Farewell to New Orleans

This city of New Orleans is so mystical. A city of extremes from the vision of France on our balcony to the wonderful food and fascinating people. Everything is so different here. We took a trip to the Metarie Cemetery. It’s quite unique as all the burial sites are mausoleums due to the lack of earth beneath the surface. This cemetery had some of the most extravagant monuments to the departed. Our second tour was another homage to the departed but in the most heart-breaking of circumstances. We went driving around the “9th Ward”. This was the most devastaed section due to the levee break and incredible flooding. Our tour guide and dear friend Sabrina explained that a barge was slammed into a section of the levee causing this catastrophy. She moved back to New Orleans four months after Katrina with her mother who had evacuated from Metarie. Her mom luckily had no flooding in her home. Sabrina remarked that her experience driving through the “9th Ward” at that time caused her severe emotional distress as she looked at a place that appeared to have been bombed. Our experience was sad as we saw many homes still standing with wire and pipe skeletons through the empty window frames and missing doors. I took a few photos and had to ask Sabrina to leave. I felt like a voyeur of someone’s tragedy. I am so glad New Orleans is a city that came back from this disaster. It’s a wonderful place. Take a look at the photo gallery for some of the special views of this city.