Day 18 20/1/2017 - New Orleans Day 1

After our usual hearty breakfast we began a 3 hour morning tour called A Snapshot of New Orleans
For our tour guide we had a crazy former Kindergarten teacher, now retired and really eccentric/bossy.  Needless to say everyone did as they were told, we daren't do otherwise, and it was very funny.

Everything is still set in the context of Hurricane Katrina, eleven years ago.  This is still very sad. Prior to Hurricane Katrina the population was 1.2 million, then dropped way below, but has since built up again to 1 million, but it hasn't been easy. There have been many house ownership issues and insurance.  Many people had no official documentation to demonstrate ownership, and although this was common practice, insurers won't accept the absence of official deeds.

Our guide had a huge bank of general facts at her fingertips.
Told us about wrought iron and cast iron, and gave us a lesson on the differences.
She explained about the oil industry and the importance of the river in industry.
She pointed out the barges - capable of massive transportation
Tourism ranks third in the Louisiana economy
Burial grounds - all tombs are situated above ground because of the disastrous floods making buried bodies pop up to the surface. Lots of laughter at the antics of burying families and respecting the 1 year and one day decomposition "rule" - and not moving contents of the tombs.  This has provided a business opportunity for those wanting to rent tomb space to families who lose more than one member in a year.  Bodies once decomposed get stacked on top of each other in the tombs.
Architecture is apparently influenced by France, Spain, Britain - from 16th century onwards. 

When discussing buildings our Ground floor is called the basement, living accommodation is our 1st floor to safeguard families against flooding
Food is a  hugely important part of the New Orleans culture.  We were told about 3 specialities

• coffee and doughnuts without holes. Coffee is prepared with chicory, so is lower in caffeine.
• gumbo -  a spicy vegetable soup made with either chicken or fish, not both together.
• jambalaya - a vegetable and rice dish not too dissimilar to paella
  History - New Orleans 60 + years older than the USA with a mixture of French. Spanish, Free people of colour - Creole, Cajun, Catholic, with a voodoo influence.

After lunch we decided to try to find the French quarter but were pretty clueless about the best way to do it and walked it, I used two crutches, but still found it hard, so we did a few hundred metres at a time and punctuated it with coffee and bar stops. We made it to Chartres, but not as far as Burbon or Royal.

At dinner we met Annie and Roger - a really lovely couple who have been cruising for a long time and had advice for us to avoid royal Carribbean and Costa! (we loved Costa in 2014!) 

The evening's  performance in the ship's theatre was a genuine New Orlean's Jazz Quartet which was really vibrant and enjoyable.