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!)

4. Food

4) Food

Muffuletta - Invented By Italians in New Orleans

And what is most important, just one or 2 blocks away from our Hotel was… 

Yes, the original…. Ever had one of those?  Yummy!   MUFFULETTA     yum, yum

New Orleans has GREAT food; you can spend days, weeks eating your way through the offers of the restaurants. Creole food at its finest! And not just that but very, very high end boutique food places that are mostly sold out if you don’t make a reservation and those reservations you might have to make days in advance. Carol and I tried to eat at a fancy place next door to the Hotel, but with their hours, with our limited wardrobe we had no chance. We were ‘condemned’ to eat like a tourist. Not that that was a bad thing. We did have lunch at Antoine’s one day.

The Gang at Antoine's For Lunch

Antoine’s is the epitome of New Orleans cooking since 1830. And for some people the best place to eat, period!

The Dining Room at Antoine's

Ice Cream Was Pretty Good Too

Making Chocolate With Showmanship

3. Getting to Our Hotel

3) Getting to Our Hotel

At one point in our trip we saw 3 riders from our Motorcycle Club having a break in a parking spot, on the side of the road. Naturally we stopped and asked if they needed help but all was ok, they were just stretching their legs. They needed no help, just needed a break. We do this, too… just stop and get off the bike and walk around a little. Carol and I are not racers; we are sedate riders.

Not So Sedate Riding On the Track a Few Years Ago

We are not the only people that do not like large group riding. Those 3 fellows knew each other well, they like to ride together. And if you ask them they would agree, more than 4 riders becomes a crowd. Getting to New Orleans to me is not how fast can I get there, or who is going to be in New Orleans first, but to me it is much more important to get there. To get to New Orleans in one piece, without any incident or trouble is my foremost goal. I learned it does not matter one bit if I get anyplace a bit later. I am retired, I have the time. 

Lots of Traffic in the French Quarter

We rode our daily mileage and used the hotels on the road to ride to NOLA but once we entered good old NOLA (New Orleans, LA) and had to find the Old City, the French Quarter, we were no longer interested in riding a motorcycle. It was time to just park the bikes.

NOLA is a big modern city with lots of highways and different sections within and around it. Here in LA, (Louisiana), they call the counties ‘Parishes’. Remember, NOLA used to be French which is very Catholic. The Ideas of the Roman Catholic Church and some of the words got stuck here. All of this is still a left over from the time when LA was French.

Jackson Square

Even the legal system in Louisiana is still based on the Code Napoléon. 

Compare that to the Commonwealth Law of Massachusetts, MA… very different. 

New Orleans, especially the French Quarter, is a walking city. It is not really suitable for cars, bikes or any motorized traffic. Sure the locals ride through the French Quarter but they KNOW this city. For us, the outsiders, it is best to park our bikes and leave them there.

Ah, here lies the crux, where do you park in the old part of New Orleans?

Changing in the Parking Lot With a Little Help From a Friend

Jack and/or Ken had it arranged so what we could park our bikes within the walls or parking lot of the hotel.  This was a perfect solution; or so it seemed to us when we booked it. 

The hotel, Hotel Provincial, a historic site in New Orleans, had trouble accommodating the entire number of bikes but it was in the end the perfect choice. The Hotel used to be a convent and/or a hospital.

We doubled up, stacked our bikes as best we could to save space. Still it was a tight fit for all those bikes.

Jean and Wayne With Doubled Up Parking

No, Jean and Wayne were not our parking attendees but you can see how crowded the place was. There were actually many more bikes than in this picture, but you get the idea.

The Hotel was just one block over from the famous Decatur Street, where most of the shops were. We were just a few blocks away, more or less, from the mighty Mississippi River.