49 by 29: July 1 - Eat, drink, and be merry in NOLA

Coffee:
-House blend in a mug from Il Posto, a quaint neighborhood coffee shop in New Orleans. Good atmosphere. Decent coffee. Not so comfy chairs.

-Breakfast blend in a to-go cup at Community Coffee House on Magazine Street. Sat outside and watched the world go by.

From the journal:
After walking around New Orleans' French Quarter last night, I must say the West feels a bit bland. I mean, I know we have vibrant beauty in our mountains and rivers, but we really do lack culture. And balcony gardens. And purple and yellow houses.

Sometimes when I am traveling, I have these "snapshot" moments where my brain takes a picture of whatever or whoever it is I do not want to forget. My brain was on rapid fire last night as we wandered along the Mississippi River and down Bourbon Street:

• The workers, in white coats and baker's hats, making beignets at Cafe Du Monde...as seen through a window around the back of the cafe.
• Candles flickering in the night at the tables of fortune tellers.
• Two boys drumming on a park bench beside the Mighty Mississippi.
• A boy tap dancing on a corner of Bourbon Street.
• The sound of jazz, of trumpets and saxophones and guitars, blaring from nearly every bar, pub, grill, and strip joint on Bourbon.
• The colorful beads draped over tree branches, porch railings, and power lines along Saint Charles Street.

New Orleans is one of the most vibrant cities I've ever been in. Eat. Drink. Be merry.

For tomorrow we die.

New Orleans is also a city that seems to be accustomed to death. Its dead are buried above the ground in crumbling neighborhood cemeteries. Skulls and voodoo are sold as a commodity on the streets and in the stores. Its houses are marked with how many died inside in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

And yet, the city is alive--with dancing, with laughter, with chatter, with music.

It mourns and rejoices in the same breath. It is a living example of Ecclesiastes.

Anyway, enough rambling. I think I would need years to absorb this city with all its color, and culture, and brokenness. But I shall have to be content with a few days.

 Beautiful balcony gardens in the French Quarter.

 Il Posto Coffee Shop.

 Bourbon Street.

 Neighborhood graveyard.

 Big casa.

 Colorful casa.

 Remnants of Mardi Gras.