New Orleans report

Ah, hello there. I'm enjoying pretending that I'm still on vacation. In fact I got back last Wednesday night. New Orleans was just about as much fun as I'm capable of having. Lots of people were there for this wedding and I think we all got along fine. I ate oysters every day, which was probably going too far. If I wasn't eating raw oysters I was eating fried ones. I am still on the fence as to whether I think po-boy sandwiches are delicious. However I unequivocally recommend muffaletta sandwiches. Sure, on paper they sound just like the typical "italian sub" we have in New York. Salami, provolone, ham... But the difference, especially at Central Grocery, is the bread and the relish. It's these mixed olives in oil with cauliflower and who knows whatall else. The sandwiches are so popular that you sort of can't order anything else there. You walk in and say "whole" or "half" and they hand it to you already wrapped. Hmm, also, boudin is delicious. I had it in my mind that it was more like a haggis (ie gross organ meats) but actually it's not at all slimy.

I guess I'm talking about food too much. I also went to Preservation Hall, that famous bastion of "dixieland jazz." The deal there is, you wait outside for a half hour or so, then pay $8 and go in and watch music (if you're tall enough to see anything) for 40 minute sets with 15 minute breaks in between. Lots of people had seen enough after the first set, apparently, and there were more people in the line to replace them. There are a few seats in the front, on the floor and on benches, but you would have to be first on line to get those. My aging feet hurt too much from walking around all day to really stand there all night. I tried sitting in the hall outside just to hear the music, but it was 40 degrees out there. A lot of stuff in NOLA is outside or semi-outside. I guess 30 and 40 degrees is quite unusual for them. During the day it was more like 60, which was quite nice.

There's more to New Orleans than the tourist areas, I'm sure, but boy were the parts I saw touristy. Tourists everywhere. At one point I postulated that they were actually not tourists, I just thought they were tourists because they're the type of people I see touring around Herald Square, and in fact New Orleans was actually their home; perhaps New Orleanians make up the bulk of NYC tourists. But I suppose this isn't the case, which begs the question, "where do the tourists come from?" I have to say that there is certainly a Disney-esque quality to the place. You sort of expect the Country Bear Jamboree to roll out of a doorway at any moment and animatronically chime the hour. I went to the Museum of Southern Art and tried to do some of the audio tour. It was blah but at one point the narrator said something like "New Orleans is one of the only cities that has retained its urban character and essential flavor without becoming a parody or a theme-park version of itself." Whaat? My friend and I had just gotten done saying to each other for the 100th time that it was like a theme park. If that's not one, where is? My own home city? Fuhgeddaboutit! Does New York seem like a parody of itself to outsiders? Discuss.