Walking
down the steamy cobblestones streets of The French Quarter is a multi-cultured,
multi-sensory, historical awakening. The steamy soup of New Orleans in June on
the cusp of summer and hurricane season leads to daydreaming which can be a
dangerous endeavor in The French Quarter. The seductive twirling, whirling
sounds of a grimy unpolished saxophone plays on the corner by a man whose careworn
expression from years of eking out an existence commuting in on the old wooden
streetcars from the Lower 9th District. As the smell of a toasting
Po-Boy bread mixed with the aroma of large blooming flowers and an incipient dampness
seep in between the notes.
Happy
Faces, Sad Faces Deranged Faces and Predatory Faces present themselves as one walks
carefully down the bumpy, crumbling streets of a city that geologically sinks
each year while sea levels simultaneously rise. A city of cemeteries with above
ground small family mausoleums instead of graves, in deference to the high
water table. A city where “Getting the Shaft” refers to one’s ashes slipping
between the barred-racks of the family mausoleum into a common pit to make room
for a needed vacancy, available every year and a day. The one day is to show respect
for the dead giving up their berth for a newly arriving family member.
A
woman with predation in her eyes comes uncomfortably close offering her wares, smiling
keenly like a wolf desperate from too much want and self-abuse. Green, purple
and silver shiny plastic necklaces of beads are presented, pointing out that no
anatomical exposure will be needed to acquire these questionable gems, and only
a few dollars will be required to procure these illustrious heirlooms. Her
smiling face is but a mask as the tourists invade her city with expensive clean
clothes, well-manicured selves and pockets full of money, like lambs to the
slaughter.
Frying
Beignets and Chicory blended Coffee waft through the air as one approaches Café
Du Monde’ along with the smell of horses on the opposite side of the street in
front of St. Lewis Cathedral, guarded by Andrew Jackson on his equestrian mount
eternally conquering the British in the Battle of New Orleans. Stage Two of the
2021 Tour de France plays on the many televisions dispersed throughout the
outdoor concession with small quaint tables and uncomfortable chairs, so as not
to encourage a long stay as long lines of people are waiting to sit. Overhead
large fans swirl the delectable smell of the Beignets lost in dunes of powdered
sugar and nutty, woodsy flavored chicory coffee reminding one of Rick’s Café
Americane in the movie Casa Blanca.
New Orleans is a sumptuous Gumbo Stew, a multi-cultural multi lingual, multi-ethnic, three hundred year old city where live musicians play in clubs from morning till the wee hours and alcohol is legally consumed twenty four hours a day. Cajuns and Creoles, Spanish, English, French, West African and Native American culture meld in this tropical metropolis. Crawfish Pie on Napoleon Boulevard, is a gastronomic symphony for the soul. Reconditioned well preserved streetcars crisscross the city bringing tourists and citizens to their destinations with charm and beauty.
Rich and poor, happy and sad, live
side by side in a slower paced existence. A place with a storied past, some of
it terribly cruel and some of it wonderful where the term, “Being Sold Down the
River” brings back its terrifying original meaning with New Orleans and the
surrounding plantations as its intended destination. New Orleans is a great place
to visit and an experience worth having.
Jim
7/2021
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