Big Easy photos a little easy

This is where I spent two evenings last weekend -- Harrah's Casino at night:


Trolley's take you downtown or uptown. You can ride all the way to the Garden District on them. The price is $1.25 and exact change is required.


There were mimes on St. Peter Street on the edge of the French Quarter. This one was my favorite. Covered with silver paint and some robot-looking stuff, he did his thing when people put money in his bucket.


This statue is dedicated to those who created New Orleans: A Native American, a priest and a Spanish conquistador.


The Steamboat Natchez was the boat I traveled on.


Skyline of New Orleans from the river:


This behemoth is the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship that begins its voyage in New Orleans. It travels to Key West FL, then normally to Mexico. Because of the swine flu, it is currently going to the Bahamas instead. Is this the one 36lightning traveled on? If so, maybe he'd leave a comment.


I believe the tour guide said these homes were 9 feet below sea level and the river was 13 feet above sea level. The levees are amazing. None of the Mississippi River levees broke during Hurricane Katrina. There is a canal that goes from the river to Lake Ponchartrain. It is also leveed, and that is the one that broke and dumped the flood into the Ninth Ward.


These are called water taxis. Ship crewmen cannot just get off their big boats. They have to go on the water taxis and clear customs.


This is a Greek ship. You can see from her waterline, that she is not loaded yet. She will carry grain and Kentucky coal back to Europe.


Even though this ship needs a paint job, if you click you can see that the white numbers (feet? meters?) are freshly painted. Before she leaves, the insurance man will check the numbers to see how fully loaded she is.


Notice the name of this ship has the word "ice" in it. It carries frozen chickens. Notice, also, the small ship to the left of it? That boat comes out to refuel the big boat and also drop off water.


This ship says "St. John's" so that sounds like Canada. Actually, I believe the ship is from Australia. It's waiting to be loaded like many other ships.


I always thought New Orleans was close to the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, it's 110 miles away. There is no salt in the river here (that would make it an estuary) and there are no tides. The river is 200 feet deep and the current is strong. The ocean has no chance against the big muddy.