TRAVEL | Jazz, History and Lots of Rain in New Orleans

New Orleans is a city like no other city in the USA. 

In the heat of Louisiana, it is rich with music, art, history, and heavy rainclouds…

We stayed in a really cool Air’n’B near the French Quarter. In the Quarter, there’s a huge market where I picked up a pretty New Orleans black and white t-shirt. On the day of our arrival, a Creole Tomato festival was taking place. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes, except on pizza, yet the atmosphere was buzzing, a fun band playing and an adorable elderly couple dancing to their hearts content. I already got the idea that New Orleans was a very musical place when I watched a random group of guys playing some jazz in the street. 

There were Voodoo shops and a witch shop, with a 'real' witch telling fortunes. Kinda creepy, kinda cool and edgy.

We dined at a restaurant called the Three Muses on Frenchmen Street. The restaurant had two live performances, both of that jazzy-feel. I felt like I was in a film, sitting there eating my lamb sliders and listening to a peaceful cover of ‘What a Wonderful World’. Listening to jazz in the birthplace of jazz itself was surreal. Leaving, we walked out into a street party. A big brass band were going wild with their trumpets and trombones while these two girls jammed out to the beat. I mean, what a place.

That afternoon and evening were pleasantly sunny, but I woke up to grey skies the next day. We were lucky to have hopped onto a sightseeing bus to avoid the torrential rain and thunder. After being driven around the city for a while, we hopped off and shopped in Canal Place. Some damage was done in Banana Republic and Anthropologie, and we headed home. We couldn’t do much in the rain, so we relaxed for a bit before heading out for dinner.

We ate at a gorgeous, posh restaurant called August, where we laughed at the amuse bouche that reminded us of our crisp sandwiches from home. We returned to Frenchmen Street for more live music and a stroll around the Art Market. 

Our final day in New Orleans was for the most part spent in the outskirts at the Whitney Plantation. This Plantation tour was focused on the lives of the enslaved in the 19th century. I was moved by the thousands of names on the memorial walls, and we saw the original shacks that they lived in and the surprisingly small house of the rich. Back then, second slavery existed, meaning the enslaved were not technically slaves anymore but had no option but to work for very little wages on the same plantation. It was a very interesting tour; it’s crazy to try and comprehend the lives of the enslaved. (Parts of ‘Django Unchained’ was filmed there; pretty interesting since I love that film). 

The sun was beating at Whitney, then back in the city, it began pouring rain and roaring thunder, once again. So, we chilled for a while before dinner at Adolfo’s.

Despite the terrible weather, our time in New Orleans was well spent. It is a very unique, quirky (ayyyyy) city. The people, even the Uber drivers, were all lovely, and it’s the perfect place to visit to see a different side to the US.

Stay tuned for my New Orleans travel diary video on my YouTube channel, while you wait for that, check out my New York one, and keep a look out for more blogposts on my travels!