Day 78-Tues, 17 Mar 09-New Orleans

Top 'O The Morning--Happy St. Patrick's Day--Kiss Me, I'm Irish. I think that just about covers it!

We've had a busy couple of days and I expect the rest of our holiday will be much the same. The sun has finally come out again and today was glorious.

When we climbed in to bed, in the pounding rain, on Sunday night, we discovered that the rubber gasket thingy that goes around the back window was displaced (?) and the water had run down the window and soaked my side of the bed! That made me real happy at 11 pm at night! We piled towels on it and I had an okay, albiet a lumpy, sleep until 4 am when I woke up to water dripping on my face. I was wide awake and got up and read while Wayne put a couple of containers by the window to catch the big drips that were coming in. Talk about the Klampet's! He managed to get a few hours more sleep and we were on the road again, in the rain, determined to reach New Orleans. Needless to say, I slept the whole way.

We got to New Orleans early and although it was supposed to clear in the afternoon, it didn't but Wayne had re-jigged the rubber stuff and the leak stopped. We had signed up to take the shuttle from the KOA in to the city today so showered and slept like logs.

The shuttle is free and the KOA guy was a great tour guide on the half-hour trip in this morning. We didn't leave until 9 am, which was nice for not-so-early-risers like myself. We decided that we would take the 3-hr Katrina/City tour and it was great. Taking the van in, parking, or trying to negotiate the crazy roads & drivers just wasn't an option and we would never have seen all that we did in the same amount of time.

We went to the Ninth Ward and except for the new houses that Brad Pitt is building, there's not much there but abandoned houses. As the guide said, if you had owned a house there and the neighbourhood looked like this, would you want to re-build? I guess the answer for everyone is 'no' as there's been very little going on. The homes Brad is building are energy efficient, metal & vinyl homes (because termites & moisture are major problems here), very large and selling for $150,000 which is quite cheap. Harry Connick Jr has also built a number of homes, targeted for musicians (to get them back to N.Orleans) which are smaller but only costing $75,000. There is re-bulding and renovating happening everywhere--and I mean everywhere--including the massive, gorgeous pre-civil war historic homes to the small shotgun (long, narrow) homes and everything in between.

We stopped at one of the cemeteries and it was interesting (to me) to learn all burials are in mosoleums above ground and they are 'family' tombs. The interesting part is that inside these tombs the space is divided--shelf on top and room for casket below. When one person dies, the tomb is opened, the remains are removed from the casket for the newest burial and the remains are put in a body bag and shoved back on the shelf. The bigger the tomb of course, the more room there is for multiple caskets--but the norm is 1 or 2 at most as these tombs cost approx $60,000. I'm guessing cremations at just set on the shelf. The 'cheap' section is one long wall, with niches big enough for 1 casket. A person 'leases' the space for 10 years and gets a placque on the front after his casket is shoved in. At the end of the lease, his remains are removed from the casket, put in a bag and shoved to the back to make room for the next 'leasee'. Groovy!

Some of the historic homes are beyond belief! The architecure in New Orleans is amazing anyway but some of the bigger homes--especially those built before the Civil War--are nothing short of glorious! I'm hoping we can figure out the trolley system tomorrow so that I can go back and take some photos along St Charles Street. The bus driver had an 'almost' degree in architecture so could ream off the various styles--Plantation, Greece Revival, American Revival, Creole, etc. All I know is that they were wonderful to look at from the outside and I'd sure like to have an opportunity to peak inside. Unfortunately there is a news report today on drywall that was imported from China that contains sulphyr. People are finding that after 2 yrs, all metal in their homes is corroding! There's no estimate yet of how many homes in this area, which have been either re-built or renovated after even minor flooding, will have to be stripped back to the studs so that the drywall can be replaced! Incredible.

We walked the French Quarter and enjoyed the street musicians, many of which are very talented. Although Marti Gras has ended, St. Patrick's Day is a good excuse for another big party so everyone was dressed for the occasion and really in the spirit. It was quite busy in the Quarter but I'm sure Spring Break helped. This is the best time to be in New Orleans as it starts to get hot in another month--95 degrees/100% humidity--and not fit to visit. While I sat and gave my back a rest, Wayne did a bit of wandering. I ended up befriending a couple of guys who do that 'statue posing' thing...Uncle Louie who dresses like Mr. American and pretends he's walking a stuffed dog and Golden Football Man. Uncle Louie promised that if he made enough money from the people getting off the paddle boat, he and I were going to have a quote helluva happy hour unquote. I'm not sure how much money he made but Wayne returned returned before there was an accounting of the proceeds so happy hour was cancelled. Golden Man had pupils the size of pinholes so I suspect his take was going directly to his pusher! I can certainly attract 'em!

We decided that we would sign up for an additional night here and take the shuttle in again tomorrow so that we can take the paddle boat tour along the Mississippi River. Taking the tours is the only way to see things when you only have a short time to visit. I'd love to be able to be downtown at night as the city takes on a whole different personality then. Next time.

Happy Birthday to my sweetheart Jackie...she's going to celebrate with her Mom on a girl's week in Las Vegas. Carmel is perking up after her 4th chemo session and planning her trip to Australia this fall--kuddos kiddo! The Scott's are having a ball in Washington even though Bob is abusing 80-year-old grocery packers who just want to pack the damn groceries and carry them out to his car--I can't stop laughing because I can SEE this all happening. Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx