A Rainy Day in ....New Orleans, LA
I wouldn't normally cover the same city in Rainy Day Traveler two years in a row, but New Orleans is a special case. So much has changed in a year that it was worth going back for another look. There are many more hotels and restaurants open than there were last year at this time. In fact, all except two hotels have reopened in the French Quarter and Business District with over 30,000 rooms available. There have even been new additions to the New Orleans scene including Harrah's new hotel tower which opened in September 2006 and Riche, Todd English's new restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel. When I visited in March, the 450 rooms at the new Harrah's Hotel were sold out for the weekend, a good sign that business is picking up.
There are also many more venues open where you can stay dry on a rainy day. In this issue, we'll take you inside Harrah's Casino, explore the Aquarium of the Americas and go back in time at the National World War II Museum. We'll also make a special trip for the kids to the Louisiana Children's Museum, and in case you have an hour or so on your own, we'll introduce you to the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park French Quarter Visitor Center.
In addition to the five new features in this issue, there have been updates to several stories in our 2006 New Orleans issue. The most current information has been added to the New Orleans Voluntourism story and to New Orleans: Open for Business. I'm sad to say that Odyssey's Shipwreck Adventure, which I wrote about last year, had to close in September 2006. They hope to return to New Orleans when tourism increases.
For more rainy day New Orleans alternatives, check out the New Orleans links page and Rainy Day New Orleans 2006.
Kayte Deioma
The Audubon Institute's Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans has been known as one of the top aquariums in the country since it first opened in 1990. The cylindrical glass building with its sharply angled roof managed to escape major harm from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and avoided being flooded due to its position on the high banks of the Mississippi. But the power outage that followed the disaster and the failure of the backup generators caused heavy losses to the Aquarium's sea life. After millions of dollars in repairs and restocking, the Aquarium reopened to the public at the end of May, 2006...
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Higgins boats, also known as LCVPs (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personel), are credited with allowing the allies to win World War II. They're also the reason that you'll find the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. These amphibious vessels were modeled after the Eureka, a flat-bottomed boat designed by New Orleanian Andrew Jackson Higgins to navigate the swamps and bayous of Louisiana by reversing off land banks when they ran aground. The modified version, with a ramp to offload its cargo of one jeep and 12 soldiers, was one of half a dozen military vessels designed and built by Higgins Industries in New Orleans...
In 1999, Harrah's newly built 115,000 square foot gambling palace became the first land-based casino in New Orleans. Located at the edge of the business district, across from the French Quarter and the waterfront, the establishment weathered the hurricanes and flood of 2005 much better than its riverboat competition and was quick to reopen after the storm. They also got right back to work on the hotel tower which they had begun building on top of a historic building across the street from the Casino. Despite all the competition for labor and materials, the new luxury 450-room hotel was completed in record time and opened in September 2006, before some of the older hotels had completed repairs.
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