"The Big Easy" a New Orleans Travel Page by Ewingjr98

I'll be in New Orleans twice in 2006 (July 28-30 & 26-27 Aug) for the first time since 1998. The devastation from Katrina was amazing, as you just begin to see im some of my pictures.

I stayed in the French Quarter where hotel rooms are only $50 a night (+ taxes and parking) and little damage occurred from the hurricane.

My 1998 and 2006 trips to New Orleans originated in Biloxi, Mississippi. I made a second trip to New Orleans in 2006 while driving cross country to California. The night before we were in Atlanta, and the next night we spent in Houston.

Despite the ongoing recovery, New Orleans is still crippled by a massive crime problem. The city had 208 murders in 2007, with a per capita average of about 95 murders per 100,000 people, well more than second place Gary, Indiana (73 murders per 100,000 residents). New Orleans also easily beat Camden, New Jersey, for the nation's highest overall crime rate involving these murders as well as other incidents such as rape, burglary, robbery, aggravated assault and motor vehicle theft.