New Orleans, USA

For Quiet Thoughts and New Orleans

There are ideas that find their place quietly and meekly in a small dusty corner somewhere in our minds, they don't remind us of ourselves and they are not very active, but deep down we know they are there. It was such a thought for me to visit New Orleans 25 years ago when I watched Interview with a Vampire. The film's gothic style, mystique and charm poured like hot fudge over my already-constructed view of the southern American states, thanks to John Kennedy Toole with A Conspiracy of Dunces.

It had been many years since I'd seen The Interview, and I barely remembered Toole's book when the opportunity to visit New Orleans presented itself. I decided to prepare in advance; my wife and I were going to visit, because the trip was a family affair, just the things that made New Orleans so secretive and mysterious; we were going to miss the part that is the same about every great American city - the City, the skyscrapers casting shadows and smothering concrete plazas, and the shopping streets with the world-famous brands that are the same everywhere in the world. We were determined to dive deep - into the nightlife, the jazz, the rum cocktails and the magic of the city.

After a long and direct flight from London, we landed at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport.  I told myself this was a good start - an airport named after the King of Jazz. We traveled by taxi, it is true that it costs more, but it allows you to get to know the city better. Traces of Hurricane Katrina were still evident in places, like deep scars.

To understand a city and its soul, you must first learn about its history. New Orleans city is founded in 1718 by the French colonial Mississippi Company. The city was named after Philip II, Duke of Orleans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time. After about 40 years of French rule, the city came under Spanish control for the same amount of time, then for a very brief period it was French again, and by 1803 it was American. During the American Civil War, Louisiana sided with the Confederacy, briefly declaring itself a separate state. In 1862, New Orleans finally returned to the United States of America, where it remains to this day. Understandably, the colonial French and Spanish periods have left the deepest mark on the city's appearance. To draw your own conclusions about the culture and consciousness of a city, I'll just mention that one of its most famous characters is that of Jean Lefit, pirate, smuggler and spy, and one of its main districts bears his name.

We had booked a room in a small boutique family-run hotel in the French quarter of Le Vieux Carré (Old Square). Of course, tourism is very developed and the city is full of first class hotels, but our goal was to feel the pulse of New Orleans, we wanted everything to be happening around us. We don't mind the expensive hotels with lots of stars, and who would, but there you are more isolated and if you will - you are in a controlled environment. We needed to feel the rhythm of the city through our open window. The room was painted blue with white floral patterns painted on it, the woodwork was wooden, the paint had fallen off in places and looked old. The bed was high and large with a wrought iron frame. The furniture was black wood, and the scent of jasmine

wafted through the room. We could see Chartres Street through the window, and we could smell the Mississippi behind us, thanks to the high humidity. Just what we were looking for.

The entire French Quarter in New Orleans is a designated landmark, over eighty percent of the buildings were built in the early 1800s, with quite a few from the 1800s. Most of the houses are in the Creole townhouse style, square with flat roofs, parallel to the sidewalk, with arches and small terraces rich in wrought-iron ornament and white friezes, and the houses themselves in pastel colors. There is another type, called a 'creole cottage', these are older, with high roofs, open porches and many front doors - each room has its own door to the street.

Outside of the French Quarter, the affluent Garden District is home to lavish Victorian-style mansions of the Colonial-era wealthy - large and white, with black roofs and open porches, like the Tara Plantation in Gone with the Wind. If you have time you can sign up for organized plantation tours on the outskirts around town. The offerings are quite flexible and offer either a visit to just one or 3-4 for the day plus a boat ride on the wetlands where you might see some other alligators. Prices are also stretchy from $65 to $150 per person. There you'll see genuine plantations from the late 17th century, accessed by tunnels of ancient tree branches, quiet lanes and colonial splendor achieved on the backs of thousands.

Once we had rested from our journey, and the sun was heading towards the fiery horizon we couldn't wait to take a walk. The streets were packed with people. Because of the high temperatures and humidity almost everyone was dressed in wide and steamy cotton or linen clothes, like in an 80's movie. Street musicians were on every corner, and shops opened wide windows stocked with colorful merchandise. The smell of jasmine came from somewhere again. The lighting is dim and gives the impression that all the lamps glow with a dim yellow light. Let's face it, vintage fashion has been sweeping the world for some time, but the restaurants and bars here have always been vintage - wrought iron metal chairs, thick wooden tables with peeling varnish or paint, linen tablecloths and flowers in patterned glass vases. The food on offer was mostly seafood or pork with spicy condiments. The bars play jazz, necessarily live. Although New Orleans is the jazz capital of the world, you can find places with all kinds of other music. Lucky for us, we stumbled upon a small bar that had the blues. Blues is the second most popular music here after jazz. "Rainy night in Georgia" by Brooke Benton was playing. We drank some local drink, which the bartender assured us was 200 years old. It was called "Sazerac" and is made from cognac, lime, sugar and herbs. The people were hospitable and polite, though not familial as locals often do in resort towns.

When we got back to our hotel room, the nightlife could be heard through the window, bubbling like a boiling cauldron - a street musician's saxophone drifted in from the distance, the conversations of hundreds of passing tourists mingling with the buzz of the vendors. Life was just going on down below our small patina-covered barred window.

Over the next few days, in addition to the nightlife, since we are primarily tourists we wanted to explore the sights of the city. First, during the day the atmosphere in New Orleans is quite different, somewhat sluggish and melancholy, probably because of the city resting after each stormy night. Secondly, what is noticeable is that the cleanliness is not at a particularly high level compared to other famous tourist destinations. Thirdly, the city has a completely different appearance in daylight, most of the colonial buildings look sunken in patina, ivy and dust, which makes them even more beautiful, interesting and mystical.

We started with the French Quarter, which is where we were. The most famous destination is St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square, built with the founding of New Orleans. Unfortunately it was burned and restored in the mid 1800s, and very little of the first building remains. We then visited the French Market, some of the merchants there claimed it was the oldest operating market in the US. The merchandise is varied, but for the most part looks like antiques, though you can find all sorts of other must-have tourist souvenirs. I personally bought a hat of the local team, the New Orleans Saints. The main reason we visited the market was Cafe de Monde, arguably one of the most famous coffee shops in the world. What you need to know if you want to visit the place is that you need to arm yourself with a lot of patience.

We had the famous cafe au lait (coffee with milk), which is mixed with chicory and definitely has an interesting taste.

From Canal street in the French Quarter you can catch the oldest streetcar line in America, the one along St. Charles Avenue. The vintage streetcar, on the other hand, travels almost all the way around the city, reaching the Business District and the central new district. Because every nook and cranny in New Orleans is filled with history, so is this streetcar. It was the inspiration and was used in the filming of the 1951 classic A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh. Jean Lafitte's house is also interesting to visit, where he and his fellow conspirators plotted to kidnap Napoleon from the island of St. Helena. Helena. They only failed because the French emperor died beforehand. Or, according to an early 19th century urban legend, Lafitte and Napoleon managed to outwit death and live to a ripe old age somewhere in Louisiana.

New Orleans is a breeze that carries the scent of jasmine, the gentle sound of saxophone, and bitter hot chicory coffee beneath small wrought-iron terraces and colorful friezes. It is cognac with herbs, sugar and lots of ice in the warm evening. There are very few towns that age so gracefully, becoming more and more charming and beautiful as the years go by, though some of them are falling apart.

Flying out of New Orleans on the way home, that little idea that had waited 25 years to become a reality was gone. I don't blame her, she was probably walking down Bourbon or Rampart Street, talking to tourists and drinking rum and lime somewhere below us. Do I miss her? Do you think I miss him?