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Published: February 19th 2007
Batman and Me!
Batman kept wanting to go fight crime but I was able to coax him to stay long enough for a photo.2-9-07
I got up around 6:45 and got going around 7:00. The rest of the group were beginning to have breakfast. I again told them thanks and went on my way. I went to Katrina’s kitchen were I heard they serve free breakfasts. Ok maybe I am a moocher. No I wanted to learn more about it and thought if they needed volunteers I could help the following week a few days. I was surprised at the sheer number of people eating. Katrina was 18 months ago. The kitchen was located in Gulfport, originally it was at Pass Christian where I had volunteered. I sat down and talked to a local man. He said right after the hurricane they were serving about 3 to 4,000 people, whereas now they are only serving 1,000 which still seemed like a lot to me. An older gentlemen I spoke with told me that the people around here dislike 4 groups as follows: FEMA, American Red Cross, State Farm Insurance and New Orleans. I kind of understood all the groups except New Orleans. He said New Orleans because they were given money to fix their levys and they squandered the money back in 2003. I
told him he shouldn't hate the people of New Orleans but the anger should be directed towards the politicians in my opinion. I am not sure he agreed with me. He went on to say that New Orleans really didn’t get hit that hard by the hurricane. It was a levy failure that did them in. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. It still amazes me the level of damage that remains in this area. These people are definitely struggling.
The lady I needed to talk to regarding volunteering was to arrive at 8:00. The lady showed up and gave me contact information for a guy who is in charge of coordinating construction efforts in the area. I asked about lodging as they have little huts where you can stay. She said you have to get a reference and fill out forms. It was going to be too much trouble to even mess with so I decided to move on.
As I drove into New Orleans I was amazed at the devastation. It looked like a war zone. The first Hostel I came too wasn’t in a very good neighborhood. I decided to go in anyway and just
Which Path shall I take?
Let's head to the Big Easy! see if they had any availability. They did not. I was thinking the reviews for this Hostel were the best of the three I had read. If the others were worst then I might be staying in a motel. I made it to the next hostel and was pleasantly surprised as it appeared to be in a better neighborhood and the hostel appeared better too. I went in and at first they were not sure they had availability, but the girl at the desk waited for the owner of the hostel and they did have room. I had to book three nights however which was fine. I discussed security with the staff thoroughly and they seem to not be overly concerned about it. This made me feel better.
I worked on my blog for awhile and then decided to take my bike down Canal Street, which was near the Hostel and check out New Orleans. I biked around and saw a parade going on in the French Quarter. I was amazed how freely they drank beer around there. The people in the parade were drinking and throwing beads. This parade did not have big floats just people walking down
Katrina was here as well
Lots of work remains here 18 months later. the street dressed up in costumes. Usually one person would be driving an atv like ride that had beer or wine on it. Then another person was in charge of keeping everyone’s glass full. It looked like they were having a great time. After a couple hours of this I decided to head back to the hostel.
At the hostel I decided to fix some supper. I had purchased some food earlier in the trip, but hadn’t eaten much so I felt like I needed to start eating it. I decided on some tuna helper pasta. The pasta was a little undercooked and I didn’t have any butter or milk as the recipe called for, but all in all it wasn’t too bad. One of the soda machines there contained beer. They only charged a dollar per beer so it was nice to have cheap beer at the hostel. The people there said this hostel is a European style hostel. It was pretty nice overall. I had a couple beers and then got ready to head to the French Quarter for my first night on the town. A German kid named Benjamin was heading that way too so
Action Photo
I was trying to take a picture of some delapidated homes and then this guy appears in the picture. It seemed funny to me. we decided to go along. We went out to get on the bus and you had to have exact change to ride. I did not so the bus driver said I couldn’t ride. I then told Benjamin I would run to Bourbon and Canal St. and I could meet him there. I ran as much as I could, it was probably 1.5 miles in distance and I did not have the stamina to do the whole distance. When I got there I couldn’t find Benjamin so decided to head down Bourbon St. The next day Benjamin said he had waited 30 minutes for me. I am not sure what happened. It was about 9:00 and the party was definitely underway. There were lots of people in the street and lots of people in the surrounding bars and restaurants. It was pretty cool. I particularly enjoyed Cats Meow a Karaoke Bar. Most singers were really good. The people in there were having an absolute blast. Most people were not from New Orleans except the workers of course. Beers were $5.50 there and I asked him if I had heard him correctly when he said how much they were. In the little
The Big Easy
My drive in! booth like places recessed into buildings you can buy cups of beer for just a couple dollars. This surprised me. So I only had one beer. I saw one fight were a couple white teenage kids were fighting a couple black teenage kids. Cops were all over Bourbon Street so they shut it down right away. It was sad to see there was so much care free fun to be had and they were doing that. I walked up and down Bourbon Street a few more times and then decided to head back to the hostel around 1:00. I took a taxi to the hostel and it only cost around $7.00 so that was cool and more importantly safe. At the hostel there were still some people up. I decided to head for bed. The dorm where I stayed was actually in a building adjacent to the hostel. There were only two other people there and it was actually very quiet. So I walked over there and called it a night. It was extremely cold in the hostel as they had no have heat. I went out to my truck and got an extra blanket I didn’t sleep well that
Statistics
The numbers all represent something. The bottom number is the number of dead found in the house. None were found in this house. night partly due to the cold. The other people in the Hostel went out to the main Hostel building and brought a heater back around 5 in the morning and that helped but it would’t heat the place up immediately.
2/10/07
The next day I got up around 9:30 and fixed some breakfast and worked on the Blog for a little awhile. There was a parade at 2:00 that day that I wanted to see. I wasn’t thinking I would enjoy the parade that much, but knew I needed to experience one. Benjamin the German guy needed to get some groceries so I decided to run him to the store. He also mentioned wanting to see the parade so we set up a place to meet as he was going down earlier. I got on a bus and headed down this time we met with no glitches. The parades sometimes are not on time and this one was no exception. They do call New Orleans the Big Easy for a reason. We actually were watching the 1:00 parade when we thought we would be seeing the 2:00 parade. It didn’t matter to me it was a parade. Surprisingly I
Trash Man comes on Mondays
Still a little cleanup needed. really enjoyed it. It’s easy to get caught up in the party atmosphere and the parades are awesome. I was told the floats are made by a local manufacturer. Local groups such as the lions club ride on the floats, but they must pay around $1,000 each which gives them approx. 9 parades to ride in per year. That includes all beads and booze and everything. I would do it if I lived there. They were having a blast. The bead throws are endless. It was really fun. Ben and I decided to walk around for awhile and went down to see the Mississsippi and walk the boardwalk area. It was very cool. Ben then said he had to meet some people so I decided to head somewhere to eat. I had been wanting Cajun cuisine so decided to check out the two restaurants the Hostel staff recommended. The first place they recommended (Gumbo something) was a little too fancy for my fancy. They actually had linens on the table. I decide to check out Coops and it was a lot more laid back. I got a seat and ordered a sampler platter of cajun food. The food was awesome.
Parade Time
Everybody loves a parade! The more I went to the more addicted to them I became! After eating I sat around and talked for awhile. The bartender bought me a couple Yaeger bombs and we had a grand time. I talked to several other people there as well. One older couple Bob and Marge said they were from Minnesota and leaving on a cruise the next day. I told them that I had seen a cruise ship out there by the boardwalk. Little did I know, but the next day when I downloaded my pictures of the parade across the street from where I stood I could see Bob and Marge in the picture. What’s the chances? I then also heard that the cruise ship had been struck by a tug boat and the cruise was cancelled. Bob and Marge may have went back to Coops that night? Unbelievable! I finally left Coops around 11:00 and decided to check out Bourbon Street. The party was in full swing. I cruised up and down it a few times and went into Cats Meow. Everybody was having a great time. I did this for a few hours and then decided to head back I decided to walk for awhile in the French Quarter before getting a taxi. I
Masked Man
Who is this masked man? Zorro? was walking on Esplanade and then walked under I -10 and the area got immediately rough. I was looking like Mr. T extremely touristy too. I quickly turned around and went back down Esplanade and got in the first taxi I could find. That whole ordeal was a little careless on my part. Nonetheless I made it safely back to the hostel. Again things were still going strong at the hostel but not me, I went to bed.
2/11/07
The next day I decided to go to a couple parades including Barkus, a parade for dogs. I rode my bike so that I could go to the first parade which started at 1 and then to Barkus which started about an hour later in the French Quarter. Again at the first parade I was truly amazed at the beauty of these floats. Again everyone had a blast. I then rode my bike to Barkus and have never seen so many dogs in my life. I envisioned my dog being there and how he would always want to fight. These dogs were much more behaved. I was at the end of the parade route and by the time they got
Poor Tweety
I twat I saw a Tweety Bird! there things were a little disorganized so much so that some participants started going down the wrong street. I enjoyed both parades immensely. I found myself wanting to see more and more of them. I understand the final weekend of Mardi Gras some of the floats are double deckers and there are even more people. I envisioned the same as what I saw only a lot more of it. In all facets of Mardi Gras next weekend will just be bigger. At this point I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like so I decided to go ahead and leave New Orleans the next morning.
When I got back to the Hostel Travis’s friend Courtney called and invited me to spend a night with them in Baton Rouge. I took him up on the offer.
I was getting really tired and was of the mind not to go out my last night in New Orleans, but Ben and a Australian guy were going out to listen to some Jazz. This is the one thing I had not done in New Orleans that I wanted to so I decided to go out with them. We
Off to See the Wizard!
The Wizards in the Big Easy! went to a chi chi (sp) bar. It’s a place where they have these devices that put out a flavored smoke and you can get food as well. I chose a apple chi chi (sp). It was interesting, but I will not be outwardly seeking another one of those bars. It did not do much for me. After that we went to the spotted cat to listen to some jazz. This is a hole-in-the-wall bar that has great jazz. People that the folks in the band new would walk off the street and the band would allow them to play. It was all instrumental stuff and was played with tremendous heart and soul. The people of New Orleans do not have a lot of money and tend to really play with a lot of passion. I was truly impressed and when I go back to New Orleans this will be a main focus of mine. To see more Jazz and blues. This turned out to be a great experience.
We took a taxi back to the hostel around 1:30 and hit the hay.
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btown
non-member comment
gumbo ????
must have tasted better than it looks. Whats in it?