Time to say farewell

Oh well, time flew and we are now on our way back home. We spent almost two weeks in total in Louisiana, almost nine days in New Orleans. Most of it was about business, first, the tourism congress and, second, research for the guidebook update. Even the days at our friends' place we did research for the guidebook to some degree. There was no single day without sun in the morning, though we had two or three thunderstorms, and there was no day under 90 deg F. (32°C), rather more, and humidity of about 50 %.

N.O. did a great job in hosting more than 6000 participants of IPW and in organizing spectacular parties. The city has turned our really well after Kathrina, new neighborhoods are up and coming, like the Warehouse District, Bywater, Marigny or, though slowly, Mid-City and Central City. It's not the French Quarter exclusively anymore which attracts visitors, but also the distinct neighborhoods now. Which is good, because the French Quarter, esp. Bourbon Street, is not to everybody's taste and always crowded. New arts projects like the one on Poydras Street (see pic) were introduced, more (gourmet) markets coming up and the farm-to-table movement became more important.

There is, in general, a lot happening in the restaurant, bar and hotel scene, much more creative restaurants are coming up now, competing with the rather old-fashioned, stiff and very expensive "historic" places; same with hotels. Public transport may be a little bit of a problem in the city (always was), but a new streetcar line is under construction along Rampart Street. Also, the condition of roads (potholes) is an issue, which Mayor Landrieu just recently addressed. Another problem, he talked about, was "affordable living" for the lower-income population. Considering that over 50 % (!) of the male afroamerican population is unemployed, it's a necessity to not only build new fancy apartment buildings for the well-earning people, but to also provide cheaper housing for your regular New Orleanian. Another problem connected to the mushrooming real estate might be Airbnb and similar. Groups or businessmen buy apartments and rent them out by the day or by the week, making a lot of money that way. But, this approach won't help the neighborhood and the people there, because visitors don't care about homeownership issues.



Old and new, conservative and innovative, catholicism and a growing LGBT community, laissez-faire and old laws and rules ... New Orleans, The Big Easy, has it all and for sure the old lady got a facelift.