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So, we’d gotten a good idea of what NOLA was like by day. What we really wanted was a slice of NOLA by night – after all, we had come to a city where there’s no official closing time for bars and it’s legal to drink on the street (as long as your brew of choice is in a cup; no glass bottles allowed). Bourbon Street is where everybody (and I do mean everybody) heads to party, so we showed up in the evening too, with our hair in a braid. The whole street was a series of bars, clubs and strip joints, well in keeping with the city’s louche image, but it was all light-hearted and easygoing, without quite stepping over the line into sleaze territory. It really was rather good fun, even though it was touristy in the extreme; we walked, drinks in hand (beware of a cocktail called a Hand Grenade, it really does have explosive effects), stepping into whichever place had the best music (and there’s a lot of great jazz and blues to be heard here; it’s the birthplace of jazz, you know), making impromptu friends and generally being far rowdier than we might have been in less encouraging circumstances. It was only then that I really ‘got’ New Orleans – for all its social and racial disparities, its obvious cracks in the façade and its many warts, it was a place where you could be yourself without a care in the world. It really was a 24-hour party town, and I couldn’t help but raise my glass to it.
TRAVEL LOG
New Orleans has something for everyone, but it’s really a place you go to if you want to party till you drop. Bourbon Street is party central, with a huge number of watering holes and nightclubs. Not all of them are worth going to (some are quite boring, in fact), but the majority of them have good live music and middling to excellent food. If it all gets too touristy for you, which it might, you can slip into the adjoining Faubourg Marigny area and check out its quieter, and if anything more authentic, music scene. Music, especially jazz, is all-pervasive in this city, and you should make every effort to enjoy it to the fullest extent.
The Audubon Zoo is world famous and is worth a visit if you’ve got children’s interests to cater to. Mardi Gras World is also well worth going to; it’s where they make most of the floats for the Mardi Gras parade, and it’s like being in a chapter from a Hunter S. Thompson book – totally psychedelic and a little freaked out. For those interested in architecture, well, virtually the whole city is an architectural museum; just walk around and feast your eyes.
The best way to experience New Orleans is to stay in one of the numerous bed-and-breakfasts the town boasts. For one thing, you’ll get a first-hand feel of what its like to stay in an old NOLA home, and for another the owners will know the city and be able to give you advice about the best way to see it – and if you’re lucky and they take a shine to you, it’s likely they’ll invite you to a home-cooked lunch or dinner. www.bedandbreakfast.com is a very useful website in this regard, with accommodation to suit every budget.
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