I flew home this weekend to attend the Project Management Institute's American Congress. This trip started off on the wrong foot. I'm a sunny side up girl so after a few minutes of aggravation, I landed myself a swanky room nearby the French Quarter. By about 3:30 PM, I decided with all this time on my hands, I'd head out to find something to do.
What do you do in New Orleans...where the streets all have names but the only one that matters is "Bourbon", It's an entertainment cultural mecca mixed with food, music and interesting people. Here's a little of what I rediscovered.
The Food
1. Nothing is baked. It's fried with a cream base and sauce picante. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's about having a meat sauce and many cases that meat is venison or alligator! Don't come to the Big Easy on a diet. You will be miserable. I asked for a skewer of grilled shrimp and a side of broccoli and got the farm (doused in butter)
The Drunks, er People
2. New Orleans is full of fun people. They are magical! And some of them don't need alcohol to cast their special powers. Yesterday a man (or maybe she was a woman) was casting some voodoo magic on passerby tourists. I can only hope this means better luck?! The drunks, well, they really like their bottle. Only in New Orleans anywhere you walk on any street, at any hour, you may find some rainbow spread. It's a common occurrence for party-goers to share that love with the sidewalk, nearby tree, or sometimes right next to you!
Lagniappe (Did someone say parade in October ?!)
3.
In New Orleans, the PO-PO (police) sirens can mean three things: jazz funeral, shoot out or parade. Thankfully, yesterday I got to see the Krewe de Boo roll through the French Quarter. The marching bands, music, and floats were all festive! Local throws included the traditional Krewe Cup, Community Coffee, and bags of Zaps Potato Chips. For non natives, lagniappe means "something a little extra" so it was nice to relive this childhood memory again.
New Orleans is a city where you can lose track of time people watching or consuming any number of gastric delights. Whether it's a Saints game, a parade or just some street walking with the voodoo drunks, it's truly the city that never sleeps. Only in New Orleans .... where it can smell good, bad, and rancid. Only in New Orleans ... where the bar jams until past the wee hours of the morning.
Say you want about this place, it's home. And it's been great to be here again.
