Mental Health Day

"Whenever the thread of his consciousness had unwound too far and got tangled, a little solitude could wind it quickly back."

                            - Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

Bourbon Street

Easily one of my favorite moments on this trip.  While walking down the residential end of Bourbon Street one night, I heard jazz music coming from one of the buildings up ahead.  I was eager to walk past it and take a look inside, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't a bar.  In fact, it was a house.  A young couple sat on their front porch, enjoying a glass of wine and the warm Louisiana night air, while the sounds of smooth jazz music steadily rose from within their cozy French Quarter home.  It was so perfect it was almost surreal.

Doors

I can't tell you exactly why, but I was completely mystified by the doors in New Orleans. Maybe it's symbolic for my life of new opportunities and hope, or maybe it was because they were just so damn cool.

Sheltering Sky

"Whenever he was en route from one place to another, he was able to look at his life with a little more objectivity than usual. It was often on trips that he thought most clearly, and made the decisions he could not reach when he was stationary."

NOLA Munchies

If there's one thing you have to do in New Orleans, its eat. From the world famous beignets at Cafe du Monde, to the home of the original bananas foster at Brennan's. You can pretty much screw your diet, and your budget (the eggs benedict at Brennan's was $30), but believe me it's so worth it.


Beignets from Cafe du Monde. I ended up buying the mix to bring home.



Breakfast at Brennan's. Bananas Foster!





Coffee break at Envie



Glass of wine at Fritzels, while listening to live jazz music



Jazz Fest southern food

Southern Hospitality

It's one of the things that caught my attention most in New Orleans.

From the moment we arrived at the airport in New Orleans, people were so willing, and practically eager to help us find our way around, as well as offer tips on the best places to go. Maybe it was because we had just dealt with an entire day of flight delays and rude United Airlines employees, but the amount of hospitality we were given was almost shocking.

We spent the first two days at Jazz Fest, where complete strangers offered to show us around for the few days we were in town. We also managed to maneuver our way out of the massive crowd of people watching Bruce Springsteen. Instead of people getting upset as we got in their way and pushed past them in the sticky heat that was a blend of Louisiana humidity and festival sweatiness, people cheers'd us as we squeezed passed. Whenever we thought people we're about to get upset at us for stepping on their bags or blankets (mind you the crowd was so big we were at this for about 15 minutes), they were actually telling us to walk on top of their blankets. I couldn't help but think we wouldn't have made it out alive if it weren't for that southern hospitality.

Whether it was a tattoo artist or even a strange character on the street, everyone seemed to be so genuinely friendly.