5. History and Culture

5) History and Culture

300 years of New Orleans!!!  

That is a very long time for any U.S. City. 

Remember, the U.S. has only existed since 1776. The U.S. is ‘only’ 242 years old.

So NOLA was started way before there was an USA.  And as every child in America knows, Louisiana was purchased from the French when President Thomas Jefferson bought it in 1803.

It was called a folly then; today it is called a genius Purchase.

Ah, the history of NOLA is a subject that covers libraries full of books. 

The Shirt Says "This Girl Can Do Anything". She Has a Pink Ribbon and a Pink and Black Net Tutu

New Orleans is different because of her people. Even this 3-year-old girl is so beautiful. 

Typical New Orleans Architecture

Sure there is a different architecture here, very much influenced by the early French and Spanish occupation but it’s the people in NOLA who are the icing on the cake. It’s the mix of nations, of ethnic backgrounds, of beliefs, of cultures, of points of view, of differences that makes this city so exiting. This city, NOLA, is not within the ‘box’. 

NOLA is outside the ‘box’. Music and food, Parties, good times, leisure and art are all part of what makes New Orleans so different. And what different art it is, too.

Wedding Procession Complete With 8-Piece (?) Jazz Band

Sure they have ‘normal’ streets, highways, cars, jobs, telephones, etc. but that is just ‘stuff’. 

New Orleans has a spirit, a ‘joie de vivre’ that is like no other place on Earth. Just look at the wedding procession that we saw from our Hotel window, where in the world do you find a celebration of life like this?

We came to visit, to experience those different feelings, to encounter the diversity in how one was raised. 

"Weed" Truck With "Space Cakes", "Tippy Treats" and "Weed World Candies"

Changing one’s feelings, being different than the program written into our psyche during our youth, is not easy. To live differently from how we were raised is not as easy as it sounds. 

New Yorkers have a tougher attitude.  New Orleans people, they have a different attitude again. 

Well, all these are good qualities to have depending on where you live, but what about charm, is this charm a Southern thing?  Were Southerner’s trained to live with charm?  

Music Is Everywhere Here

People in Canada are taught to be polite, it shows.

People in New Orleans live a different lifestyle; they do not see the world like I do. To me the way people live here is intriguing. I could not live with just music in my life. They can! I could not live with just the clothes on my back. They can! They do not worry too much about tomorrow, I do! 

 Ah, it’s a mix in NOLA, there are some people like me here, but the people here are also very much different from me. I guess the folks in NOLA were raised differently from you and me.

Great Sunglasses

I hear you… you think, thank God there are other people who are not like me.

Good, exactly, NOLA is different, go to New Orleans, immerse yourself in their lifestyle, in their point of view and you will ‘grow’ a little bit inside.

In NOLA it’s more about a feeling; a feeling of how to live ‘better’. 

Enjoy the music, enjoy your food, and enjoy life…. Be happy! Embrace the arts.

It took NOLA 300 years to get this far, and the people here like it the way it is.

Street Art

Fun Art

No Hurricane can shoo them away, they love it here and they will stay.

It’s a potpourri of lifestyles, of people in NOLA

We rode across the U.S. to just see this lifestyle, to just experience it, this feeling of difference.

 (OK, OK, we came to see you too Ken!)