New Orleans - NOLA - N'awlins - The Crescent City

I won't lie - I'm in love. With a city. Its hot and swampy and muggy and ...hot. And absolutely lovely. Folks are so very nice, so strong. I saw a bumper sticker on a parked car yesterday that read "New Orleans - Proud to swim home".

Arriving by train on thursday we passed Slidel before crossing lake Pontchartrain and entering New Orleans. Four years later and vast swaths of NOLA are still peppered with boarded up homes, rotting slowly in the heat. Trailers still sit in front of some houses, while others simply bear now-faded "X's" spraypainted across doorways in the aftermath of Katrina. In some ways the sight hasn't changed much since I was here two years ago and this fact makes me very sad before I find it churning into a quiet rage. How did we let this happen?

In wealthy and more touristy areas you'd almost never realize the storm hit. The french quarter is booming, bustling, and beautiful. On friday I spent a whole day winding through historic neighborhoods, admiring the diverse mix of architecture, scouting out blues clubs for later. Then there's the music... oh the Music! Stroll down Frenchman street (less touristy than Bourbon st, a younger crowd, and the really good jazz you'd expect in New Orleans) after nine o'clock and it's jazz/blues heaven. With names like Marsalis and Neville as regulars its hard to go wanting. Many joints have no cover, and ten bucks'll be enough to get in just about anywhere.

Tonight I saw Rebirth Brass Band play a free show outdoors, later I fulfilled another dream by making it out to Tipitina's ... where I saw the Mardi Gras Indians funkin' it up n'awlins style. Headresses and feathers and beats that just wouldn't quit. And such a night is everynight in NOLA, far as I can tell. If I disappear someday soon you'll have a good idea where to find me....

Tomorrow I'll ride the streetcars (vintage, oldest running cars in America) to tour uptown, grand St Charles street homes, cemeteries (above ground because the water table is so high... I'll post pics to explain), and hopefully city park. Then I leave Monday for Los Angeles. 48 hours through Texas and the southwest before I transfer to San Diego and the pacific ocean.

I've still to post photos from Boston and DC... oh time, you just won't quit! You'll see them eventually, though probably once I'm on the west coast. I'll have something to do while rolling through Texas! Best Wishes to All! Love from the Crescent City.