Bourbon Street

I’ll say it upfront: I was a bit disappointed by New Orleans. Perhaps expectations were too high. Still, I had a great week thanks to Poncho, my temporary travel companion. New Orleans is certainly an interesting place and worth visiting…

I was surprised how little immediate damage from the Hurricane Katrina flooding I observed. Sure, there are houses that are damaged or boarded up but I was never sure if that was Katrina-related or for other reasons. On the other hand, I have spent all of my time in the city center and it was the outer parts that have been hit the hardest. A few years ago Banksy, whose work I am a big fan of, left some street art in New Orleans. Unfortunately it’s all in the outskirts of New Orleans and not easily accessible by foot or bus and also some of the art has been painted over already.
New Orleans has an interesting history with strong French and Spanish influence and some nice architecture from those times. I did not get the impression it was much more European than other U.S. cities but had a rather colonial and Caribbean feel to it. There is also a strong Creole influence. I tried different Creole food. Quite different and interesting but it didn’t blow my mind.

Historic cemetary, New Orleans

New Orleans is also the center of the Voodoo cult. Fun fact: most Voodoo was done to form or break relationships, for success etc. but not to do evil. Unfortunately, there is little left of the Voodoo history besides the grave of the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, a few very small museums (most of them tourist traps), and lots of silly Voodoo souvenirs. What a shame. But the main source of income for New Orleans is tourism.

Voodoo Queen grave

And that is something you can’t miss. The French Quarter is extremely touristy and Bourbon street.Bourbon street is party central: T-shirts, tits and cheap drinks. Yes, I had some of those, too (drinks that is…) but that doesn’t mean I particularly like those places. It just felt a bit too cheap, drunk and sleazy… By the way, in Bourbon street (someone told me in entire New Orleans) it’s legal to drink in the street (just like in Germany). In most other places in the U.S. that’s strictly forbidden. I find it interesting how something that’s perfectly legal and socially acceptable in one place is a big No-No in other places. If I would have to describe the U.S. with one word it might be ‘diverse’.