  New Orleans
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 4177 New Orleans Tips.5953 New Orleans Photos.3 New Orleans Videos. New Orleans Pages by Rixie
| Page Views: 2,752 Last Visit to New Orleans: April, 2008 | Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? by Rixie - last update: May 18, 2008 |
This page is printed in traditional Mardi Gras colors: Purple for Justice, Green for Faith, Gold for Power.
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I'm pleased to report that 18 months after Hurricane Katrina and the levee break devastated New Orleans, the downtown area of the city has made some progress. On my latest visit, in February of 2007, French Quarter businesses seemed almost normal. The French Market and Cafe du Monde were bustling, music was pouring out of Bourbon Street bars, and there was once again a line at the Gumbo Shop.
However, if you look a little further, you'll see that it's not anywhere near a full recovery. The historic St. Charles streetcar line, for example, has been reopened only from Canal Street to Lee Circle, a distance of about two blocks. In the areas surrounding the city where many business employees live -- Metairie and St. Bernard Parish -- the picture is still grim. However, there is the same unquenchable spirit of hope and optimism that so impressed me in 2006. You still see defiant bumper stickers and signs proclaiming as reflected in a bumper sticker reading “New Orleans – Proud to Call It Home,” and “We’re strong – we’re coming back – we will rebuild!”
This beautiful cosmopolitan city needs our help to rise again. Please consider it as a future travel destination! |
|  | The Way It Was, and Will Be Again The flags of the United States, France, and Louisiana fly in front of St. Joan. Not shown is the Spanish flag, which represents another part of New Orleans history.
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"Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?" is a catchy slogan, but it's not accurate, because the city's denizens pronounce its name more like "Noo Awlins."
Whichever way you say its name, New Orleans is a fun city. I've been there as an adult four times now, and I always feel very comfortable. It seems to combine elements from other places I've been: the red brick and cobbled streets of Georgetown, the big front lawns of Maryland, the humidity of Honolulu, the streetcars of San Francisco.
Canal Street in New Orleans is a ringer for San Francisco's Market Street -- a wide, busy thoroughfare, bordered with tall buildings and leading down to the water -- and the narrow streets and throngs of pedestrians in the French Quarter remind me of Chinatown. Bourbon Street, of course, is like SF's Broadway, which San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen used to call "Bawdway" for all the strip joints. Although I must admit that on Broadway you don't usually see scantily clad women hanging over wrought-iron balconies...
New Orleans offers delicious Southern cooking -- oyster and shrimp po'boys, muffalettas, gumbo, pralines, jambalaya, beignets and chicory coffee -- as well as Italian, Thai, and other types of ethnic cuisine. Be prepared to eat your way through this city.
And, oh, the music! Just standing outside some of the clubs on Bourbon Street, you can hear great blues and jazz. Even the street performers and the pianists who play background music at restaurants are top-notch. Jazz enthusiasts won't want to miss the famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
To get a true picture of The Big Easy, leave the drunks on Bourbon Street behind. Take the St. Charles Avenue streetcar out to Riverbend and browse through the thrift shops and bookstores. See a movie at the Prytania Theater; attend a concert at Tulane or Loyola University. There's more to New Orleans than the French Quarter, and you won't be disappointed. |
St. Louis Cathedral looms in the background. I've read that the gaily decorated horse-drawn carriages are actually pulled by mules. Horses can't take the heat and humidity in New Orleans, but mules can. | | | Jackson Square, river side |
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| Pros: | "Great food, great music" | | Cons: | "High humidity and changeable weather" | | In A Nutshell: | "The Best of the American South" |
Rixie's New Orleans Travel Tips
 Rixie's New Orleans Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for Rixie about New Orleans | | | | |
BarbaraA1 Wed Sep 12, 2007 00:46 UTC
I could not agree more. Leah's has the best pralines in the Quarter, which is to say the world. Their heavenly hash and rum pecans are also delicious. | JessH Wed Apr 18, 2007 05:39 UTC
Hello Laverne. Excellent page on New Orleans here! I really enjoyed each & every single tip with great info & personal insights. Thanks for sharing! Greetings from the desert :-) Jess | sourbugger Thu Feb 15, 2007 16:00 UTC
Highly thoughtfull | pieter_jan_v Tue Aug 22, 2006 18:30 UTC
So good to see in the T-logues what you did! You're great! PJ |
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