Thur afternoon (cont)

I had to publish the first bit ‘cos our wifi ran out & we had to renew. This is the one & only place that we have had to pay for wifi!!

Katrina—apparently Katrina did not hit the coast as expected at the mouth of the river (all the floodgates were shut) but hit to the East and forced lots of water into the lake to the north of the city. As New Orleans is built on swamps, which are pumped out into this lake, it is an area that has hundreds of drainage ditches. The flooding occurred when the volume of water became too great & the drainage system ditch walls collapsed and 80 to 90% of the city was flooded. And they were unable to pump the water out until all the walls were repaired. The French Quarter was not under water but our hotel which is on the other side of the main road, Canal St, was. It was really interesting to hear the story from a local but must have been horrendous to go through. 

Libby showed us buildings of architectural interest & gave us the stories behind them. General Andrew Jackson (later President Jackson) was a local hero since it was he who was responsible for the defeat of the British. Napoleon sold the territory to America when he was a bit short of cash but the French legacy lives on in many of the street names & architectural styles. French toast is a popular dish here (have never seen it in France) as are beignets & there is a café which makes & sells only beignets & café crème. We could actually see the production & cooking of said doughnuts & the café was full of people consuming them. 

There are some beautiful buildings & some of the balconies are very attractive. After the tour we managed to find one such balcony for a bit of light refreshment. I will post some photos from today.