The map at pbs.org/wgbh/nova/orleans/map.html shows why. (Click on the “+/-” scale at left to zoom in or out.) Everything inside the blue outline flooded—almost the entire city except for the high ground along the Mississippi River.

New Orleans began on that high ground, along the inside of the U-shape river bend at the center of the map—hence the “Crescent City” nickname. This area runs from the Riverbend neighborhood through Uptown, the Garden District, and the Irish Channel to the French Quarter at the upper right (above the U.S. 90 bridge). Most of the famous restaurants, hotels, shops, nightclubs, and other tourist attractions lie within that crescent and have reopened.

Still, many businesses face staff shortages, caused partly by a lack of housing. So when you visit, in addition to what you usually stuff into your suitcase, pack your patience.

Nomenclature
The Mississippi River twists and turns. So do the streets that follow it. Consequently, “north,” “south,” “east,” and “west” have little practical meaning. If you’re in the French Quarter, for example, you’ll see the sun rise over the West Bank of the river. So New Orleanians orient themselves in relation to the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain. Directions will include the terms “riverside,” “lakeside,” “uptown” (i.e., traveling upriver), and “downtown” (traveling downriver).

For only-in-New-Orleans usages, see gumbopages.com/yatspeak.html and experienceneworleans.com/glossary.html.

Dining
For lists of restaurants, including whether they’ve reopened, the best Web site we’ve found is neworleansonline.com. Some restaurants may not be serving their normal menus. Some no longer accept reservations, and you may encounter longer-than-usual waits.

Two new books allow you to re-create the tastes of the city for yourself. One is Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food(Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $19.95), which features more than 225 New Orleans recipes. The other is Big Easy Cocktails: Jazzy Drinks and Savory Bites from New Orleans by Jimmy Bannos and John DeMers (Ten Speed Press, $15.95). It includes recipes for food as well as drinks.

Lodging
Check neworleansonline.com for updates on hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns. Because of staffing shortages, hotels may have limited service and long lines at the registration desk. When I visited in early March, my French Quarter hotel (an affiliate of a major, upscale chain) provided maid service only every third day and no minibar service.

Shopping
Magazine Street, which parallels the river between downtown and Audubon Park, has emerged as the city’s hottest street for jewelry, antiques, clothing, arts and crafts, and other merchandise, as well as restaurants and a whole lot of coffee shops. See magazinestreet.com.

Other Attractions
The Audubon Zoo and (as of late May) the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas have reopened, though both will be showing the storms’ effects for quite a while. See auduboninstitute.org. For other things to do, visit neworleansonline.com.

Transportation
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is operating with reduced flight schedules, reduced concessions, and reduced staffing. Arrive early in case of long lines. The Riverfront and Canal Street streetcar lines are operating. The famous St. Charles Avenue line suffered damage to its electrical system and is not expected to be running until at least the end of 2006.

Storm Aftermath
Spray-painted red X’s serve as grim reminders of the house-to-house searches that took place during the apocalyptic days immediately after the storm. The top quadrant of the X shows the date the house was checked. The left quadrant indicates the law enforcement or military unit that did the survey, and the right quadrant lists the type of search (external, internal, etc.). The number in the bottom quadrant tells the number of bodies found.

Huge swaths of the city remain without electricity—a fact that shows up most dramatically at night. To fully appreciate what hit New Orleans, visit the now-infamous Lower Ninth Ward during daylight. From the French Quarter, head downriver on North Rampart Street, which soon turns into St. Claude Avenue. When you come to a bridge, you’ve reached the Industrial Canal. Look to your left; that’s where the levee gave way. After you cross the bridge, you’re in the Lower Ninth Ward, which was a working-class neighborhood (not a slum) before the storm. The rushing water lifted whole houses off their foundations. Elsewhere in the city, the sides of buildings still show high-water marks. You don’t see such marks in the Lower Ninth Ward because the water completely submerged the houses there.

Coping
As always, New Orleanians have used humor to cope with the tragedy. Here are some T-shirt slogans (some of the printable ones, anyway) seen in the French Quarter:
“Proud to Be Trailer Trash—Thanks, FEMA.”
“Make Levees Not War.”
“New Orleans Getting Stronger Every Day, Thank You America.”