6.24.2006

The big easy

New Orleans is beautiful and interesting and strange, all at once. This is my first trip here and I'm fully intrigued. I spent the past couple of days walking around and getting a better sense of the areas near my hotel (tourist-y areas, the French QUarter, the convention center area, the river-side area). The city is packed with bars and restaurants and shops, everywhere. Red Rider was kind enough to walk me by her old house and through her old neighborhood and there were little side streets with restaurants and coffee shops tucked around the corners. It really reminds me of so many places: Philly, southern California, New York...it's really interesting.

The bus driver told us that 2/3 of the people who lived here before the hurricane have not come back. It seems pretty busy most places, but most of the people I see are librarians. We drove by this underpass where he pointed out the water line, 13 feet up the side of the highway. There are entire neighborhoods that still have tarps for roofs.

I've eaten a lot, including a 5-beer sampler and some fried cheesecake. The cake part was all melty and yummy. A guy struck up a conversation to me on the way to registration and gave me the lowdown on the casino buffet and then offered to split a doobie with me. I politely declined.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm psyched to read that NO isn't as spooky as I feared. And I have to say that after people made fun of me for years for making/eating peanut lasagna, that the idea of fried cheesecake (since I don't love cheesecake) makes me feel a little queasy! Good for you for trying it!