Day 3 - An exciting day planned

see all photos »

Today I had a few things planned.  I had pre-booked the History of New Orleans Culinary Tour, that I'd heard great things about online.  That was planned for the afternoon.  Since yesterday was rainy, I hoped that today, I could get my Katrina/City tour in, in the morning.  I had tried to reserve before I left with Tours by Isabelle (another recommendation from Trip Advisor) but they never had enough people to run a tour.  I was "on call" since I arrived here, but they never called.  Anyways, I woke up early Friday morning, grabbed a quick breakfast at Welty's Deli outside my hotel (excellent food) and then booked it to the Gray Line tour kiosk.  Fortunately they had spots left on the Katrina tour.  The tour started at 9am.  I had heard excellent things about the Katrina tours with Grey Line, as well.  I was hoping to see more of the city as a whole and get hear a more personal account of what happened before, during and after Katrina.  Our tour guide's name was Barbara Robichaud. She was a Cajun (Acadien) French woman who has lived in New Orleans her entire life.  She was very passionate about her love for New Orleans.  I have to say the tour was extremely educational, sobering and enlightening.  Here are a few things that I took from the tour:

You can see the water line on the house.
see all photos »

1.  Many people, many elderly, decided not to evacuate because they had lived through many hurricanes and the city never flooded.  New Orleans had NEVER flooded before Katrina.

2.  Many people (40%) did not leave because the did not want to leave their pets.  Many of these people didn't own cars and you couldn't take your animals on the bus.  So they stayed.  Many of these people died with their pets.

4.  School buses weren't used to evacuate people cause they had no one to drive them.  This was the job of the National Guard, but they were in Iraq.  No one else volunteered to drives them because they wanted to take care of their own familes and get them out.

Lisa and Donnie are not ok. They are divorced now.
see all photos »

5.  Many people died on the streets, because of lack of basic medical care, not because they were shot or killed by criminals on the street.  But because the hospitals were locked up, because drug users were trying to get in to get drugs.  Same with most big buildings where people normally seek refuge after a hurricane.  They wouldn't let the bad people in, so the good ones trying to get help couldn't get in either.

6.  Most backup generators failed because they were kept in basements.  Again, New Orleans has never flooded.

All these are foundations where a house once stood before Katrina.
see all photos »

7.Insurance rates have skyrocketed, poeple can't sell or buy houses, because no one will insure them...  so many stories like this.  Many homes had to be bulldozed because they sat in 8 ft of water for a month.  All the water in New Orleans had to be pumped out after Katrina.

I learned a ton of other things on this tour.  We drove through many different neighborhood.  80% of the city was flooded.  There are many abandoned houses, many vacant lots that once had a house on it, many people out renovating their homes.  Only half the population has come back to the city.  Slowly people are coming back.  But many services haven't been restored, schools are still closed.

The Lower Ninth Ward and Brad Pitt's money raising project to rebuild the community.
see all photos »

The final myth about New Orleans is that it's incredibly unsafe for tourists.  If you go there you'll get shot!  This is a lie.  It is no more dangerous than other big cities.  It's poor drug infested neighborhoods, where there are gang wars, that are not safe.  So unless you go looking for crack, you'll be ok!  And there is lots of police presence downtown.  New Orleaneans are some of the nicest, most gracious people, I've ever met.  So don't always believe everything you read or hear on the news.

That being said, I'll put some pics up on Facebook of this tour.

Sorry this is so long but my day is not over yet!  So after the tour was over, I had lunch at Cafe Fleur de Lys (ham sandwich and southern potato salad, which I know was not good for me, but hey you have to experience it!)  Then I went back to the hotel, checked out and checked into my conference hotel.  After that it was time for my culinary tour.  Got there and there was no one there, but I was a bit early.  Waited some more.  Waited...  Weird no one here!  I call the tour company and turns out got cancelled!  My guide was sick and there was no one to replace her.  I was so looking forward to that tour!  So I headed to Grey Line and found a cocktail tour and signed up.  It's a slow time to be here, so it was just me and a young couple from Toronto.  Our tour guide Sally Smith, was another born and raised.  Sally was a tiny little woman, so cute and really nice.  She was an older lady, probably in her early 60's.  Her house was completly destroyed by flooding and has to be bulldozed.  She hasn't rebuilt, but is staying with a friend.  She had to leave New Orleans after Katrina.  Fortunately she has a wealthy aunt who helps her out.  She did some travelling and tried some work as a waitress.  Finally she came back to New Orleans.  She's been working as a tour guide in New Orleans for 8 years.  She makes minimum wage and relies on her tips, but she loves her job.  Another interesting thing is that her son is fighting in Iraq.  I would say this lady is problably a little stressed out, but she had a great sense of humour and gave us a great tour.  Basically the tours explained the history of alcohol in the city and the famous drinks.  We stopped at several bars, including Antoine's, Napoleon House, Court of Two Sisters, Pat Obriens, Pirates Alley and Tujagues.  I tried a Pimm Cup - sorta tasted like a spiked lemonade, Sazerac - which is basically a big glass of bourbon!  We even went to an Absinthe bar, which is legal here and had a sip of that.  Tasted like licorice.  We got a private tour of Antoines', the oldest restaurant in the USA, and they showed us dining rooms hidden by secret doors, room used by the president, Brad and Angelina!  the wine celar, rooms where people having affairs met secretly for diner with private waiters!  Anyways, we finished the tour at Tujagues with a drink I can't remember the name by that time but it was good!  By that time Pat, my coworker had arrived in town and he met us there.  We had dinner with the couple from Toronto.  Lori and Josh??  I think their names were.  They were sorta boring, not too adventurous but we had had a few drinks together by that time, so got to chatting a bit more.  We had an amazing 5 course dinner.  From there we walked around to find a bar and stopped into a place with a live band, a simple, humble place, where most tourists didn't go.  ;)  However, the locals were super friendly and welcoming.  And we were just in time for salsa lessons!  From blues to salsa in heartbeat.  It was a little weird.  We sat at the bar and had few beers and watched a group of young college kids that trickled in, salsa with the latin intructor.  It was hilarious and surreal.  From there, the couple left us and Pat and I headed to the Dragon's Den to watch some Tribal Belly dancers perform.  I'd read about it online and really wanted to go.

The bar was a tiny tiny dark whole in the wall, very shady, but the dancers were amazing.  It wasn't busy and we were so close we could touch them.  They danced a couple short sets and from there we walked the French Quarter looking for another place to go.  Basically in New Orleans, you don't preplan much.  You just walk around and if you hear some music you like, you walk in.  No cover.  So we heard some blues playing and walked in and had a seat.  Another amazing show.

After that, we went to Cafe du Monde and had some beignets, (so tasty!!!) and called it a night after.  We started our training the next morning.  We'd be tired but so worth it.

Check out Facebook for pics of the night.  Good fun!

Ciao!

Michy