The Long Awaited NOLA Recap

 Well, the snow has finally stopped after 3 days!  Can you believe it?  I can't.  Hopefully, spring is here to stay for good.  I'm taking some free time this evening to try and get caught up on numerous things.  One of which is blogging!  It's been almost a month since I took off for New Orleans...is that depressing or what, that it's taken me so long to write this up?  Oh well, no time to make myself feel guilty about it.

The purpose of my trip was a national/international conference for ESL/EFL teachers.  This is the biggest conference in my field held once a year.  People travel from around the US and around the world to attend.

You may remember me blogging about the mysterious illness that struck shortly before I was to leave.  That definitely put a damper on the beginning of my trip to New Orleans (ie. NOLA).  Thankfully, I flew in a day early and had a full day free before the conference started.  Initially, I was hoping to do some sightseeing and relaxing that whole day, but instead I found myself working on and practicing my presentation.

I did manage to leave my hotel for a bit to wander the streets of the French Quarter where we were staying.  I ate Creole food for dinner before wandering back to our hotel.  Now there had been a lot of commotion across the street from our hotel earlier in the day, so I decided to poke around and see what was happening.  The rumor was that Brad Pitt was filming at the restaurant (Mr. B's Bistro) and would be there for 2 days.  I tried to get some info. that first night, but was only able to find out that he was in the movie along with James Gandolfini and the movie is called "Cogan's Trade."  I actually saw the director, Andrew Dominik, on a smoke break outside the building and didn't realize he was someone important.  His body language made me think he was important, and I wanted to take a picture of him, but I chickened out.  I didn't want to look like a tourist- ha!

The next day was St. Patrick's Day, and the start of the conference.  It was a full day of listening to and learning from presentations.  I also was able to meet my co-presenters for the first time and finalize our presentation for the next day.  After the majority of the conference was over, I was beat and decided to walk back to our hotel, get dinner, and practice my presentation more while my roommate (my boss) was out for the night.  On a sidenote- I really like my boss, but sharing a room with her for 4 nights really feels like work the whole time!

After working for a bit, I decided to venture out and try to find the St. Patrick's Day parade.  I thought it would be neat to see an Irish parade, but was either too early or too late, because I couldn't find it.  What I did find, however, was more action at the movie location.  I saw lots of Hollywood film trucks and even more security than the day before, so I hung out for a bit.

This is what the restaurant looked like from the outside.  All of the filming, however, was taking place inside the building.  I think the bright lights on the outside were to maintain the same level of lighting inside because they were on both day and night.  They had the roads blocked off and would not allow you to talk on the sidewalk closest to the building.  I tried to talk to more people standing around across the street to see if I could find out any more Brad Pitt details.  One guy said he had just spotted Brad and James through the window, so I went to try myself. 

Since it was getting dark, you could actually see inside the building more than before.  They had all of the windows covered with a shiny yellow film, so during the daytime you couldn't see inside at all.  In the evening, however, was a different story.  If people were close to the windows, you could actually see them, and it was at the point I figured that out that I saw Brad Pitt!  His hair was slicked back, so I wasn't sure at first, but I was so excited!

He was shooting a scene where he had to walk close to the window, so he repeated it a few times and every time I got a good view of him.  I even saw one of the makeup artists powder up his face. It was so cool.  I attempted to take a photo, and somehow got a focused shot.  

I was standing across the street and had to zoom in with my "cheapy" camera as I affectionately call it.  My flash was off and since film was covering the windows, there wasn't anything for it to focus on.  I took several photos that just turned out blurry, and then for some reason, one stuck that was in focus! You can see most of Brad's head and then that's the director with his back to the window.

Not the best picture, I know, but considering what I had to work with, I'm happy.  

The next day was the big presentation day and I was a bundle of nerves.  I felt like I was going to throw up before I started speaking, but once I started talking, it was ok.  I was one of three presenters and we each had 30 minutes to talk followed by Q and A time.  The response to our session was overwhelming.  Every single chair was filled and we had some people sitting on the floor and others standing in the back.  People stayed the whole time while I was talking, which was great as I was worried people would get up and leave.

Phew!  I was so glad, however, once the presentation was over.  I felt great to have presented at the international conference (a first for me), but I was so glad to be done.  I went to the Riverwalk afterwards, for a treat at Cafe du Monde...beignets and cafe au lait.  It was so delicious.  

After the conference that night, it was time to party!  I had a lovely walk through the French Quarter to meet up with a friend from graduate school.  I just loved the decorated balconies I saw along the way and all of the greenery.  The weather was beautiful and it definitely felt like spring as I meandered on in my capri pants and sandals.  Lovely.

Crawfish, alligator, crab, shrimp, and hurricanes were on the menu for us at this restaurant.  It was a lovely finish to my presentation day.

The final day of the conference I got up early and took a tour of the city.  This was the tour I had planned to do at the beginning of my arrival, but didn't feel I could justify taking the time to tour when I wasn't ready to present.  I'm so boring and responsible, huh.  Anyways, the tour was a great way to "reward" myself for the countless hours I had put into prepping for the conference.  

We drove through the French Quarter and then other districts around town.  We drove past the homes of famous people (Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, the Manning's boyhood home, etc.), but the thing I loved the most were styles of the homes. 

This is my favorite picture from the tour- look at that house and the tree!  Note- most tour pictures are taken through the window of a moving bus, hence the lower quality on some.

Lots of ornate decorations and landscaping.

The trees were incredible!

We stopped at an above ground cemetery and learned some of the history behind them.

Then we stopped at an amazing city park for a break.  I meandered along the river watching the ducks and swans.  It was so peaceful and I finally was so peaceful after all of the stress from being sick and then presenting.

Then we headed for the somber part of the tour to see some of the lasting effects from Hurricane Katrina.  In the middle-class neighborhoods, most of the homes had been rebuilt.  There were still a few vacant homes, but the majority had been rebuilt at a raised level.  Look at how high up this home was built!  It's hard to see the stilts it's sitting on, but they are higher than the motorhome!  No more flooding here.

As we drove closer to the lower 9th ward, I saw more and more homes that were still boarded up and vacant- a stark contrast to the neighborhoods we had just visited. Several of the homes we saw were still painted with the date (9-14-05) a first responder checked the home and then letters with the coded details about what was found.

This was a memorial built after the hurricane.  You can see a portion of a home on the left with one red chair in the middle representing the storyteller and then three red chairs around it listening to the stories of the family.  There's a gray chair off to the left which represents those missing.  And the blue pillars on the right- the tallest is 14 feet- the height the flood waters reached when the levy broke.

It was really sad to see all of the abandoned business and churches that left this ward.  It felt really desolate. The people that have decided to come back and rebuild are getting these super energy efficient homes thanks to Brad Pitt's help along with others.  They all have solar panels among other "green" design features.

They definitely look new age, but the lowest energy bill for one of them is $8!

Here you can see a door frame that is still standing as a creepy reminder to the entire house that was swept away.

 

It's hard to believe that 5 1/2 years have passed since the devastation of the hurricane. It really was sobering to still be able to see so many of the effects.

After that, I returned to the conference for the afternoon session and then hopped flights back home.  I totaled the number of steps I walked for those four days I was in NOLA (thanks to my pedometer)....43, 672!  Wow.  I aim for 10,000 steps on a good day and I achieved that plus more while I was at a conference.  That equates to 20.66 miles in 4 days.  No wonder why the scale was down when I returned home. 

Thanks for reading if you've made it to this point!  And thanks for being patient while I composed my small book from five days of traveling!