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World Travel Guide
New Orleans Travel Guide
It has been said that New Orleans,
Louisiana, celebrates indulgence like no other U.S. city;
its reputation for revelry, especially during Mardi Gras, is
legendary. But after 29 August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina
unleashed a storm of wind and water that flooded 80% of this
vibrant city, the word indulgence took on a different
meaning for New Orleans. Pleas for patience went out to
residents and visitors alike as the Crescent City brought
itself back from the ravages of Katrina.
The good news is that the 20% of New Orleans that was spared
is the most historically significant section of the city,
and the well-beaten tourist path is very much back in
business. The service sector is largely restored, and the
level of hospitality is higher than ever. Residents are
effusively appreciative of tourists who visit and leave
"donations" in the form of patronage to music clubs,
restaurants, retail shops and area attractions.
New Orleans' Central Business District, the French Quarter,
the Marigny neighborhood, the Garden District and Uptown
along St. Charles Avenue and Magazine StreeRead More ... t
are all areas left largely untouched by Katrina. In other
devastated areas, mostly residential neighborhoods, recovery
remains slow, but steady. The city's 2004 population was
462,269, and based on U.S. Census Bureau figures released in
2007, the New Orleans area has recovered to 288,113.
Although New Orleans mourns what was lost, it does so with
confidence of a rebirth. A rising spirit of renewal is
evident there, and most businesses have reopened. According
to the New Orleans CVB, there are 970 restaurants open in
the metropolitan New Orleans area, including eateries in the
French Quarter, Central Business District, Warehouse Arts
District, Garden District and Uptown New Orleans. The vast
majority of popular tourist restaurants are back, although a
few may have limited staff and shorter hours. More than 200
of the area's lodging options are available, with more than
33,000 hotel rooms available.
Even Hurricane Katrina couldn't get in the way of the city's
favorite celebration, Mardi Gras. The 12-day festivities
culminate on Fat Tuesday, with dozens of parades following
the traditional Uptown route down Napoleon Avenue to St.
Charles Avenue and Canal Street. Although the Mardi Gras
schedule was a bit shorter the first year after Katrina,
it's now essentially back to normal.
New Orleans is an extraordinary city, and with its unique
culture and history, it has long enchanted a wide variety of
visitors with a penchant for the romantic, the spiritual,
the beautiful or the unusual. (In what other U.S. city would
a voodoo priestess be buried next to the mayor's family, or
funerals be celebrated with a jazz band and a processional?)
That feeling of enchantment still exists, although
post-Katrina New Orleans is changing, moment by moment.
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