Big Easy to Big Apple: NOLA Monday 19th January 2015

Monday 19^th January 2015.

The day started with breakfast which we skipped. I was scolded by one of our ‘herders’ for not wearing my badge at breakfast. Then there was a lecture on the history of NOLA given by the entertaining and charismatic Jerry McCurdy who is a tour guide and long-time enthusiast for the city. Jerry described the very early days of the discovery of the Mississippi by the French from Canada and their several abortive missions to try to set up a community at the mouth of the great river. Many colorful characters were involved in the story including a Scots rogue called John Law who managed a huge scam on the enterprise. In those days this was a very hostile environment and Louisiana was a difficult ‘child’ in its very early years being ceded to the Spanish before being bought by the Americans in the celebrated Louisiana Purchase. Jerry described the way that France managed to populate the new land with undesirables and degenerates as it was difficult to get willing volunteers to emigrate. The lecture was most interesting even being enlivened by the sounds of the Martin Luther King Day parade on Loyola Street outside the hotel.

At the conclusion of the lecture we boarded the bus outside the hotel to go to lunch at the New Orleans Seafood and Hamburger restaurant. Following lunch we re-boarded the bus for a tour of various sites in the city. We saw the levee system and some of the rebuilding which has been done since Hurricane Katrina which happens 9 1/5 years ago. There is still much work to do and the tour highlighted the fact that there are some good projects such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s “Make it Right” project where designers from around the world have been asked to come and experiment with low cost, well designed, sustainable accommodation. This has spawned a group of innovatively designed houses in an area formerly devastated. Habitat for Humanity has also been very active as well as the music community who have built a “Musicians Village” for displaced musicians. Some of the rebuilding seems quixotic in the sense that boat houses almost within touching distance of Lake Ponchartrain have been rebuilt in exactly the same places as they were totally destroyed after the hurricane.

The Levee

The Yacht Club House on the edge of the Lake

A couple of large houses which did not withstand the hurricane too well

There is evidence of the remains of Hurricane Katrina all over the city and it is clear that this will be a scar on the city for a long time to come. It is to be hoped that the city is better able to meet a new storm when it comes.

Afterwards we visited the St Louis #3 cemetery where almost all of the tombs are above ground. Many of them are multiple ossuaries for families of organizations.

A statue of Mother Teresa in the St Louis #3 Cemetery

On the left the rows of ossuaries in the St Louis #3 Cemetery

From the cemetery we went to the park which is huge over 1,300 acres and on this holiday day very well used. The New Orleans Museum of Art is situated in the park as well as a vintage carousel and many picturesque trees called live oaks covered in Spanish Moss. We stopped in the park briefly for a coffee and bathroom break. Then we toured through the Treme district which has a creole flavor and then through the French Quarter where some of the main sites were pointed out such are Café du Monde, the cathedral, etc. then it was back to the hotel for a rest.

An artwork at the Museum of Arts in the Park

Spanish moss on the trees

A sculpture which shows the height of the water after Hurricane Katrina

We left the hotel at 6.45 pm to take the bus to the Riverside to board the Creole Queen a paddle wheel riverboat. There was a buffet on board and a small Dixieland combo to entertain us. One of the highlights of the evening was when Ellie Chernick one of our group was identified as a WWll WAVE (USA Navy lady volunteer). The band played ‘Anchors Aweigh’ and we all applauded Ellie who had enlisted even though she was too young to do so. She is one remarkable lady. She told us it was the best decision she ever made and it transformed her life. The band was very good and they tried hard to entertain us in one of those environments where many were talking amongst themselves or eating. An Australian man and his wife told us they had come all the way from Australia just to hear this group.