new orleans

this weekend in new orleans was a great experience. it's such a distinctive and colorful city. i love the french colonial architecture with the intricate wrought iron works and the balconies that mask the fronts of buildings. it was unfortunate that i was only able to spend 24 hours there, minus the 10 hours of sleep and waiting on the rest of the party i was meeting.

we stayed at a hotel in the french quarters, which i would never do again. the french quarters is definitely a great part of town to visit. there are a lot of tourist amenities such as walking tours, horse carriages, and t-shirt stores. in a way, it's definitely set up as a tourist trap. the street artists, performers, and fortune tellers give the area more distinction, however. the part i didn't like about the area was the oversaturation of bars. at night, bourbon street is closed off as a pedestrian-only street. it's a party, which is what the city is known for. i'm not much of a partier, though, so walking around for about 1/2 hour was enough for me. i would rather stay in an area where enough foot traffic still occur but not drunken foot vomit-propelling traffic.

the group i met with were avoiding cajun and creole food for dinner, much to my disappointment. we ended up making reservations at an italian restaurant, ristorante carmelo. when we arrived, we were directed to wait at the bar while our table was being set up. the bartender was a grumpy old man who insisted that a mojito did not include lime. the girl who ordered it wanted to try the drink for the first time. i had to assure her that it tastes much better when it's made properly. already irritated, we were led to our table. we asked for balcony/outdoors seating, which we got. it was just in a dark corner of the balcony where we couldn't read the menu and could barely make out each others' faces around the table. we would've gladly waited for a table where we could see. also, we were so packed into the corner that we had to pass the drinks down the table because the waiter couldn't reach those at the far end. thankfully, the wait staff was much friendlier and more helpful than the bartender. also, the food was decent. it wasn't great italian, but it was fine. the bruschetta was definitely odd though. normally, the tomatoes and basil are chopped to make eating the dish easy. at this restaurant, the cherry tomatoes are cut in half and placed flat-side down on the garlic bread with a sprig of basil on top. yes, a sprig. like a garnish when it's supposed to be integral to the dish. also, one of the girls who ordered pizza had sprigs of rosemary tossed on with the rest of the toppings. when you can easily spend $70 per person, i expect the herbs to have gone through some sort of care and preparation. the rest of the entrees were fine. i just ordered the fettecine bolognese because i didn't want to spend much at a place that didn't seem to want to please our party. is this what restaurants do when you order mixed drinks instead of wine? i'd consider recommending the restaurant for take out but definitely not dine in.

sunday morning involved waiting for the girls to pack and check out. the plan was to stuff all their luggages in my car, park it somewhere, and drop them off at another hotel where they had booked reservations for a conference. after finally checking out and reparking the car, we search for breakfast. when we saw the line at cafe du monde, we crossed the street and grabbed real breakfast instead. afterwards, we looked for the trolley cars that run into the garden district. the cars, however, were not running their full course post-katrina. we headed back into the french quarters and grabbed some beignets, something my sister made me promise to have during this visit. it's basically a funnel cake shaped like a square donut. funnel cakes are something i always look forward to so the beignet was still satisfying.

after dropping off the party at their second hotel, i headed for the garden district. i didn't see much however. i don't think i went far enough into it. i stumbled upon the contemporary art center though and spent a very quiet 40 minutes there, admiring the black and white prints and other pieces on display by local high schoolers. there was also an exhibit by carlos estevez and another cuba artist whose name i can't recall. i loved estevez's drawings of these mechanical puppets that have dots where their joints would be, and the dots are connected in an intricate manner that eventually lead up to the unknown puppeteer off the canvas. each puppet has a red dot on their heads with a line that leads directly up to the puppeteer. he's also working on a project of casting bottles with a rolled up piece of drawing and writing into the ocean. i hope the next time i go to the beach, i'd find one of them.

overall, it was a good trip. i wish i had more time in the city and definitely more time with the one friend i drove 5 hours each way to see. she accompanied me on saturday afternoon to walk around the french quarters while the rest of the group took naps at the hotel. we were both determined to enjoy the city, not the hotel, while we were there. the best part of the walk was sneaking into the omni hotel, up to the 7th floor where they have a rooftop pool, a small bar, and a tiny observation deck. not that we cared for the pool or the bar but we loved the view. it was breathtaking to see the rooftops of all the buildings, new and old, in the quarters. i took the most pictures on this trip that afternoon. probably because i was happiest.