French District

Music, Food, Shops, Mississippi Breeze

The first priority each morning was coffee. I tried to find local coffee shops because I can get Starbucks anywhere. I managed to find a few.

This is one of most popular place for a lot of people visiting New Orleans; I ate at some catfish, gumbo, jambalaya, Southern Pecan Pie (to die for), a shrimp po-boy sandwiches, and coffee and French donuts with as much powered sugar on them as the donuts themselves. I wanted to eat more local foods, since there is Cajun, Creole, and other foods. This is because the area was colonized by French, Spanish and then Europeans. The restaurant where I had the pecan pie, “Pierre Maspero’s” used to be an old slave trading quarter.

Other highlights: shops, art galleries, and French-style buildings with terraces. Supposedly, Bradjolie have a chateau there.

I spent a lot of time there because of its many shops, restaurants, music and galleries, plus the breeze from the Mississippi.
You could see people going on ghost tours, city tours, and people singing down the streets.

Probably my favorite experience there was a man on a bicycle who began singing the song “Lean on Me.” He then began singing it to a group of high school students and chaperones, who joined in. Then other people walking by started singing. “I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on.” Soon about twenty or so people were singing the song. This was through the narrow bricked streets with the sun going down.

This gave me a taste of the culture of music in New Orleans, which I read about in the history museum. It is a big part of people’s lives there.