Southwest does a fantastic job in supporting New Orleans and has added six new flights to New Orleans that are starting now from Dallas, Houston and Nashville. Working with Southwest Airlines has always been our pleasure and going to New Orleans was no exception. http://www.southwest.com Southwest Airlines had originally planned a marketing meeting in another city but realized that New Orleans needed the commitment of the industry and with the blessing of the already reserved city, Southwest Airlines brought close to 350 marketing staff members to plan the years work and enjoy the French Quarter.

Our room was to be ready an hour after our arrival, so we decided to take a walk to Jackson square and reminisced about a live broadcast of TravelTalkRADIO we produced several years ago on one of the balconies directly off of the famous Jackson Square. While reminding ourselves of the wonderful time we had two years ago, we kept coming back to the present. We couldn't help noticing that our familiar French Quarter was as we remembered, signs that Katrina rage in the tourist area are hard to find, and even the weather was impeccable in a supposedly cold month of February.

Two cruise ships were docked at the harbor, working barges and ships were moving up and down the Mississippi and the entire French Quarter seemed polished and ready to set its best foot forward. The shops were open and the French market doughnuts called beignets were as delicious as ever at the beloved Cafι Du Monde.

Across the street at the Central Grocery (home of the original muffuletta), business was bustling with orders of its famous sandwich that has the influences of Italian and Creole cooking. Order your way with choices of pork and beef, or vegetarian is unbelievably good. You’ll find your new love affair with the muffuletta will inspire you to search for this New Orleans signature dish when you return home. The research shows, it’s about impossible to locate a true muffuletta outside the New Orleans area, so savor the experience. There is much information on the muffuletta and this is a great site for more information.  http://www.gumbopages.com/food/samwiches/muff.html.

Walking around the tourists areas of New Orleans we started to unpeel the stories of so many of the workers. I would not expect them to offer their stories to you, but if you ask, you might hear samplings of the hardships many of the residents have been experiencing. Most do not have homes, and many are still staying at their employer’s hotels or friends homes. You will see that the anger or sadness has been transplanted with a spirit of survival that is filled with pride and determination.

Even six months after Katrina, the destruction is still very much a part of the lives of the New Orleans residents. To see for ourselves, we decided to take a taxi ride out to some of the areas that were still in dire need of help. Besides the trail of touring cars and buses we saw mile after mile of destruction. Each home had its own horror story. Walls ripped out, roofs blown apart, cars wrapped around trees and nothing less than mass destruction to most all the homes of residents. It is a difficult site when you realize New Orleans, a state in the United States still needs help for the residents. There are trailers that have been earmarked for the survivors, yet, there is no movement of getting the trailers to the appropriate families. It is hard to imagine the loss and the incredible amount of work we all must do to find normalcy in this situation. It has been said that for every tourist visiting a region, it puts 8 people to work in the area. If that is so, imagine the impact of what the outside visitor can do to regions like New Orleans who rely on tourism for more than 90% of their incomes.
 

Before leaving the Crescent City we decided to visit Jerry Fien, our good friend and owner of the French Quarters’ oldest and most celebrated restaurants, The Court of Two Sisters. This beautiful establishment is owned by Jerry and his brother, having been passed down years ago from their father. Jerry warmly greeted us upon our arrival and invited us in. We spoke at length about the future of New Orleans. The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant symbolizes the pride, and commitment of New Orleans and most specifically, the French Quarter. New Orleans stands tall and warmly reaches out to its visitors with a welcome that glows from deep within the heart.  For more information on the Court of Two Sisters go to: http://www.courtoftwosisters.com.