One must do thing on our list was a trip on the paddle steamer on the Mississippi River. This was a 3 hour trip, with interesting information being announced about the history of New Orleans, we were also shown some of the devastation done by Hurricane Katrina. A worthwhile trip, but don't be tempted to have a "World famous New Orleans" Bloody Mary.
We succumbed to the temptation, and $8 later I received a drink in a plastic glass that resembled a mixture of a drink and some sort of salad or vegetable concoction, complete with a rubber lizard sitting on top of a pickled string bean. The Bloody Mary was not that impressive to drink either, it tasted like tomato cocktail had been mixed with coffee!
Over the next few days we realised that the standard of New Orleans food was really hyped up and overrated. Even in Dickie Brennan's new up-market restaurant, The Bourbon House, the food was totally acceptable but certainly nothing special, and not cheap. The service was however excellent. Yvonne did have and extremely interesting and flavourful dish - BBQ shrimps, not BBQ'd, but done in Worcestershire sauce.
This is what we found about all the meals we ate in New Orleans, just ordinary and nothing to write home about. Most places spoilt the natural flavours by using far to much Cajun spice, rather than achieving flavourful food by using fresh herbs and spices. Almost all seafood was deep fried.
The following day we did our post-Katrina tour. This 4 hour trip was extremely informative but as the day progressed and we saw more and more devastation we became a little depressed. In certain areas it looked as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped. We were very surprised that a country as large and wealthy as the USA had not repaired and rebuilt more houses by now, almost 18 months after Katrina did it's damage. However, we later heard many stories about the absolute corruption of the Louisiana State Government. Even an ex-Egyptian, who had left Egypt because of the graft and corruption told us that the Louisiana officials and especially the New Orleans official could teach the Egyptians all about the art of corruption.
Whereas New Orleans once had a population of 490,000, only less than 200,000 now live there.
Mercifully, the French Quarter suffered very little damage, due to it being slightly higher in elevation than the affected areas.
Our 3 days in New Orleans were interesting, but not enjoyable enough to ever go back.
We caught a cab from New Orleans to La Place to collect the RV we rented from Cruise America, http://www.cruiseamerica.com/
It was ready and waiting when we arrived. After completion of the paperwork and formalities, we drove about 3 miles to a Wal-Mart, where we stocked up on all the things we needed for the trip, including a toaster.
We were then our way to Florida, through New Orleans traffic and pouring rain.