Hi all

I'll be in Florida and in New Orleans between 5/19 and 5/25 to cover a travel-story about Florida's Panhandle and the City of New Orleans for Switzerland's biggest sunday paper. Can anybody give me some quiet tips which are not already covered in most of the travel guides? Thanks a lot for your help.

Best regards Michael

-- Michael Wildi (michaelwildi@yahoo.com), April 12, 2002

Answers

Look into New Orleans' very large Vietnamese immigrant community. No one really knows much about it, though it is one of the largest in the US. The outlying areas boast large immigrant communities but are often not thought of as "New Orleans," by which is usally meant four blocks of Bourbon Street.

New Orleans also has one of the US' major port facilities (though smaller in scope than nearby Houston). Security measures are currently crippling the industry, which is only now beginning to firm up. The Journal of Commerce (www.joc.com) can give you statistics and background. The great thing about a port story is that the facilities are only a stone's throw from Jackson Square and are in full view when you stand on the river walk. Container ships, luxury liners, and oil tankers ply those very waters--almost invisibly, though, if you're just coming out of Pat O'Brien's.

Good luck!

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 12, 2002.

I have read that you need to be cautious of the street thugs (and the cops?) in the Quarter. A few years back one of the PGA Tour caddies was beaten up in broad daylight for the gold chain he was wearing. Cheers.

-- Gil Pruitt (wgpinc@yahoo.com), April 12, 2002.

Go to the Flora-Bama, a bar on the Florida, Alabama state line. It is a hang out of Jimmy Buffet when he is in Gulf Shores. If you want to go through Alabama check out Bayou LaBatre, Famous for Forest Gump, it also has a large Vietnamese community. There is a ferry going across the Mobile from Gulf Shores to Dauphin Island. It passes between two Civil War forts. Taking the Hwy 90 is a lot better than the interstate.

-- Chad Hahn (thehahns@cornhusker.net), April 12, 2002.

Michael, feel free to email about New Orleans, I'm living near the Garden District and I've photographed alot of New Orleans and surrounding areas.

A trip down River Road is recommended(Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans). Some of the back roads can lead you to believe you are still in the "old" South.

A lot of people think that New Orleans is still a Jazz city, but the truth is jazz is hard to find here. Some of the local(not Bourbon St or the Quarter)bars still have jazz, though not in the best neighbor hoods to be walking around in.

Website: www.zoeicaimages.com

-- chris a williams (LeicaChris@worldnet.att.net), April 12, 2002.