Interesting day. Started with breakfast at the Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter. One of our favorite places. I had the Creole dish rice balls with syrup and grits. Jack had lost bread which was squished French toast fried hard. Really strange group came in that kind of epitomized the crowd. One woman in the group with a purple-green-gold boa and matching feather hat, guys kind of scrungy. One guy with knit beret with long black braids attached. Another guy had Gasparilla shirt. Ate and drank well but it's not Mardi Gras so couldn't quite figure out what they were all about.
On to the Louisiana State Museum. Very interesting and lots of reading. Complex history like FL. Picture is of reception hall where Louisiana Purchase was signed. Special exhibit of birth of rock and roll in Louisiana with Fats Domino stuff.
Then onto 3 hour Grayline Hurricane Katrina tour. Excellent explanation of flooding for different reasons in different parts of the city. Interesting to see difference in damage here compared to Biloxi. What a mess. 1530 people died. Population back to 300,000 and don't know if it will get back to 450,000 pre-Katrina. Very complicated issues that are a catch-22. People don't come back because no infrastructure and businesses not coming back because no workers. Kind of sad. Don't think it will ever be the same. All of the new stuff more expensive to build and to live in. Before the hurricane 45% of people in New Orleans were renters which is big part of problem. In other words no motivation to bring back poorer people. On the other hand 3000 health professionals left and at least 2 hospitals that we saw never reopened. Bus lines cut to 1/4, etc. So if wanted to come back, services just not there. Picture is of markers that showed the height of the water in the 9th ward. Also saw the new houses that Brad Pitt is building but sell for $150,000 so not for the people who left.
However, impressed with plans to prevent it from happening again including building "bunkers" for the guys who operate the pumps, etc. They were all evacuated so areas that could have been saved weren't because no one started the pumps. Duh.
Had some time at end of tour and arrival of shuttle so went to French Market for beer and shared popcorn shrimp. Our impression is most of the tourists are either kind of creepy biker types or Europeans-maybe Canadians. Business is very slow everywhere. Most of the touristy shops run by Pakistani/Indian people who also seem to be the cab drivers. Seems that they are taking advantage of the opportunity to fill in for the people who left.
Surprise while we were waiting for shuttle. The steamboat Natchez was docked and woman came out on the top and played a caliope. Great fun.
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