Oh, The Places You'll Go! - #3

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down a not-so-good-street.
  ~Dr. Seuss

Continuing our day on a more positive note, our spunky tour guide Rose dropped us at Johnny's Po-boy in the French Quarter for a hearty meal before our afternoon tour. We had a lavish 15 minutes to scarf down our soup and sandwiches.

Joey ordered the delicious Catfish Po-boy (basically a New Orleans sub sandwich but with more interesting ingredients).

Michael and I enjoyed the lunch special: 1/2 a Shrimp Po-boy and a cup of gumbo.

Our afternoon tour guide, Joseph, picked us up at Johnny's and whisked us away to the River Road area about 45 minutes from the French Quarter. There are dozens of Plantations along the Mississippi River Road, but not all have been restored. We visited two Creole Plantations:

Laura Plantation:

Laura Plantation is a historic sugar plantation built in 1805.

The entire home and grounds have been beautifully restored and the history of the plantation is quite colorful.

The plantation tour of Laura included an authentic slave house on the property.

Interior of Slave house:

After leaving Laura, we drove 5 minutes down the road to possibly the most spectacular of the restored plantations, Oak Alley Plantation

We entered through the side of the property where there are many wonderful live oak trees.

But the real beauty of the property is the quarter mile of giant live oak trees, believed to be nearly 300 years old.

The house is a classic antebellum Greek-revival style. The picture below is the side of the house.

Below is the entry to the house from River Road:

The front of Oak Alley Plantation:

Above: Kari Medusa... I think this one is Michael's artistic interpretation of what he thinks of my hair :'(

Below: Joey is trying to figure out why his Mint Julep does not, in fact, taste like mint... at all :'(

After our tours we returned to the hotel exhausted.

Later we headed to Chef John Besh (of Next Iron Chef, Top Chef and Treme TV fame)'s newest restaurant Domenica, conveniently located in our hotel. We only had Joey's new graduation gift camera on this trip (Canon EOS 7D) and he would not let me use the flash, so the pictures are more "Joey's style".

Above: Joey at Domenica

Below: me on about my 10th glass of iced tea

Below: my favorite appetizer, heirloom tomatoes, garlic bruschetta, arugula & burrata cheese.

Above: Spicy Lamb Meatball Pizza

Below: Goat Cheese Tortelloni

Below: Michael's plain jane spaghetti bolognese (which was delicious, like everything else)

And finally, definitely one of my weaknesses... a glorious 14 oz. ribeye with asparagus and porcini butter

and on that note--adieu.... for now.

Oh, The Places You'll Go! - #2

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
  ~Dr. Seuss

We started bright and early Monday morning in New Orleans with muffins, croissants and drinks from our hotel coffee shop. Outside the front door of The Roosevelt (Waldorf Astoria) is a gorgeous Jesuit Catholic Church. Our tour bus, well--tour van--was running late so Michael and Joey took a quick peak inside this gorgeous building.

We quickly found out why our tour was running late when the 'Tours by Isabelle' van pulled up and out jumped the tour guide, Rose, and a small film crew. This week is the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and there is a whole lot going on. This particular film crew was from German public broadcasting and a German videographer, newscaster and sound guy would all be joining us and the other 8 passengers in the van on our Post Katrina Tour of New Orleans. It was a bit of a tight squeeze. We like the Tours by Isabelle Tour company because the tours are small and personal (I have been on Isabelle's tours before). However, taking a tour with a film crew and a camera stuck in your face half the time was not what I had bargained for. It turned out okay in the end because Rose was a pretty wonderful tour guide and it was a 14 passenger van after all. Joey had his camera, but did not take any pictures of the devastation. To be honest, we were so engrossed in the shock of it all, that none of us thought about taking photos.

We started with a brief tour of the French Quarter, Garden District and waterfront area near the Convention Center. Rose outlined the areas and how much water each area received both from rain water from the storm and also water from the broken levee system. She told us about the "Sliver on the River" an area which received only rain water and therefore much less flooding and included the area closest to the Mississippi River near downtown. The French Quarter was included in this area and therefore the French Quarter looks much the same as it did the last time I visited... pre-Katrina. Unfortunately some shops and restaurants were not able to reopen because so many people lived outside the French Quarter and were displaced from their homes. Many of those people have not returned to live in New Orleans even five years later, and probably never will. I know it sounds ironic that the area closest to the Mississippi was the least affected, however, once you see how New Orleans is situated, with waterways all around and the whole place basically built on a swamp, it becomes much more obvious. The Levees along the river did not break.

Rose drove us out of the French Quarter and our first stop was the gorgeous New Orleans City Park where we took a short break. The park lost over 1000 trees and was flooded with anywhere from one to ten feet of water for up to four weeks post Katrina. The oak trees that survived, with their ferns and spanish moss, are so beautiful and peaceful and magnificent. All over the city she talked of people that had come to New Orleans after Katrina to help. Six German Engineers and Restoration Artists arrived to restore the old wooden Carousel in the Children's portion of the Park. It is a beautiful carousel, but it makes you wonder why it was so important to restore a carousel when there are still people FIVE years later that cannot live in their homes.

Then the real "tour" began. Rose drove us to neighborhoods that included large waterfront estates where many families have not returned to live in their homes. I am going to keep saying this because it is just incredible. It is five YEARS post Katrina this week. Five YEARS. Apparently it took a minimum of two YEARS in most areas just to get the power, water and sewer systems back in place. Rose told us a story of her Brother and Sister-in-law who tried to return to their house just a few months after the storm. He is a contractor and so therefore could do the work himself. They brought their house back up to living standards about a year and a half post storm and then one morning they woke up to a flooded house full of sewer water and they had to start all over again. There is also the issue that even if families are back in their homes, most facilities are gone. For the most part, there are no grocery stores or gas stations or hospitals, or schools in these areas. The hospital system is unbelievable. There are countless hospitals that have not reopened. Some must be completely rebuilt. The average wait time in an emergency room in the area is 20 hours. This fact alone is one of the reasons many many people have not returned to New Orleans. They have moved away and started new lives in other cities and even other states. Houses in these middle class to affluent neighborhood are standing empty, many of which are uninhabitable.

Our tour included a drive through St. Bernard Parish. Rose was a school teacher in this Parish for 36 years. Her house was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She drove us by her property. There is no house there, only grass. As a matter of fact, there are just a handful of houses on the whole street. They are all new. Rose and her husband evacuated before Katrina. Most people were allowed to return to their homes 3 weeks post Katrina to assess the damage. It took 3 weeks just to pump out all the water in the area. To add insult to injury, Rose was not able to return to her house for 7 weeks because there had been an oil spill in her neighborhood and it required an additional 4 weeks clean up. Because of the oil spill, they did not qualify for a FEMA trailer and her house and EVERYTHING in it had to be hauled away as rubbish. They lost everything. Rose and her husband now live 66 miles away in Mississippi. She drives into New Orleans just to give these tours. Only 50% of the residents of St. Bernard Parish have returned.

We drove through the lower 9th ward, which sustained the most severe damage of all as these neighborhoods were very close to one broken levee and in the middle of two broken levees--so water was literally rushing at their houses from two sides. These neighborhoods were starkly different from the houses we had driven by earlier in the tour... mainly because there were still houses to see in the earlier Parishes. In the lower 9th ward, the houses are gone. Many homes were completely demolished instantly by the 35mph rushing waters. The water rose from 3 inches (from the actual Hurricane which bypassed New Orleans) to 15 feet (in some areas) in a matter of minutes. Of the people whose houses were not instantly destroyed and who could break through their roofs, many were stranded there for 5-10 days.

It took three to six weeks before they could get all water drained from flooded areas. It took two years to get basic facilities (power, water, sewer) up and running in many areas. Thousands of people have never returned to their homes. What a travesty of human error in one of the most beautiful and unique cities in our country. It makes me sad.

Oh, The Places You'll Go! - #1

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

~Dr. Seuss

Tinkerbell and Chloe are packed and ready for college. They weren't too happy when we taped them up inside the box, but I'm sure they'll be fine once they get there and can stretch their legs... just kidding. But they did like the box for a while.

So, the time has come.

The time to take Joey off to college.

I decided to make it an exciting occasion by planning a fun vacation around the event. I have not forgotten about our budget concerns now that we are actually paying for private college tuition. As a matter of fact, Joey does not start classes until next month, and I am nearly done paying for the first term, so believe me, I have not forgotten about it.

I chose a visit to the South for a few reasons (1) Joey has not been (2) things are cheap this time of year because apparently people do not want to visit beautiful Southern US cities when the temperatures are nearing 100 degrees with take your breath away humidity and (3) I LOVE the South.

Joey threw himself a going away party with hor d'oeuvres and dancing and said good-bye to friends that hadn't already left for college.

Of course it was at our house the night before we were due to leave for vacation and lasted into the a.m. hours. Did I mention before that there will be some things I will not miss so much once Joey is studying hard at College?

Well, Saturday morning we hopped a plane for New Orleans and arrived in the city just in time to get caught in a crazy onslaught of traffic as die hard Saints fans made their way to the Super Dome for the first pre-season home game. It was a very enthusiastic crowd, and I don't blame them--and it was all Saints jerseys all the way. No competing team colors in this town (nope, I am not going to mention anything about a certain Seattle team right now, I'm not, I won't, phew, I didn't--sort of).

We checked into our beautiful junior suite (which is actually a very large room with separate entry, living room, walk in closet, large bedroom and humongous marble bathroom) for a mere $175/night. Gotta love the off season.

We got a fantastic recommendation for dinner from the concierge and had the most delicious French food at Le Foret Restaurant. We did not bring the camera, but we devoured everything that was put in front of us including the dessert souffles, one was vanilla with chocolate sauce, the other chocolate with cherries and ice cream.

After dinner we took a stroll over to Bourbon street so that Joey could see the nightlife. Of course it was packed with tourists as well as post Saints game partiers. We thought about hitting the bars, but decided to call it a night (of course anyone who knows us knows that is a joke--I was just testing to see if "you" were still reading).

Sunday morning in New Orleans was gloriously sunny. We hopped a cab to Commander's Palace in the Garden District for their famous Jazz Brunch.

Wow, was that food good. The Jazz wasn't bad either. The musicians were very entertaining.

Joey enjoyed a house speciality: Eggs Couchon De Lait

"Smoky braised pork debris over black pepper rosemary biscuits with soft poached eggs, winter mushrooms & bourbon-bacon fat hollandaise."

I had the Buttermilk Pancakes with Peaches, Pecans & Bourbon Syrup

To be honest we shared everything. It was a very decadent 3-course meal which also included lobster tacos, grilled crab and cheese sandwich with a spicy tomato hollandaise dipping sauce, an amazing local fish and shrimp dish PLUS desserts. We were barely able to touch the desserts which included bread pudding souffle, praline parfait and pecan pie. By the time we left the Restaurant we thought surely we would not need to eat for the rest of the trip, but we were wrong, of course!

We had planned to take a walk around the Garden District which is full of gorgeous homes, however, we took one step outside in our dressy clothes and thought we would faint if we tried to walk a half block. We grabbed an air conditioned taxi back to the hotel for a little after brunch siesta.

Later that evening we embarked on a self-guided walking tour of the French Quarter. Our hotel is really only about 3 blocks from the French Quarter which turns out to be perfectly close. Not so close that you are woken up at night by the noise, but close enough to walk there in less than 5 minutes.

We admired the gorgeous French Quarter architecture.

We saw a totally different Bourbon Street than the night before. One that was just getting started for the evening. We got about 10 historic monuments into the walking tour when a storm unleashed on the French Quarter. There was thunder and lightening and then rain. LOTS OF RAIN!

We ducked for cover under the awning of a shop selling souvenir t-shirts and watched a crazy, only in New Orleans, scene unfold:

There was a young man (looked to be college aged, dressed like a regular kid in shorts and a t-shirt) lying on the ground in the pouring rain with his tennis shoes off, but close by. He was right outside the convenience store on the left. Presumably that is why the police car is there. To get him out of the street and sobered up? Meanwhile there is a couple on the balcony above him wearing very little clothing being serenaded by an African American "soul" singer across the street (on our side of the street). He is singing a crazy song that he is making up as he goes about love and the rain, and anything else he can think of... not quite singing, definitely not rapping, but you can hear it all up and down the street because he has a microphone. And the rain really starts coming down and everyone is drenched. It was a lot of fun.

We abandoned our walking tour for the time being and on the way home stopped in at the Hard Rock Cafe for a bite to eat, because we knew it was dry and air conditioned. They sat us in the "Prince" corner, and I, for one, thought it was destiny.