeing that I cannot imagine how horrid it must have been during a hurricane! The weather we had was really nothing at all and even that little bit of wind created that much problem for that section of the city!! It's no wonder so many people are afraid that it's all going to happen again.

We came back toward the business district through the central part of the city where you could see that it was not a good area to visit but interestingly....this area was nothing more than a single block away from million dollar homes so once again...it was a good example of how everyone lives together and that you're always just one street away from the high priced or the less desirable streets of the city.

Along the way we also stopped at a graveyard where all the graves are above ground (due to the high water table and probability of flooding). Originally, Catholics were not allowed to be cremated so everyone had to be buried. Families would invest in a crypt that would last them for generations. One grave we visited held more than 100 family members! When they died their body would be embalmed just enough to get them through the funeral. They would then be put into a wooden box in the above ground crypt for a minimum of a year and a day. After that time had passed, the caretaker would open their crypt and empty the coffin of their very decomposed remains. Any remaining bones would be crushed by a sledgehammer and everything would be put back into the crypt and pushed with a 10 foot pole to the back of the crypt where a crevace that went down into a hole in the ground would swallow the remains and allow them to complete the process of decomposition back into the earth. This was where the term "wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole" came from.

All in all, it was another great tour and I'm amazed how much we've been able to see and do in just a few days!

Back at the hotel and with a little time to kill before dinner and concert with Charmaine Neville tonight so while Linda-Kay and J.W. decided to take a little break, the rest of us planned to catch the street car right out in front of our hotel to take us to the French Market for a little shopping. But....the best laid plans...... The car that was there wasn't going in the right direction so Helena-Marie and Jenny-Ann decided to walk instead but I was bound and determined to ride a street car so wanted to wait for the right car to come along. It wasn't a long wait before he arrived. I had gathered up a bunch of the change from in my purse (getting way too heavy!) and had a handful to pay my $1.25. We climbed on and the driver said I had to put in each coin one at a time - which I did - while Verna-Lee commented on the fact that we may reach our destination by the time I finished putting in all my coins at the speed I was going but heh....there are a lot of pennies in $1.25! I finally finished and Verna-Lee put in her $1.25 as the car started to move and we fell into our seats. There was a local fellow sitting in the front seat who was shaking his head at our antics and when I asked him if he could tell it was our first time...he simply nodded and held up two fingers to show that it was "just a little" obvious :) Verna-Lee then told me that I could now cross the street car off my 'to do' list and the same fellow said, "you're crossing it off your list?" When we both nodded...he smiled and said...."well, you're on an awfully short ride to be able to cross it off your list as the train will be stopping again in less than 2 blocks" and from the look on our faces he could see we were in trouble! Fortunately for us, he took pity, got the driver to issue us transfers which would enable us to catch another train that would take us to where we wanted to go. Our new friend then walked us around the corner and to the correct set of tracks where we sat, laughed, and waited for the next street car. Our friend went on his way walking in the same direction as the car we were waiting for would go and his parting comment to us was that he'd likely make it there before we would! But we did make it and we feel like we're both street car experts as a result of our adventures so when we go to get on the St Charles line (the oldest in the country) we'll know to get the $3 day pass that will allow us to ride anywhere for a 24 hour period.

Finally in the French Market, we met Charles Garrison, an evangelical emergency room nurse poet/preacher who wanted to recite one of his poems for us. He looked like such a nice guy (and it turned out that he is) so we said "sure" and he did....he recited one, then two, then three, and well....it went on for a while :) But...he really is a nice guy and interesting to talk to and before we left him I had purchased a copy of his poem called NOLA - Not Anymore (NOLA stands for New Orleans Lousianna) and although my copying it into this blog won't do it the justice that his voice, cadence, and passion do for it...here it is for you to enjoy too. He wrote the poem right after Katrina.....

Not Anymore can I stand
from corner to corner
Street after street open to anything
or anyone I meet
Not to be handled like a tramp
on the street
Not Anymore will I stand in defeat

Part of me still longs for the
party and booze
Not caring of the self respect
I stand to lose
I can't go on like this
Not Anymore

My children are weeping
some heads held in shame
Hoping their birthplace
would not be the same

Yes there must be music
and all that jazz
But remember that that came from
the swift thoughts of my past

Needing to improvise, just to stay alive
and when we sang the blues
Real tears in our eyes

But Not Anymore
not like before
The whole world is watching
the kids are at the door
Watching their city and crying
Not Anymore

To hear Charles tell it....it's easy to see/feel the discomfort of the locals with the debauchery that is the public face that so much of New Orleans wears for the world to watch or participate in. New Orleans has an interesting culture and the people are proud of their heritage and the history that brought them to where they are today. The Creole, the Cajun, the French, the Blacks, the Europeans....I'm sure there is more to it but so far it seems to me that while there is some overlap in that they're all American's in Louisiana, they're also very proud of their heritage. Charles' table was as far as we made it into the French Market before it was time to head off for our dinner plans so we hit the streets once again....this time on foot.

It wasn't far to the Praline (pronounced prawlene) Connection where "Dan the Man" had suggested we'd find some good old fashioned soul food. Our server Shay took good care of us and while the fried chicken wasn't as good as what we'd had at Mrs Wilkes a couple of years ago when we were in Savannah, the side of cabbage was AMAZING! From dinner we walked the short distance to a little place called Snug Harbour where we made our way to the balcony where we had the best seats in the house for a wonderful show with Charmaine Neville and her band. During the show she was joined by her son Damian who is a performer in his own right. All in all, it was a great show with fantastic musicians playing in a venue that is filled with atmosphere that supports the whole experience.

By the time we "danced" our way out of Snug Harbour it was almost 10:00 so we started the long chilly walk back to our hotel. Verna-Lee and I strolled while the others made their way much more quickly...it really is cold here! Verna-Lee and I had a wonderful stroll home though and it was perfect to walk the length of Royal Ave looking in shop windows, enjoying the Christmas lights that have magically appeared in the past two days, saying hello to passersby on the street, and just feeling the vibe of the city at night.

Back in the hotel and catching up on this blog and I have to tell you about something that just happened here......the New Orleans Saints just beat the New York Giants here in New Orleans and EVERYONE is cheering for the Saints!! The game is playing everywhere (even in the police station), people (even Charmaine Neville) are wearing Saints jerseys or other Saints paraphanalia, and two girls just walked through the hotel lobby wearing grass skirt/tutus and no one even blinked an eye! It's just that everything here seems to be okay. It's really kind of weird but super nice too.

Time to call it a day....till next time,
Lorrie Mae