#42 LOUISIANA

My much delayed post of our fabulous visit to New Orleans is an excerpt for John’s journal. Enjoy! (Thanks J!)

Wednesday October 1, 2008

Place: New Orleans, Louisiana

Remarks: Touch down in the Crescent City was 5:30 pm and we hailed a taxi to our downtown Hampton Inn. Room 701 overlooking the streetcar line on Carondelet Street was very comfortable. The 14 story building dates from 1903 when it was the tallest in the city. It was built as an office complex and known as “Hibernia Building” until 1921 when it was named “Carondelet Building”. It was converted to a Hilton property in 1994. We found a suitable restaurant from Elaine’s book called Road Food that we used on several other trips as well. Bon Ton was just three blocks away and offered Cajun cooking that we relished. The small but well appointed eatery was established over 100 years ago and has been under present ownership since 1953. We started with a secret ingredient rum cocktail followed by a shrimp, crab, and okra gumbo. Elaine’s entrée was a shrimp and crab salad and mine was a gulf fish (red drum) fillet with four small grilled oysters on top. Zucchini and squash casserole on the side was super delicious. We each had a glass of white wine and finished the meal with a shared whiskey drizzled bread pudding and black coffee for me. It was an enjoyable meal and a good introduction to world famous New Orleans fare. We walked the three blocks back to our room and settled in for the evening at 9 PM. We could have but did not walk Bourbon Street just east of our hotel. We will do that tomorrow but for now I was interested in exactly what happened to this city as a result of hurricane Katrina and read many accounts of the agony, death, and destruction from eye witness accounts. I learned that 80% of the city was flooded and I finally gave up the read at 10:30 for much needed sleep.

Thursday October 2, 2008

Place: New Orleans, Louisiana

Remarks: I started the day with coffee and the internet, surfing satellite imagery of a flooded city in late August 2005. After a quick breakfast in the hotel we hit the streets heading for the French Quarter and Jackson Square Park where we expected to join a historic walking tour at 10:30. But it was early so we continued along the Riverwalk heading up the Mississippi River to Canal Street. It was bright and warm so we stopped at our room for certain items and then hoofed it back to the park but could find no tour gathering. We checked at the Louisiana Tourism Office across the street but they were no help. So we decided to take the free ferry to Old Algiers and tour the Mardi Gras World where floats and props are built for the annual parades. It was great fun and we took many pictures. The river traffic was busy with ships and barges on both of our crossings. We ate a Po’ boy oyster sandwich at Pearl’s, just a block from our hotel and I downed a local beer called Dixie that said on the label it was being brewed elsewhere until the local brewery recovers from the damages caused by hurricane Katrina. Back in our room and after reading more about New Orleans, we headed to the French Quarter for a look at the Monteleone Hotel and the Carousel Bar. We enjoyed a local drink called Sazerac made with sugar, Peychaud’s bitters, a splash of absinthe, and lemon peel. It was very good. Next we walked to Napoleon House for their specialty of Pimm’s Cup. That one was too mild for me though I like ginger ale that is an ingredient in its makeup. Our final cocktail before dinner was at Lafitte in Exile on Bourbon Street where we imbibed on a single absinthe cocktail, known for its strength in putting some people “over the edge”. That is why we only shared one but chased it down with another local beer known affectionately and simply as “amber”. It is a sub type of Abita brand. Lafitte is purportedly the oldest bar in the “Big Easy”. We learned at the Carousel bar of a restaurant a long way west of downtown near the St. Charles Street trolley car line called Jacques-Imos on Oak Street. The Cajun food was exquisite and my entrée of blackened redfish was superb. Sides were wonderful too especially the shrimp and alligator cheesecake for appetizer. We skipped wine and dessert but drank two more amber beers each with dinner. The streetcar ride back was less crowded and quicker and we retired to our room at 9 PM.

Friday October 3, 2008

Place: New Orleans & areas south including Houma, Cocodrie and Grand Isle

Remarks: We reserved a car last night from Avis and left our hotel at 8 AM and walked a dozen or so blocks north on Canal Street to pick it up. As soon as we left the downtown area, we were amazed to see so much apparent damage from hurricane Katrina after a full three years since the event of August 29, 2005. Driving farther north then west on Tulane Street showed terrible destruction and put pangs in our hearts. With a bit of doubling back a couple of times and getting on the Earhart Expressway in the wrong direction for several miles, we finally found and crossed the Huey Long Bridge to the south side of the Mississippi River. We drove directly to Houma, a larger city than I expected, and found more recent damage from hurricane Gustav that struck this area just last month. We drove around the town but found no reason to stop except for sodas, restrooms, and junk snacks. Real large boats ply tiny waterways in the bayou and we were amazed to see a very large tug pushing a huge barge through the middle of town. We crossed a high and long bridge over that bayou and headed east on highway 24, or so we thought. We drove and drove and saw tremendous destruction to homes and businesses along the way. Suddenly, I asked Elaine if we were still on highway 24 and she said she thought so. Then a water tank appeared with the name Cocodrie. I joked that I hoped not to find it on some obscure corner of the swamp on the map but that is exactly what happened. Just as suddenly, a sign proclaimed “end of road ahead”. Obviously, we had missed a sign (not surprisingly since most were bent to the ground or gone) somewhere past Houma but were not dismayed since this was an interesting drive even though we had not expected to see buildings in ruins. We had heard of hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and others but did not realize we would drive directly up the course of one of them. We turned north to Chauvin then east through Montegut to Bourg, over to Larose, then south through Galliano and on to Grand Isle. Debris piles in front of every structure lay alongside the road through the entire region. Grand Isle was the worst with beach sand inundating every property both sides of the road and we were only able to pass due to recent bulldozing. All structures in this area are built on stilts evidently due to recurrent flooding but some structures were blown completely off their perches and most were without roofs. There is a state park at the end of the road and we had a wonderful conversation with a young lady who worked for the park service and who told us the park would be closed four to six months until contractors could clear mud, sand, and debris from the site. She gave us a wealth of information: she had evacuated to Shreveport for Gustav but no orders came to leave in the path of Ike since it was headed for Texas. The storm surge from the latter re-flooded the island and destroyed what the previous hurricane spared. What a mess. But she was chipper and was determined with most other residents to clean up and carry on. She said there were about 1500 permanent residents but the area swells to 20,000 people during high season. We turned around at the end of the road at the Coast Guard station, made a short detour to Port Fouchon, and headed north up Highway 1 through Lockport and into New Orleans over Business Highway 90 over the one dollar toll bridge. We turned our Mustang back to Avis at 5 PM, having driven 306 miles, and walked to our hotel for a change of clothes and attitude then hit the streets before 7 PM. There were many more people about on our walk back and we were cautious and thankful it was daylight since so many characters looked unsavory. We vacillated between Mother’s and Herbsaint as a choice for dinner and settled on the latter. We walked over to the French Quarter first for a sazerac at the Carousel Bar and stayed for two. Actually, I opted for a Vieux Carre for my second drink consisting of not only rye, but Benedictine and brandy. The place was packed but we found a small table in the rear, so no go-around for us. We walked across Canal and down St. Charles to Girod where we were comfortably seated at the restaurant named as an anagram of “absinthe” which, at one time, was an outlawed liqueur because it was originally made with wormwood, a poisonous substance. The food was very good but the menu not very extensive so we both enjoyed a shrimp dish for entrée with a duck terrine for Elaine and shrimp and tomato bisque for me as appetizers. They may be shrimp to the locals but I always knew these large crustaceans as prawns. We shared a bottle of Spanish white wine. Walking to our room, we encountered a jazz band on the steps of a white colonnaded building where very formally attired couples were entering over a red carpet. We guessed it was a benefit for the recovery of New Orleans. After enjoying the music briefly, we sauntered on down the street and retired to our room about 9 PM.

Saturday October 4, 2008

Place: New Orleans, Louisiana

Remarks: With our last full day in The Big Easy, we wanted to see and do as much as we could. We joined a history walking tour from 10 AM until noon narrated by Jim and Harriet, volunteers for the Louisiana State Museum. We learned a lot and enjoyed the tour of Jackson Square, Riverwalk, and the French Quarter. We celebrated our new knowledge with a ramos fizz at our favorite Monteleone Carousel Bar. We queued in line for lunch at Mother’s and I over-ate more seafood including shrimp, oysters, catfish, e’toufee, jambalaya, and French fries. Elaine was more sensible with a single serving of seafood gumbo. It was 1:30 when we finished and headed for a walk through the warehouse district. We did not get far when we stumbled upon the New Orleans Seafood Festival in the street with live band, grilled oysters (which we could not partake in due to full tummies) and beer (which we could because there is always room for beer). We hung around a bit then wandered back to the French Quarter where the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park was presenting New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra from 2 - 3:30 PM.

We listened a bit, bought a book, procured some brochures, and headed into the street crowd. We toured the 1850’s House which was part of our ticket from this morning. We were fatigued but stopped by Brennan’s to make a reservation for tonight’s dinner then crashed to our room for a cooling shower and rest. We were at the front door when they opened at 6 PM and seated at what they said was a romantic table but it was situated in a quasi hallway. It was fine and our waiter Alfredo was great. The atmosphere, menu, wine list, and pricing are more upscale than anywhere we went in New Orleans. I rate everything very high including our satisfaction for the 2 ½ hours we were there. We joined the crowd at Preservation Hall afterward and were thrilled with the seven piece band. When their set ended we moved to Maison on Bourbon St. That five piece jazz band was equally as good but had to compete with rock and roll blaring from neighboring venues. In fact, very little pure jazz is played in the Quarter compared to what I heard in 1983 and ‘84. We each drank an amber Abita and left when the set ended. “When the Saints Come Marching In” was a favorite. We wended our way through the throngs on Bourbon St. and bade farewell to New Orleans at 10:30. Good-night.