New Orleans - Day One: typical tourists

Dearest friends,

I've just returned from a week in New Orleans that was probably the most important of my education thus far. I don't know where or how to begin recounting the events of the week and I know nothing I can say will do justice to the unique magic that makes New Orleans unique to any other place I've ever experienced.

I'll start at the very beginning because Julie Andrews once told me it was a very good place to start. We arrived last Saturday in the early afternoon. Most of us hadn't slept much the night before but our fatigue didn't stop us from hitting the French Quarter as soon as we'd had a minute to change clothes. Only Sarah Marks had ever been to New Orleans before, so all that most of us knew about it were a few streets and food items we'd heard tossed around: beignet, muffuletta, Bourbon Street, French Quarter, gumbo. So accordingly, we indulged in all of these things in the first twelve hours of our visit.

First stop was Cafe du Monde for an afternoon snack. Cafe du Monde is the most famous place to eat beignets in New Orleans, maybe the world. Beignets are sweet, fried squarish pastries topped with piles of powdered sugar. They come in plates of three and are served with hot chocolate or coffee and chickory (coffee and thick cream - quite delicious.)

After the cafe we took back to the street where everyone bought muffelatta's - a New Orleanian sandwich. It's a couple different kinds of cold cuts with provolone and swiss and lots of olives on top. I didn't partake but I hear they were good. We wandered over to the river where everyone ate and we watched giant ships roll by. Then we went back across Decatur street and headed west toward Bourbon Street.

Bourbon Street is probably the typical image that comes to mind when one thinks of New Orleans. Nearly every stall is a bar covered with neon signs. People are wandering all over the street with drinks in hand and beads strewn carelessly about their necks. It is only four o'clock in the afternoon mind you. And yes, drinking is allowed in public in this town. Which is amazing. People got their first round of drinks in cups that said "big ass beer." I wanted to hold out so my first drink in Nola would be a hurricane - another famous Nola beverage. We passed a store that had them, (actually every store probably had them) and everyone was like "Get one now!" I was like, "I don't want to be drunk at 4!" They were like "This is New Orleans!" So I gave in. It tasted like red cool aid. It hit a lot harder, but not too hard. I think we wandered back to the hotel nicely buzzed and everyone took pre-dinner naps.

For dinner we went to Oliver's - a nice restaurant on Decatur. I decided at the beginning that I'd eat seafood this week since I'd be wasting an amazing culinary experience if I didn't...and I don't feel that bad for seafood since it seems harder for them to suffer. I had crawfish etoufee. It might be my new fav food. So good. Next we wandered down Decatur all the way to Frenchman Street and found ourselves in an entirely new district - it was a whole block of jazz and blues bars off the tourist path. We went to d.b.a and saw an awesome blues guitarist. After a few hours and another couple drinks we went back to Bourbon Street.

The last stop (around 2 am) was Pat O'Brien's - home of the Hurricane (the drink). I was already pretty drunk. But everyone was having hurricanes and convinced me to have one - which I admit wasn't hard cuz i wasn't exactly at the top of my game as far as decision-making goes. I split it with Sally. I felt fine for the rest of the night - until we went back to the hotel. I got to my room and laid down. At which point I promptly got up, went to the bathroom and got beaten by the hurricane. Alas. Lesson learned.