Less than two weeks ago, I was in New Orleans for a conference. I didn't spend a lot of time outside -- it was too swelteringly hot for this child of the North -- but I did stroll around the French Quarter and enjoy beignets at Café du Monde. Since my hotel was right at the bottom of Canal Street, I had noticed the many palm trees that lined that avenue and remarked that they seemed so perfectly uniform as to look almost fake. Now those palm trees are lying in the gutters, just another minor obstacle to the looters who are swarming the flooded streets in the wake of the hurricane.
This was only my second trip to the Crescent City, the first being about 5 years ago during a brief time period when my sister called it home. I wasn't particularly looking forward to it (Come on! New Orleans in August?) and frankly, I was glad to leave. The trees and lakes of the Twin Cities never looked so inviting as when my plane approached the airport just before sunset, and as I stepped out of the plane into the deliciously cool air (about 25 degrees cooler!) I thanked my stars I don't live in New Orleans.
I am still thanking my stars I don't live in New Orleans, but I'm grateful I made the trip. I'm grateful I emerged from the air-conditioning long enough to stroll along the river and take in the charm of the French Quarter. Surely, it will never be the same again.
Posted by ldfs at August 31, 2005 12:41 PM | TrackBackI was thinking how surreal it must be for you (and other recent New Orleans visitors) to see the pictures of the devastation having just been there. I've actually never visited New Orleans, and now I know I'll never see it as it was.
Posted by: stacie at August 31, 2005 2:36 PM