Seeing France in New Orleans

Poor ignored blog! I have meant to put something up for a while if only to push that picture of the dead pig further down.

My friend and I were talking about possibly going to France with her husband's band this fall--well, that ended up getting downgraded to a weekend in New Orleans.  New Orleans is kind of like France--but with more crime and to-go cups!

The good news is that the city really is coming back, albeit largely due to the blood, sweat, and toil of the residents, who are really dedicated to their home. And rightly so. New Orleans is a true cultural treasure. There is no place like it in the United States thanks to its history--which I learned a lot about thanks to Cassady, my guide on a Confederacy of Cruises bike tour. Check them out if you go--NO is a great place to explore on two wheels.

We didn't go into the lower 9th Ward, which I understand is still in kind of bad shape, but we did go into other areas of the 9th Ward where some houses were boarded up and you could still see the spraypainted symbols from emergency teams as they searched for survivors and bodies. Still, the area seemed lively and upbeat, which was nice to see.

Cassady, our tour guide

Cassady was a rolling encyclopedia of all things New Orleans. I mentioned I had stopped to get coffee and a muffin at a cafe near the meeting point and he told me about the history of the name of the cafe and probably knew the owners too.

I didn't take too many pictures of food, unfortunately. We did eat a lot of oysters, and our best meal was at Cochon, a contemporary Cajun place that several people recommended to us. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I don't care much for Creole food--it's not my favorite. Cajun, yes, but most traditional restaurants in New Orleans (Emeril's, Commander's Palace, etc) are Creole-inspired, not Cajun. But as you might expect, the town excels at French and French-inspired fare, so our second night we went to Lilette and were not disappointed.

People are so friendly down there too. Cassady said if we got lost or needed a restaurant recommendation to ask a local: "He might mug you later but he'll give you good information!" We didn't get mugged but we did meet a lot of nice folks.

A mobile barbecue smoker

It was the middle of November, but it was quite warm and sunny--in the mid to upper 70s, maybe even 80 our last day there. Of course, facing the onset of real winter weather at home, I thought about how nice it would be to enjoy mild temperatures through the colder months. On the other hand, summers there must be a challenge.

My next house? I wish.

It's all about taking it easy and enjoying life.

I'm too old and mired in the bad housing market to consider moving anywhere else at this point, but if I had a good reason to I'd definitely move to New Orleans. At least I'd like to visit it more often. Actually, I think I am just a little jealous of New Orleanians, the way I am jealous of Italian or French people. It must be nice to be born into that culture and live it every day--something I'll never be able to do no matter how much I try to emulate it.