Here come the Realtors®!!!! I arrived on Tuesday and it was pretty quiet in the streets. I was amazed at all the jewelry and antique shops in the French Quarter, one after another for blocks. I couldn't imagine how many of them had managed to survive. Talk about competition!! Inventory was up and there were few buyers. Ironic that the arrival of the Realtor® community was so highly anticipated. I could almost hear the sighs of relief, as last night, the streets were filled, the restaurants were packed and the shoppers were doing what they do best, spend money. It makes me proud!
There were some Realtor® events Wednesday including meetings and a CRS dinner cruise but for many it was mostly a day of meeting up with friends, eating, drinking and shopping. OH...and there is Harrah's Casino too! (Personally I'd rather see people spend their money in the local shops.)
Besides Realtors®, the trees arrived too. Along Canal Street are huge cement planters that held trees before Katrina. The trees have arrived and are waiting to be planted. Just one more attempt at getting back to normal in the city of New Orleans.
P.S. To continue the hotel saga, the fire alarm went off at 3:45AM. At least it probably scared the he*l out of my little mouse friend.
The librarians (almost 17,000 strong), who held their convention in New Orleans this year (I've been a bystander at a Librarian's Convention in New Orleans before - they know how to PARTY!), gave glowing reports of how the city has come back as far as it has. And the city gave glowing reports of them as the first to have their convention there post-Katrina.
Hopefully the Realtors will give, and get, the same overall impression.
Sounds like it will be good to be back in CT, but at the same time it sounds like you are having some wonderful experiences.
Hope to talk when you get back to CT
Did they charge you extra to be on the Mouse Floor? or was it a bennie for putting together the CP conference?
The fire alarm didn't wake me up (hope they don't rely on just the alarm in a real emergency) but the voice over the loudspeaker telling me it was a false alarm really jolted me out of a sound sleep.