Thursday Thirteen - New Orleans

As we've mentioned, our mom is in New Orleans this week. She sent us a couple of pictures as well as some facts about the city.

This is St. Louis Cathedral with Jackson Square in the foreground in the French Quarter, or Vieux-Carré. Mom said that she saw a colony of feral cats in the square after dark. Someone had left dishes of dry cat food out for them.

Here are 13 Facts About New Orleans:

1. It covers 4190 square miles and is located 90 miles north of the Mississippi River.
2. It is surrounded by water and is shaped like a crescent, thus the nickname "Crescent City."
3. It sits below sea level, generally 5-10 feet below, and is higher closer to the Mississippi River.
4. The historic French Quarter (where Mom is staying) was laid out in a grid pattern in 1721 and measures 6 blocks by 13 blocks. It is considered one of America's greatest clusters of authentic Spanish, colonial, and antebellum structures.
5. Famous for Mardi Gras, crowds for its sucessful 2007 festival were estimated at 800,000, not yet up to pre-Katrina standards of one million, but much better than 2006. Hotels were at 95% occupancy this year.
6. The tourism industry is the largest employer in the New Orleans area.
7. Zagat rated it as the second most affordable restaurant city in the United States. (Don't ask us what's number one. We don't know. Mom tells us that the food is delicious. We wish we could sample the fresh seafood.)
8. The Pre-Katrina population of the metropolitan area was 1.42 million. In 2007 it is 1.27 million.
9. 62,300 out of 81,000 local businesses in 10 parishes affected by Katrina have reopened.
10. Prior to Katrina, Louis Armstrong International Airport had 162 daily flights servingg 42 cities. It now has 109 flights to 32 cities. Go visit!
11. Thirty percent of the seafood harvested in the lower 48 states comes from the coastal wetlands of South Louisiana.
12. The longest bridge over water in the world is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway at nearly 24 miles.
13. It is considered the birthplace of jazz. Mom said that street musicians abound.

The residents want everyone to know that they are open for business, and they want you to come visit their culturally diverse and unique city.

The steamboat Natchez, which has a calliope that Mom can hear all the way from her hotel room back at Canal Street, is a local tourist attraction.

After morning seminars on Friday, Mom will be going on a "Katrina tour" in the afternoon to see the effects of the hurricane after nearly 21 months.

~J&B