New Orleans . . .

I came across a somewhat aging plastic bag in the back of my closet tonight, and in it I found a bunch of souvenirs from my last visit to New Orleans ( about 10 years ago). During college I got to go on 2 all expense-paid trips to New Orleans (each a week-long) thanks to the Journalism Dept. We had meetings and seminars during most of the day, but we had the evenings to do as we wanted. Both trips I stayed in the French Quarter. I loved New Orleans. It was slighlty crazy at night (one of the trips was during the tail end of Mardi Gras.) But if your intent isn't to get drunk and stay that way while you're there, it's a beautiful, interesting place to be. I've wanted Josh and I to go there every since we got married. I can kind of see my way around the French Quarter in my mind and I can definitely remember a few places that I have wanted to visit again. Definitely Preservation Hall and Cafe Du Monde. Watching CNN the other night, the camera crew was walking through the French Quarter and I saw those two places still standing, a little dirty, but standing. I know it's silly, but I felt sad when I started to see the damage on TV, thinking that places that I visited and loved may not be standing anymore. Maybe a little relieved when I think of some of the creepy stuff that goes on in New Orleans getting washed away (the Voodoo, stuff like that.) I remember peeking in a Voodoo shop in the French Quarter. I wonder if those folks will make their way back into the city once the clean-up has taken place. I have a nice memory of walking in the French Quarter really early in the morning (maybe 6 am) and the streets had been wall to wall people the night before, with bright lights and Cajun and jazz music pouring out from every window. But in the morning, it was such a contrast. It was quiet. Instead of bright lights you could see all the colors of buildings, a pink one next to a green, next to a red . . . all lined with wrought-iron patios. It was really pretty, and different. I don't know anybody down there now struggling with the flooding, I just have some memories of some nice places I hope to see again.