The One Where Patwoman Goes On Vacation: Chapter Three: New Orleans Is Full Of Ghosts
Well, I don't have a picture of this, but I wish you could see it. Right on the Mississippi border, there is a vast city of FEMA trailers. Empty FEMA trailers. Thousands of them.
Do people know that these trailers didn't make it to the people who needed them? I swear, it made me ill.
And then we reached New Orleans. It's been what? Almost 2 years since Katrina? You wouldn't know it. So many buildings are still damaged. So many of them are empty. The Xs that they spray paint onto the side of the houses after they search them are still there, along with the numbers--how many alive, how many dead.
That's not to say the whole city is like that, though.
We stayed in the French Quarter, at the Hotel Dauphine Orleans. And, for the most part, the French Quarter is back. Businesses are open--and busy. Artists and musicians are out on the plaza. Lots of tourists there, having a great time.
I had a great time.
Still, all the folks I talked to spoke in terms of before and after the storm. Like, "My daughter was born about 2 months before the storm" or "He moved down here about a year after the storm."
I thought that was interesting. It's a signal moment in this city's history.
But we're talking about ghosts, right? And there are ghost stories in New Orleans.
We took the Ghost Tour with Haunted History. That's fun. You know I love ghost stories. So I was pretty excited about it.
Haunted hotel. Little kid ghosts who like to run up and down the halls and pull off your blankets, and stuff like that.
Our hotel (this is the front entrance, under all the flags) was said to be haunted by the ghost of a confederate soldier. It was apparently a brothel and the soldier was in love with one of the girls. You know it never ends well when you fall in love with a prostitute.
I saw this place, too. But, you know I was too big of a chicken to go into it. There were several "voodoo tours" advertised, too. Some of them claimed to let you observe and/or participate in an authentic voodoo ritual. I dunno. Let BillyBob Tourist participate in a voodoo ritual? I think that may fall into the "Don't Give Guns To Monkeys" category.
Do people know that these trailers didn't make it to the people who needed them? I swear, it made me ill.
And then we reached New Orleans. It's been what? Almost 2 years since Katrina? You wouldn't know it. So many buildings are still damaged. So many of them are empty. The Xs that they spray paint onto the side of the houses after they search them are still there, along with the numbers--how many alive, how many dead.That's not to say the whole city is like that, though.
We stayed in the French Quarter, at the Hotel Dauphine Orleans. And, for the most part, the French Quarter is back. Businesses are open--and busy. Artists and musicians are out on the plaza. Lots of tourists there, having a great time.
I had a great time.
Still, all the folks I talked to spoke in terms of before and after the storm. Like, "My daughter was born about 2 months before the storm" or "He moved down here about a year after the storm."
I thought that was interesting. It's a signal moment in this city's history.
But we're talking about ghosts, right? And there are ghost stories in New Orleans.
We took the Ghost Tour with Haunted History. That's fun. You know I love ghost stories. So I was pretty excited about it.
Haunted hotel. Little kid ghosts who like to run up and down the halls and pull off your blankets, and stuff like that.
Our hotel (this is the front entrance, under all the flags) was said to be haunted by the ghost of a confederate soldier. It was apparently a brothel and the soldier was in love with one of the girls. You know it never ends well when you fall in love with a prostitute.
I saw this place, too. But, you know I was too big of a chicken to go into it. There were several "voodoo tours" advertised, too. Some of them claimed to let you observe and/or participate in an authentic voodoo ritual. I dunno. Let BillyBob Tourist participate in a voodoo ritual? I think that may fall into the "Don't Give Guns To Monkeys" category.
posted by Patwoman | 7:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home