Can we say anything about New Orleans that was not said before?

You can easily fall in love with this crazy party city, it’s architecture and history, music and art vibe.  Now if you could just take the tourists away and solve the homeless situation we would love it even more.

One can dream.

Two days may not be enough time to spend in New Orleans, but we made it work through good timing and lots of walking (we walked almost 20 kilometers during our stay); we arrived in the city on Christmas day and instead of heading to the RV park, we stopped at the Garden district and the French Quarter to take advantage of the ‘slow tourist day’ and abundance of parking.

Christmas was everywhere; most balconies were decorated and many people had on Christmas themed outfits on as if this was a normal thing to do.  We are not usually out on Christmas day, so maybe it’s a thing.

Garden District

New Orleans is more than just the French Quarter.  The Garden District — once a plantation sold and subsequently subdivided — leafy streets lined with stunning 19th century homes and gardens.  It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974.

You need to watch your step as the ancient trees outgrew the sidewalks and gnarled roots crawl dangerously underfoot

There are so many beautiful home and gardens varying in style and architectural details.  We’ll just give you a taste of a few beautiful arches.

French Quarter

We didn’t care much for Bourbon Street and the immediate area.  Although it is clearly a street full of interesting history and architecture, it is now also swarming with tacky tourist shops and partying tourist — some searching adulthood, some stretching their youth.

Very quickly we found our way to the fringes and started exploring the streets and squares.

The ornate wrought iron and cast metal balconies hold hidden symbols that echo convergence of cultures and, religions, and personal stories and preferences.  The effect is a stunning dance of light, shadows, and colour.

Gateways and nooks conceal a hidden city of inner courts and gardens.

Heck, even the gutters in New orleans are decorative

Coming from Canada and its monarchy-inspired architecture; Victorian, Edwardian, and Georgian, we  looked for identifying features of New Orleans’ Creole Cottages and townhouses, Shotgun Houses and French Colonial mansions.

The go-to mode of street lighting is still enchanting gas light

and we stumbled upon the place where they are made. We were tempted to purchase one, but unfortunately we don’t have gas at home

 

Perhaps one day

Beignet

Cafe du Monde is the obligatory Beignet (pronounced ben-yei) joint and as we headed that way we fully expected a cup of coffee and some sugar powder-coated heavenly pillows of goodness.

A huge lineup spilled into the sidewalk.  No way.

We went to the French Market for a satisfying catfish po‘ boy and live music instead

and then made our way to the “lesser” Cafe Beignet.

The Beignet were scrumptious and we were hooked.

There will be more Beignet adventures in our future!

Street art/ street people

There is art and live music wherever you lay your eyes.

A lot of it is damn good.

But there is also evidence of deep poverty and homelessness

and disaster stricken shattered dreams

and the lines between them blur at times.

The long shadows of Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of the Hard Rock Cafe hotel are still hanging over the Big Easy.

There is a lot of sadness in this party town.

Sculpture Garden

The sculpture garden is next to the art museum in City Park – a humble name for a magnificent park.  The sculpture garden is an 11 acre garden boasting 90 sculptures.

Here is a small selection

But we had a higher calling when we went to City Park.  We found out that Café Du Monde has several locations in town, one just outside of the sculpture garden.  Surely, there will be less people there!

This brilliant strategy worked and we set down to munch on yet another order of Beignet.  Ironically — although it was delicious — we slightly prefer the Cafe Beignet product.

But hey, these were spectacular enough  for us to seek more as you will soon find out!

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