New Orleans

Found our Airbnb in the French Quarter unfortunately we had the wrong address given to us and found our accommodation in the middle of renovation (ohoh!! our first airbnb incident) anyway after a phone call we moved in next door, much better and finished.  All the buildings in this area are old and there is still a lot of places not repaired since Catrina some 15 years ago as the flooding had affected this area badly.  We have also been waiting for hurricane Gordon to arrive although until today (Thursday) it has been a non event but today there has been some tremendous thunder storms and very heavy rain but no wind.
Lets go back to Tuesday morning warm (hot) and sunny headed downtown to find the paddleboat on the Mississippi the steamboat Natchez so we jumped aboard for the lunch and jazz cruise it was fun food was southern Jambalya, fish, chicken and rice with red beans and white chocolate bread pudding, and yes we are going to come home heavier.  The river is grand and very busy around New Orleans. We had a good look around town Canal St is huge, and without crowds cause all the locals were getting ready for Gordon, we did go to Walmart for supplies lucky we didn't want bottled water cause there was a bit of panic buying going on so we checked with a few people and decided that we didn't really need to worry.  The next day Wednesday sunny again an hour drive to visit the Oak Alley Plantation along river road (that's the Mississippi) beautiful huge house with magnificent gardens and of course the history lesson about the slave life and the slave trade at least it is being taught and not forgotten, we climbed the levee quite a feat of engineering and checked out that mighty river again.
On the way home checked out the lower 9th ward the area most affected by the canal collapse they are rebuilding most of it but there is still a lot to be done.
Last night out to tea at the Acme Oyster house for chargrilled oysters, shrimp and seafood gumbo topped off with mint julips the south is all about food.  With a walk down Bourbon St the night life is loud and good fun unfortunately no Mardi Gras while we are here but we had fun collecting the beads that are all over trees and fences a left over from the weekend parades.