Summer Road Trip 2008 Part IV - Little Europe - New Orleans

Houston to New Orleans was a 8 hour drive. We emerged from the suffocating humidity of Houston and dove straight into the Bayous of Southern Louisiana.

Luckily, I have plenty of connections in New Orleans thanks to Teach For America. We arrived at Erin's house; after several beers went out to explore the town.

Beautiful New Orleans architecture in the French Quarter. Many people claim this is the French influenced style, but in fact, this is more Spanish influence than French because of the short Spanish occupation somewhere in history before US acquired the state. I'm simply dying to sit on the balcony of these houses and act like I'm from there.

The tourism recovered fairly well post-Katrina. Many people thought the hurricane swept through downtown New Orleans, clearing every weed in its way; however, in reality, most of the main tourist areas such as the French Quarter was less affected compared to parts that are closer to the levee. Today, the town is still flourishing in its unique fashion, atmosphere, and parties.

More awesome houses that I wish I lived in. Sometimes I wonder where do I want to live? In a sleek, modern apartment right above Time Square in NYC or an old-fashioned houses with Spanish balcony, a petunia garden outside, full of history and stories?

Downtown busy Canal Street. We had our heart set on riding the trolley to uptown where we would've ate some famous jambalaya, but the target restaurant required reservation, which we didn't have, and was booked for the night.

We continued to aimlessly walk around and trying to figure out the activities for the rest of the night.

All over the street, there are street jazz bands playing lively music for the pedestrians. In front of the band, there are often dancers swinging a towel in their hand - they are known as second line dancers because the first line is the band itself. I loved it, the atmosphere and how everyone was drunken in the live music.

This is not the Ursuline Convent, which is one of the more famous historic sites in New Orleans, but apparently, the only thing that this St. Louis Cathedral lost during the hurricane was several of Jesus' fingers. Incredible.

We didn't end up finding a famous restaurant, but instead was stuck with Bubba Gump Co. franchise. However, the food turned out to be quite delicious, also things at least one of us never had before, not to mention some tasty local brews.

The best part of the whole experience was our interaction with our waitress, a single mother of a gifted 3rd-grader. With so many teachers at the table (Erin, Christian, and myself), she expressed her admiration, frustration with the school system, and concern whether or not her daughter is receiving the best she could. Luckily, The GNO crowd is always prepared as Erin dictated and Christian wrote, they gave her several KIPP academy contact info that she could use. She was all eager and in the end gave almost everyone a hug as we left the restaurant. I thought the night was so productive because at least the exchange gave someone access to things that may possibly change their life.


Sipping on Pat O'Brien's hurricane drinks (lots of rum and cherry juice) purchased off of Bourbon St, sitting next to Mississippi River, feeling the light river breeze against our faces, is a wonderful relief against the heat of the day.