Frommer's New Orleans 2001 [antikvár]

The Best of New Orleans p|jew Orleans should come with a warning label. See, there's a growing group of residents whom locals call the "never lefts.^ They are the people who came to New Orleans as tourists, came for Mardi Gras, came for Jazz Festival, just came. And the city worked its magic on them. They listened to Street musicians around Jackson Square. They danced to brass bands in clubs at night. They gazed at lush tropical courtyards hidden behind unassuming building fronts. They strolled down streets time seemed to have forgottén. They kissed beneath flickering gas lamps. They ate incredible meals and töpped them off with beignets at 3am at the Café du Monde while watching the passing humán parade. They found themselves perusing newspa-per ads for houses and apartments. Because as their trip's end came and went, they were still in New Orleans. They came for Mardi Gras, came for Jazz Fest, just came—and never le fi. New Orleans does that to people. This is one of the few cities in America (if not the only one) where you do not feel as if you are in America. It may sound clichéd to call New Orleans magicai and seductive, but its the truth. Every one of your senses is engaged from the moment you arrive. Visually, the city is superb, from the lacy ironwork wrapped around the buildings of the French Quarter to the stately, graceful old homes of the Garden Dis-trict to the giant oaks that stretch across Esplanade Avenue or drip with ghostly Spanish moss in City Park. To call New Orleans pic-turesque is not doing it justice. Aurally, music pours out of every door-way or is played right in the Street. Jazz, Cajun, blues, whatever—you'll find yourself moving to a rhythm, and the very streets seem to dance along with you. There are delicious smells in the air, which seems to carry a whiff of the Caribbean. The moist, honeyed air caresses your skin and almost seems alive. And then there's the food. Dont get us started on the food. This is a city that is fully, totally alive. Its sensual and joyous, decadent but not exploitative. Indulgences are many but for the right reason—they are fun. This is a city where every business entirely closes for Mardi Gras; after all, "carnival" roughly means "farewell to flesh." No ones going to say good-bye to such things (as if they ever really do) without a big party. We teli people that all we do wlien we go to New Orleans is eat, drink, listen to music, dance, and walk. That's it. And you can do just that for days without getting bored. That's the kind of town New