and all that jazz....

Woke up way too early to hit the road again, this time headed to New Orleans. With a brief stop on Baton Rouge for lunch in an awesome pub underneath the overpass, we headed into the city on raised freeways over the wetlands. We made it to our destination at 3, a house that Occidental students stayed in this past year while helping with hurricane recovery. The house felt like a little bit like the headquarters for underground social movements, and Jackie, our host, was the boss. At first her bluntness and authority was a bit intimidating, but in only two days time we understood why so many Oxy students still rave about her.




We found the nightlife on Frenchmen street, a couple of blocks outside the French Quarters, to be a bit more our speed. In all the bars there are live Jazz bands and often even on the street corners. It is never clear whether or not the performers are formalized bands or just people that collect and start a jam session. Either way is doesn’t really matter, the music is incredible




Our second and last day in New Orleans we dedicated ourselves to tasting authentic New Orleans cuisine including Café Au Lait, Beignets, Crawfish, Seafood Gumbo, a Catfish Po-Boy and every flavor a daiquiri you can imagine. Only in New Orleans are there drive-through Daiquiri spots- apparently drinking and driving is not against the law, only driving while intoxicated is (don’t worry parental units, we did not drink and drive).

Gumbo and a Catfish Po-boy

Beignet and Cafe Au Leit

We also made sure to ride the trolley, explore the above ground cemeteries, and visit the Lower Ninth Ward. For those of you who don’t know, the Lower Ninth Ward was hit the hardest by Hurricane Katrina and even 5 years later still needs much repair and rebuilding. While the spirit of New Orleans remains upbeat and jazzed, the underlying feeling of loss and hardship is undeniable.