New Orleans Photos - Death, Destruction, and the Macabre

We visited the Lower Ninth Ward, where Katrina did the most damage.  It felt voyeuristic and macabre to be gawking at other people's misfortune and loss of both property and life.  But in case you'd like to see them, they're here.  We also visited a cemetery, probably the one most visited by tourists, as it's the closest to the French Quarter.  There were a ton of tour groups there.  So again, gawking at the macabre.  Finally, when we saw a dead pigeon and I realized I'd also seen a dead cockroach, and later saw more dead critters, I figured I had a bit of a theme going there, too.  I'll leave a gap and a warning before the dead critters, though, for those of you that don't want to see them.

While some of the existing homes are being repaired and probably look the same as they originally did or with minor changes, some of the empty lots are being built up with some very modern-looking houses.

And now we're switching over to the cemetery, so if you don't want to see that, leave now.
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It's amazing how old some of the oldest dates were

The combination of the gorgeous script, French language, and old dates made this stone especially interesting

A butterfly on a crumbling tomb

This is apparently the grave of some famous voodoo priestess or something.  The XXXs are written on there for luck, and people leave bizarre offerings to her, like lipstick and (empty?) booze bottles.

We didn't realize this while we were there, but apparently this site was purchased and tomb was commissioned by Nicolas Cage.  I don't know if it's known whether he plans to be laid to rest there, or has other plans for it, though.

I saw this, and wondered aloud to my sister whether it's possible for marble to BEND.  Apparently it is.

Mrs. DeJoie is the most recently interred person we noticed

And now, a few photos of dead critters.  Again, if this bothers you, please close this window/tab/whatever now...
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