Exceedingly Mundane

I think I’m still in a state of some kind of post-traumatic shock. So many of the places we know and love are just simply not there any more. So many places we have visited on the coast, like Jefferson Davis’ home of Beauvoir. Like Marine Life with all the dolphins and sea lions and birds and animals. But, most of all – the pictures of New Orleans are just overwhelming.

The images of a place we have been to so many times. We’ve been to New Orleans many more times than any other place. I’d guess that in the 10 years Tim and I have been together, we’ve been at least 10 or 12 times to New Orleans. For games. For weekend getaways. For a concert. For more games. To do the touristy thing. Twice to visit the D-Day Museum (which we both love). So many times, so many places. And now what we see on TV doesn’t even look like the same place.

Images of the only other place that I have ever lived, except for the place I call home now, where I was born and raised. I have lived here, in Jackson and Madison, for my entire life – except for the one year I lived in New Orleans. What has happened to all of my friends who moved down and bought homes on the North Shore when our company transferred so many of us there? What of the places in Metairie where I worked, and ate out, and shopped at, and hung out with my newfound friends? What of the streets where we went to the parades during Mardi Gras? What of our company’s main headquarters downtown on Poydras? What do these places look like today?

Images of the Superdome. A building we have been in too many times to count. Home to Tim’s beloved New Orleans Saints. I heard today on the news that they will probably tear it down and start over. And what of the Hyatt next door where we have stayed many times – we’d go down for a game and spend the night next door so we could just walk over before the game. And the other places we have stayed, and so many places we have visited and walked through in the French Quarter. What do these places look like today and what has happened to them?

So many memories.

I’ve pulled a few pictures out (from my digital camera, I have many many more from trips in years past from my film camera, but I would have to scan them in), and included them. We have so many places we love to go and visit. I just wonder what condition they are in currently and what is to happen to them.

Every time we go to New Orleans, we have to go to Cafe du Monde. Even before I learned to drink coffee, we would go. It’s just such a tradition. You feel like you have to go! Is it still standing?

Is this under water now? What has happened to the Aquarium? To our beloved D-Day Museum? Are all of those precious relics from our greatest generation lost in the flood?

And what of the House of Blues? Another of our favorite spots. We don’t go for the music or nightlife, just the food! Tim loves to go every trip and get their greens and cornbread and usually ribs, or whatever plate they are offering that has greens and cornbread on the side!

Was Jackson Square under water? I thought I saw on the news that the St Louis Cathedral was in a dry area, so hopefully this area around the cathedral with all the colorful vendors, painters, artists is still intact:

I fear for the wonderful little hotel we stayed at for the first time this past Memorial Day weekend when we went down for the long holiday weekend – the St James hotel. Is it flooded? The building is old, originally built in 1833 as the Banks Arcade. It was just renovated 6 years ago and it was just wonderful, we loved staying there and planned to go back: