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Memories of New Orleans
(The French Quarter Before Hurricane Katrina By Richard Nowitz / New Orleans Metropolitan Convention And Visitors Bureau)
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During a special online discussion last Tuesday, the Travel section staff fielded questions on the impact of Hurricane Katrina. In addition, we asked chatters for their fondest travel memories of New Orleans, prompting a barrage of recollections, both touching and funny. Here's an edited selection of the responses.
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New Orleans is the city of my heart -- my parents met there and spent the first years of their married life there, and my brother was born there. I still promote Mardi Gras here in NYC -- I order a King Cake from Gambino's and share it with the office. I took my boyfriend there last March, and as we rode through the Quarter he said, "It's incredible, it's like we've stepped back in time."
As soon as the first bar reopens in the Quarter, as soon as the Cafe du Monde comes back, I will be there to give them my money. God, what an achingly lovely city.
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I went to New Orleans on July 28 to celebrate my 27th birthday. I'd only been there before as a 9-year-old with my parents. Going as an adult, with a friend who was about to move to England, was fantastic. Favorite memories: Walking Magazine Street in the rain and seeing the shift in neighborhoods from the Warehouse District to the Lower Garden to the Garden. Taste-testing Pimms Cups. The lesson I learned is that trips are always worth it for me -- they are experiences that can't be taken away. Memories always stay.
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I was born in New Orleans, but having moved away when I was 1 1/2 years old, I didn't have a memory of the place. So in 2001, I had plans to finally get back to "see it again for the first time." I was scheduled to fly out of National on Sept. 14, 2001. Then 9/11 occurred and I had to postpone my trip. I did make it down there in March 2002 and had an absolute blast. I had one of the best meals of my life at Mr. B's Bistro in the Quarter. I walked the French Quarter and the Garden District. I rode a streetcar. It really is a terrific city and I am very glad I went when I did. * * *
In the early '80s my professional association had its convention there, ending the first day of Mardi Gras. Some of us stayed on. This was a group of computer programmers who were also college professors, and thus two-ply double-dyed nerds who usually worked all night and slept all day. Can't do that in New Orleans. We all went out and partied three nights in a row. People who never stood up except to get more Jolt cola actually danced with beers in their hands. Canadians let their backbones slip, right there in public. At least one marriage had its genesis in those three days of Mardi Gras.
