Wordless Wednesday

If I lived in New Orleans, I would be big as a house

Café du Monde starts serving people at 8am. The take-out line for coffee and beignets stretched out the door. I was 7 minutes early. While I waited for a table a street musician played the theme from Beverly Hillbillies on his guitar. He saw me smiling and rifted through it again. When the staff started taking the chairs off the tables, I chose one close to the street. I ordered world-famous coffee and beignets. (a single serving has 3) Waiting for my order ($7 with tip) I watched a worker across the street hose down the sidewalk. The artists were setting up on Jackson Square. The tourists trickled in. The guitarist started to play Hey Jude. Munching my beignets I joked with a table full of men next to me about the fried dough thing. Ever culture has them. “These taste exactly like zeppoles,” one guy said. “The only thing different is the shape.” I nodded, it was true. On my way out of the restaurant, the guitarist looked up and winked, “Is your name Beverly?” he asked. I tossed some coins in his spittoon.

New Orleans is known for its colorful characters and its food. Some of the most famous chefs have restaurants here. In addition to Cajun fare and traditional Louisiana cuisine, the city also has fabulous ethnic food. An article in a local magazine touts Asian food particularly Vietnamese. While I love all ethnic food, in New Orleans I want Cajun food...Crawfish Etoufee, Jambalaya, Catfish blazingly hot from the giant bottle of Tabasco on the table, gulf shrimp in any form, broiled oysters. And for dessert…bananas foster.

The other interesting quirk about the French Quarter is the go-cup. You can stop at any open air bar and order a drink to go. I cannot tell you the number of people strolling the streets with sweating cups of mango daiquiris, beers or Hurricanes in hand. Not that I would do that, of course…. ;)

Alas, I have not had the opportunity to eat out much. Food has been offered at the conference and I have been working. But I hope to get out for dinner tonight. It is my last night in town

The Big Easy

From an easy flight to the easy and cheap ($15.00) shuttle ride to the hotel, New Orleans has indeed been easy. When I remarked to the hotel staff on check-in how remarkably easy everything has been so far, her face lit up with a big smile and she said, “Welcome to the Big Easy.” I had forgotten that the city is called that.

As soon as I hustled my bags to my room, I dashed out into the warm embrace of the afternoon to re-discover the city. From prior visits I had a general idea where the French Quarter was relative to the hotel. I strolled past the tawdry sex shops and the bars on Bourbon Street peeking into the side streets. I turned onto one where the balconies were invitingly loaded with flowers. Walking generally toward the levee, I poked into shops, watched street performers, read enticing dinner menus posted outside restaurants and got my bearings for the next 3 days. The city is beautiful just like I remembered it. I see no damage from the storm but let’s remember it did not affect the French Quarter. The one thing I did perceive lacking were the tourists or at least the streets were remarkably un-crowded. I would even say people are few and far between, where I remember the streets being full of shoppers and drunks. It’s a shame really. But it was mid-afternoon.

It is also easy to get around in New Orleans. I took the Canal line streetcar to the end of the line--City Park-- to do some birding. The streetcars are wooden open air gems. Everyone takes them from kids going to school, to tourists, to everyday folks. At only $1.25 it is a bargain. Although “Desire” has been retired since right after Tennessee Williams made it famous, I confess to thinking about it as we clattered along. After walking around the park for a couple hours and seeing lots of waterbirds: egrets, nightherons, ibises, terns, swans, ducks, and a few passarines; I got back on the streetcar and came back to the hotel. It was not all play time, I was in New Orleans to work.