Dallas travels a lot for work and to a lot of interesting cities, but a lot of the time he’s stuck out in the suburbs of those cities or in an office park or wherever his company’s office happens to be. A couple weeks ago he told me that for his trip to New Orleans he’d be staying right in the French Quarter. I did a quick search online and found out airfare was really cheap ($145 + taxes +fees = $170) so I decided to tag along. I’d always wanted to visit New Orleans and so this was my chance.

Now, I know New Orleans is a big and diverse city and this trip was really short (flew in Wednesday night and out Friday afternoon) and that most of my time was spent in the French Quarter (with a short jaunt to the Garden District), but it was enough time to get a taste and want to come back for more.

After walking around the French Quarter for almost a full day and covering much of the neighborhood, I sat down on the steps to the Louisiana Supreme Court and wrote these thoughts on the back of a receipt in my purse:

1. I wasn’t sure what to expect before coming, but the French Quarter was not affected too much by Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that a lot of the city experienced. The French Quarter is the oldest part of town and was build on the highest ground. That’s not to say that if you go a few blocks out of the Quarter you won’t see boarded up businesses, water lines and signs that the city is still ailing.
2. The French Quarter is seeped in history. Many buildings have signs that say “Since 1797″ or the like. There are a lot of decorative plaques that tell what the building used to be or what the street name used to be. There are also more official landmark signs that tell when the buildings were given the designation and what used to happen there. For example, the building where I ate lunch used to be a popular spot to trade slaves.
3. There are so many cultures coming together here. Everyone thinks French, but the French who first settled had African and Afro-Carribean slaves and then the Spanish came and had Cuban cooks and then there were a bunch of German and Irish people and let’s not forget the Native Americans and somehow this all came together to form the culture and food and architecture of New Orleans.
4. Southern charm. People are polite. They say hi. They stop and talk. They call you “ma’am.”
5. The architecture is gorgeous. The streets in the French Quarter are narrow and most buildings are a few stories tall with balconies. The buildings have a variety of styles, but they’re all so colorful. People here aren’t afraid to paint their houses red or blue or yellow or pink or green.
6. Bourbon Street is where most of the touristy bars and stores are. And every other building is a strip club or an adult shop. If you go one block in any direction from Bourbon street, it’s a completely different scene. Houses, boutiques, galleries, antiques. Still, every store, restaurant, and bar offers “to go” plastic cups for whatever you’re drinking. You may openly walk around the French Quarter drinking booze, so long as it’s not in a glass container. Day and night on Bourbon are like day and night. Nighttime is a party, daytime is a hangover.
7. I felt good to be in New Orleans doing my tiny part to pump some money into the economy. I heard over and over that since the storm conventions have been cancelled and people aren’t visiting. There was a tour I went on the last day of the trip. The guide said that before the storm there would normally be 20 - 25 people on the tour. That day, I was the only person. Me and the tour guide. And she said that was about how it went. Now there’s only 1-3 people/tour. I would like to come back some day and visit more of New Orleans, to see more of the city and to see how it’s rebounding.

P.S. A big thanks to Andrew and Cinnamon. They love New Orleans and got married there earlier this year and they were kind enough to send me literally pages of tips and ideas for things to do when I was out exploring. I barely skimmed the surface, but it was helpful insight.