New Orleans, I Loved You!!!

Just back from 3 days in New Orleans. Now I have a new city to love. Not Bourbon St which is for 18-30 year olds with its garish neon, bar by bar, general seediness and vulgar odor. No it was all the other parts as shown to me by passionate tour guides, chatty cabbies, pedi cab drivers. This was the friendliest place I have ever visited. Got to hear some good music. Took a tour of the ninth ward where the reconstruction of the poorest cottages still continues. Enjoyed a buggy ride as dusk turned to dark. Saw some blue heron and one very large alligator sunning itself on a lawn on a swamp tour. Ate dinner where a zydeco band played and the dancers ranged from an elegant couple who glided across the floor with every song to kids dancing with wild abandon. Spent some time at the French Quarter Music Festival listening to good N.O. jazz. A varied trip, but by the end I felt like we had soaked up some of the atmosphere of this unique city. Beignets. Streetcars. Smiling people proud of living in the city that survived such a devastating disaster. And I have fallen love with all. .