The Big Easy, Part Deux

What else is there to say about the Big Easy? Probably most importantly, the city is anything but self-pitying. It's full of chintzy t-shirts, a wonderful variety of beads, pralines of every imaginable variety, Abita beer, and of course, the omnipresent fleur-de-lis (which is not, as it turns out, just the symbol for the local football team).

Of course, there's more than natural resiliency at work here. Whatever the best way to move past a natural disaster is psychologically, if you have a city that earns a large part of its revenue from tourism the best way to move forward economically is to get things back to normal, and quickly. Someone told me the first businesses to open on Bourbon Street following Hurricane Katrina were the strip clubs. I'm purposefully choosing not to find out whether or not that's true, though it certainly is interesting.

The other thing about New Orleans is that it's hot. Even in May, the temperatures were in the mid-80's with a stifling humidity. What I enjoyed more than anything (besides seeing Irene) about coming back to New England was the brisk spring air. Always good to be home again.