Back From the Big Easy

I have to admit, I fell in love with New Orleans from the first. Despite the fact that it takes a bit of adjustment to get used to the pace of the place. It's intense... just in terms of so much to see, so much sensory stimulation. But I loved it... Granted, I wouldn't want to live there all year round, but man, oh to be rich and famous and have money for a second residence, I'd love to have a place there for the winter (and to avoid Mardi Gras -- or perhaps have private Mardi Gras balcony to overlook the scene but still be separate from the masses!).

It seems the perfect place for writers or artists (although, in the words of one particularly entertaining cabbie, there are a lot of "underachievers"). The mystique and magic of the place was palpable. Along with the feeling -- surely exacerbated by the go-cups and the fact that we saw a placard for drink specials "from 9pm until 9am") -- that anything could happen there. Music would just break out spontaneously. Fortune tellers sat at carefully set up tables in Jackson Square. We heard quite a ruckus outside our hotel room at 9 in the morning -- a whole mass of apparently drunken men were putting together the St. Patrick's Day parade, playing zydeco and getting ready to parade through the streets. They threw green beads around our necks as we walked by, hollering "woo hooo!" and "hello pretty ladies!"

My cousin and I did a lot of touristy things... including getting our fortunes told at the Bottom of the Cup Tearoom. I was told that I can have my writing career and have love. Let's hope so. We hoofed it throughout the French Quarter, stopping at the (haunted) Hotel Monteleone for drinks at the Carousel Bar (the bar really slowly spins!) and grabbed muffaletta at a divey place on Bourbon Street. One lunch we got a sampler of jambalaya, red beans and rice, gumbo, and shrimp creole, in the French Market. Yummny dinners included a great meal at Muriel's (highly recommended) and at Bourbon House (also nice). We stopped in a shop called Sideshow and Harry Anderson (of Night Court fame, remember him?) did tricks for us, and another shopping adventure was the infamous Marie Laveau's. Touristy fare: cab to Garden District to do the tour (which included the Lafayette Cemetery) and a ghost tour through the French Quarter.

I can't recommend this city enough, especially for artistic types. I could go on and on... but I'll stop now. ;)

thanks for reading,

LLB