6.11.2010

NOLA: day 1 in words

It was a free-for-all day. No game plan; just a desire to experience the city. We followed our noses & roamed the streets. We found art galleries that hooked our attention lickety split- something that doesn't happen often.   


I was surprised by how inspired this city made me feel.  I felt like I should take up painting & to let go of the idea of perfection because I felt so surrounded by the beauty in imperfections.


Obviously one has a lot of preconceived ideas about what NOLA will be like- but somehow it was different then other historical cities we've been able to visit.  In a nutshell? The culture is more pronounced.  But it takes a little digging to find it.    


For example, I thought we would have a smorgasbord of options when it came to Cajun cuisine, but to our dismay, we didn't really find what we were looking for until our last two days of the entire trip. Granted, we found good food, just not anything special or unique.


It rained on & off all day.   Sometimes the rain was accompanied with thunder & lightning.   There was something very electrifying (literally) about walking around the French Quarter while defeaning thunderbolts announce their presence overhead. It felt kind of like being in a fish bowl.


The afternoon found us in the middle of a 1300 acre city park with no cover, so we just embraced it.  Ev & I ran barefoot thru grassy fields, sloshing thru warm mud puddles & dodging worms.  We even walked thru a cemetery barefoot.  I had to get creative to convince Evan that it wasn't "creepy." 


Of course the streetcar we needed to take to get back to the heart of the city had broken down, so we waited 20 minutes in the rain for another one.  We were soaked to the bone. 


It was an adventure to say the least.

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