Sunday found Marilyn and me back in the French Quarter.  We had breakfast at a wonderful restaurant on Chartres.  I can't remember the name, but the owner had resorted to standing on the sidewalk outside the restaurant to entice customers inside.  He enticed us, and we were glad that he did.  I had Cajun eggs benedict and a mimosa.  Marilyn had ham and eggs, Cajun-style, and champagne with raspberry liquor.  She claims that it was so good, that she will never drink another mimosa.

Our tour of the French Quarter ended at the Louis Armstrong Park, locked tight and unavailable for a visit.  We followed N. Rampart, almost to the Iberville Project.  Along the way we saw a Red Cross bus passing out meals to a long line of people.  Thank God for the Red Cross.  Nearby was a parking lot filled with FEMA trailers.

We wanted to visit the St. Louis Cemetery #1, but it was already closed and padlocked for the day.  As best as we could tell, the cemetery (famous for the drug and sex scene from the movie Easy Rider) was unharmed by Hurricane Katrina.  For those of you that know about the legend of Marie Laveau, there were many X marks on the wall around the place.

Nearby was the, as-yet, unopened Basin Street Museum.  I can hardly wait to visit it when it finally is ready for visitors.  We even walked on the sidewalk past the infamous Iberville Project.  It was groomed, freshly painted, and looked nothing like the place citizens were afraid to visit in the daylight, much less the night, prior to the hurricane.

"Is this the Iberville Project?" I asked a friendly-looking woman.

"Why yes it is," she answered with a smile.

When we finally reached the Sheraton, we checked our car out of the garage and headed up St. Charles to check out the Garden District.  It was intact with little damage sustained, as far as we could tell.  We stopped at Lafayette Square, a location that plays an intense role in my new book Big Easy.  It was also unscathed.  From there, we drove through the Faubourg Marigny area.  It appeared 3/4's unaffected by the Hurricane.  Heading down St. Bernard Highway, we quickly learned that not all of New Orleans had escaped the wrath of the storm.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com