Why I Love New Orleans: the Unexpected
As I weaved my way around the streets with my friend, after finishing our New Orleans "Ghost Tour," I suddenly turned a corner and stumbled upon a huge crowd of people, encircling an energetic brass band performing in the street. The street lights reflected off of the curves of the sousaphone, and the performers moved to the beat while they played rhythm and funk.
As a lifelong tuba player, there are no words for my level of excitement upon stumbling upon a spontaneous street performance by clearly seasoned and skilled brass musicians. However, as a traveler, this is what made me fall in love with New Orleans. Not just the music, but the spontaneity. Only a few hours prior, I had turned a corner and had a former cast member of Saturday Night Live walk past me in the street. After that, I found myself striking up a conversation with a store worker who had relocated to New Orleans from near my hometown.
Each time I visit, I never anticipate what I will encounter. I've been to NOLA three times now and each time I have such an amazingly different, but full experience. That's exactly what has made me fall in love with NOLA - the unexpected.
In a city with so much history, culture, music, arts and food, it can be easy to sit down and pick some main tourist staples and do them. However, in a city with SO much, why limit yourself to the same activities each time? That's where my experience with gas lantern comes in. As someone who has spent much of her life traveling, and has been all over the world, there is nothing I enjoy more than seeing something as a local and there is nothing I hate more than visiting somewhere for a week and feeling like you didn't get to truly see anything. Sure, I could go down to New Orleans and see Bourbon Street or go to a few staple food places. I could go walk the French Quarter. I could go on a steamboat ride and go to the tourist-y shops in the French Quarter, but why?
I've seen bands like Big Sam's Funky Nation at the local staple, The Maple Leaf and even encountered one of my favorite musicians of all time, Trombone Shorty, lingering in the back of the crowd checking out the music. I've walked the wooden walkways through the swamps at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. I was able to walk through the hallways of the famous Oak Alley Plantation and learn the history behind the location. I visited a tiny local Voodoo museum, walked through cemeteries, shopped in antique stores, visited flea markets, bought street art and had some of the best food of my life (from crawfish boils to oysters) at local restaurants (often much emptier than tourist staples). My husband even got our wedding cake toppers from New Orleans; a hand carved voodoo doll bride and groom.
Each time I visit New Orleans, I leave wanting more. There is so much to do and see and no matter how much time you spend, there is always more. Of all of the places that I have visited in the world, from Europe to South America; New Orleans truly is one of the most special.
I am an avid traveler with a passion for music and art, as well as the athletics and the outdoors. My work experience includes the areas of hospitality, music production and radio broadcasting - often things I attend to while on the road!
Tania, and new husband Chris, on their wedding day.