Bienvenue à la Nouvelle-Orléans!

So I've left ages and ages go by since I last updated here, but I've kept the pictures because I keep telling myself I'm not just going to skip it. In the interest of time and what not, the next few updates will be more tumblr like than usual. (As if this wasn't so, anyway.)

In any case, middle of my Southern Tour and I have the day off! Although I have a car available to me, New Orleans is enough of a walking place, especially since I'm staying near the action.

Pretty and colorful French Doors, everywhere.

A quick visit to the French Market

Followed by a visit to Plaza d'Armas. It's essentially a town square, and it reminded me a lot of the town square in my hometown in Bani.

Before a stop at the Presbytere and the Louisiana Museum. Both were quite interesting: they had a "hurricane" exhibit, "Living with Hurricanes - Katrina and beyond,"where they showcased not just Hurricane Katrina, but also the history of the State, and the city, with the various Hurricanes that have passed by. There were also exhibits about Louisiana History, and a real fun one for Mardi Gras.

A beautiful church next to the Presbytere, whose name I can't remember

Inside shot!

Out of the church, I ran into a street performer. There were quite a lot of them, all over the city. I don't know if they need to get "licenses" the way they do in NYC in order to not be harassed by the cops, but this one seemed to be doing well considering it was Tuesday afternoon around 3.

After all of that walking (and believe me, it was a lot. I left the hotel at around 9am and just walked, walked, walked until 3:30pm) I made a stop at The Sun Ray Grill, where Mary Lee works. She treated me to a most delish Chicken Club Pita, which is sliced grill chicken, ham, bacon, lettuce and tomato, with a trio of melted cheeses. They served that with fries and Creole Honey Mustard.

As soon as I said my goodbyes to Mary Lee, it started to rain with gusto. It was an expected surprised, since the day had been muggy and hot. I made myself comfortable in the front of the restaurant, where they had a tin roof, and just enjoyed the sound of the rain. It was just like the rain of my childhood: hard, fast, small. The sound of rain on a tin roof is one of my most favorite sounds in the whole wide world. Once it finally calmed down, I started to make my way back to the hotel. While walking, I ran into these informative plaques:

Which was most definitely something about New Orleans/Cuban history I did not know, since to my understanding Martí had worked on the flag in New York City. Go figure.

I leave you with a picture of a flower that transports me immediately to the Dominican Republic, everywhere I find it:

I don't even know what kind this is. All I know is looking at this my eyes water and I think of home. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed my visit to New Orleans - it had enough aspects of the Dominican Republic AND New York, to make me feel like I could live there happily. As long as I don't have to drive outside of the little bit that I walked around on. ;-)

It's Nawlin's Dawlin!

Once work was finished in Mobile, we immediately drove to New Orleans, LA. The ride wasn't so bad, and Lauren is a pretty good and confident driver, so it was easy street in that department. Quickly I got in touch with Mary Lee, who took me to Mandinas - a really old New Orleans style restaurant that's been around for more than a 100 years. It had a great atmosphere, essentially the first level of a house gutted out to make space for the restaurant.

We started with some fried eggplant, which y'all know is my favorite vegetable.

Since it was Monday, Red Beans and Rice had to be had, and I figured I'd share Mary Lee's Gumbo. I topped off the beans and rice with Italian Sausage.

After dinner we drove around, picked up Mary Lee's girl, then headed to Columns Hotel to just chill out. It's a hotel, a huge ass house/mansion essentially, with yet another first floor gutted out to make space for a restaurant/bar. I had me some Abita Amber.

And because, apparently, one can't go to New Orleans without having some Beignets, sometime around 11pm we made our way to Café du Monde.

The whole town had a very New York feel - in the sense that it seemed like everyone was out and about at almost midnight on a Monday night - but the low houses, the verandas, the colorful storefronts, not to mention the narrow streets reminded me I was not home. I really enjoyed it though - although I'm not much for going out that late at night, what I like the best, is the possibility.