New Orleans -“Let the good times roll”

Hey Y’all! This is my first attempt at a blog and honestly I haven’t decided on a structure or a theme that I want to follow for my posts. I am not sure whether I would even follow a pattern for all my posts or just play it by the ear.

But, what I do want to do with each of my posts is –

Get you a little closer to the sights, sounds and smells of places and flavors as I have experienced!

For this particular journey, I will try to touch upon bits of the culture, music, architecture and foods of Naw’lins as the locals like to call it. And all of these elements are intertwined in a manner that makes New Orleans what it is – Unique! So excuse my vain attempt of dividing the post into sections apart from slightly enhancing readability.

Disclaimer : We were in New Orleans for 3 days and this blog post primarily focuses on the French Quarter area. Although the French Quarter is the center of attention in New Orleans, in our opinion, there is much more to see and do in New Orleans!

Culture & Architecture

Situated on the southern coast of the continental US and on the banks of the Mississippi (the longest and widest river in the US), New Orleans’ strategic geographical position led to the influx of a myriad of peoples throughout its history. What has resulted is a true melting pot of culture and architecture which is unique to the place.

A socio-cultural fabric that has been woven with love & hate, music & food and happiness & losses of its variety of residents throughout its 300 year old history.

Without going into the specifics, the city has been home to indigenous American tribes, French and Spanish colonialists, settlers from the Caribbean islands, Vietnamese after the 2nd World war, the Americans and many others.

New Orleans also had a dark history of slave trade during the 1700s. On the flip side the city was also witness to the popularization of the “free people of color” concept which in my opinion was an essence of the much more progressive anti-slavery movements which would play out after.

As cliche as it may sound, perhaps the best place in New Orleans to experience this multicultural melting pot is the French Quarter. Three things you should do here to experience this :

1. Look for different architectural styles and influences – Spanish, French, Creole, Shotgun etc
2. Taste the different cuisines – Cajun, Creole, Asian etc
3. Artwork – Although heavily influenced by contemporary styles, there was a wide spectrum of styles, colors and subjects on display

Another mainstay of the French Quarter are the live performances by talented street artists and musicians. If I had the time, I could probably spend a whole day just watching their performances.

Music

Like many other things, New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz music. Like this city itself, jazz is constantly changing, forever evolving into something new and exciting everyday.

Jazz is alive and it will make you feel that way.

Although the primary musical mainstay in the past was Jazz and its different styles, modern day influences have taken over Bourbon Street (Party central) where you would hear anything from true unadulterated Jazz to Latino hits. While some people might find this disconcerting, in my opinion this evolution is in line with the spirit of the city.

Nawlins has always welcomed the new, and absorbed the “new’ within its fabric and evolved as a “new” New Orleans!

Fortunately for the purists, there is Preservation Hall.

This legendary institution which has dedicated itself to preserving the purest form of traditional New Orleans Jazz. The musicians who play are the best in the business, the setting itself is inside a old dilapidated building which has been intentionally kept that way to recreate the experience of the past.

For folks in-between who want a music experience tending towards the traditional but don’t want to be bound within the confines of Preservation (No food and drinks) there is Frenchman Street.