Wandered around and tried to familiarize ourselves with the Norwegian Star. Of course before I left home….I told everyone I would be on the Norwegian Jewel – and at the port in New Orleans the taxi driver drove us to the Carnival Conquest….I think we are having a 7 day cruise with ports of call: Costa Maya, Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I’ll keep you posted.
Saw the levies that abound on both sides of the riverbank. There were some obvious signs of damage on some wharves, but we weren’t able to tell of any of the devastating Katrina damage from the ship. We have been told that taking a city tour, which we plan to do on our return to NOLA to visit other sites, will also take us through some areas that haven’t been rebuilt. Our taxi driver lost his house, but was able to relocate in another area of New Orleans. He told us that New Orleans used to be a city of 1,000,000 people, but now only 500,000. He did have quite a Cajun accent, but Trish and I both agreed that is what he said. He also said that the locals believe that the levy was deliberately exploded in a poorer area so that the majority of the flooding would not enter the city. The result of this action saw a 22 foot flood line in the projects and only 2-4 feet in the city. Had not heard that before, but found it plausible and an interesting take on why the poorer outlying areas were so devastated when the city escaped most of the horror and a good reason why areas have not been nor will be rebuilt for a very long time.
On the way out of port there were so many oil refineries. I guess as you approach the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River that is to be expected. I wondered if we would see any oil rigs, but we have not noticed any. The Mississippi River is very muddy – just as the songs suggest.
Other than that, yesterday was a recovery day from our traveling. We did try our luck in the casino – fat lot of good that did other than lighten our wallets. Maybe tomorrow… Til then..
2 comments:
Glad you having a good time so far.
Sheila
Glad to hear you are sailing! As for the conspiracy about the levees, it would seem to me that a 22 foot flood would completely cover many houses. Perhaps it did. I would think that more than the locals would be mentioning this as that kind of disregard for some neighbourhoods would have got a lot of press and mention. I think the city might be a bit higher than the lower lands. Time for a check of the maps and water datum.
Hugs and better luck at the machines!
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