Tuesday, March 7…
Busy day. This morning we took a 3-hour city tour – can’t
possibly remember everything we learned, but we did get a good explanation of
the canal floodwall failure that caused the horrific flooding during Hurricane
Katrina, as well as lots of interesting New Orleans history. I'll let the photos be my tour notes.
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| Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, founder of New Orleans (other figures: Native American & Catholic Priest) |
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| cornstalk motif wrought iron |
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| home of Allen Toussaint, composer of 1961 hit "Mother-in-Law" |
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| After Katrina, officials inspected every home. Numbers in the 4 sections of the red X related key information, such as the number of bodies found. |
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| Metairie Cemetery... Al Hirt & Dorothy Dix buried here. |
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| Tomb of Ruth Fertel, owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House |
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| Jax Brewery (1890-1974), now condos, shops, & restaurants. (The Mississippi is behind me.) |
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| Looking upriver at the Mighty Mississip. |
BlogThoughts... Ruth Fertel's story is inspiring. A divorced mother of 2, she mortgaged her house for $22K in 1965 and bought a small New Orleans restaurant called Chris Steak House. When the building was destroyed by fire, she opened in a new location and added Ruth's to the name. She had no restaurant experience, but lots of enthusiasm and determination and the restaurant was a bigger success than she could have imagined. Franchising began in 1977, and today there are 150 restaurants worldwide.
P.S. I forgot to
mention our evening excursion to Mulate’s Original Cajun Restaurant. It was
just beginning to rain as we walked to the trolley, and pouring by the time we
stepped off and walked another couple blocks to catch our transfer trolley. We
had an umbrella, but it wasn’t a big one, and if you’ve ever shared an umbrella
you know it’s impossible for both of you to stay dry. Not only that, there were
huge puddles everywhere – no way to avoid them so you just walked through. Once
we were seated at the restaurant, I peeled off my lightweight jacket, hung it neatly
on the back of my chair, then slipped off my shoes and pushed them under the
table. After we’d ordered and nobody was paying any attention, I also slipped
off the little nylon footies, wrapped and wrung them in half of my big white
linen napkin (this wasn’t a fancy restaurant at all, but we did have great
napkins) and discreetly hung them over the lower rung of the empty chair to my
left. (Greg never even noticed. But he’s a guy.)
P.S. I forgot to
mention our evening excursion to Mulate’s Original Cajun Restaurant. It was
just beginning to rain as we walked to the trolley, and pouring by the time we
stepped off and walked another couple blocks to catch our transfer trolley. We
had an umbrella, but it wasn’t a big one, and if you’ve ever shared an umbrella
you know it’s impossible for both of you to stay dry. Not only that, there were
huge puddles everywhere – no way to avoid them so you just walked through. Once
we were seated at the restaurant, I peeled off my lightweight jacket, hung it neatly
on the back of my chair, then slipped off my shoes and pushed them under the
table. After we’d ordered and nobody was paying any attention, I also slipped
off the little nylon footies, wrapped and wrung them in half of my big white
linen napkin (this wasn’t a fancy restaurant at all, but we did have great
napkins) and discreetly hung them over the lower rung of the empty chair to my
left. (Greg never even noticed. But he’s a guy.)
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| Good times on the dance floor. |
We enjoyed our dinner (especially the warm bread pudding w/ hard sauce), but the best part of the evening was definitely the Zydeco band. Very casual – fiddle, accordion, guitar, percussion, and occasional triangle by the guitarist’s 4yo son (who did keep time!). Two older couples danced from the start (they weren’t customers; we saw them slip in just before the band started), but it wasn’t long before lots of folks were on the floor. It didn’t matter what steps they did, or whether they were alone, with a partner or part of a literal circle of friends – they just kept time in their own way and had lots of fun. When the set finished, I re-dressed (jacket and footies still damp, shoes still soaked (they’re woven elasticized bands – really comfy, but not meant for rain) and we quick-stepped back to the somewhat isolated trolley stop. (The vintage trolleys are another story. 😊)
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| Waiting for the trolley home. |
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