New Orleans is old. It’s streets are angled and curvy, making it very easy to get lost if you aren’t paying a lot of attention. We were unable to find a good city guide, so finding the interesting parts of town was left up to us. We were staying pretty far from the French Quarter in a part of town that was predominantly black. This scared me at first, because my experience has taught me that, generally, the predominantly black parts of town are in the worst neighborhoods. Fortunately, my experience was incorrect. We were treated very nicely, and even though we were generally the only white people in sight, no one treated us like we stood out, or like we were different in any way. This part of town stretched on for miles and miles. Parts of it were very run down, other parts were very old but very well kept. It was filled with little shops and stores, and very few or the larger chains of stores and restaurants.
After lots of driving and scouting, I managed to make my way into the heart of the city without a map. This black part of town continues on as you drive south until about Basin Rd. Then, almost instantly, the city changes. Buildings are crammed side by side, mixing little stores and residences, and seldomly reach over 4 stories high. Everything south of Basin, all the way to the river, and East of Canal, until further than I was willing to walk, was filled with these little buildings. Bars, clubs, shops, restaurants, antique stores, art galleries, and residences were all smashed together in a never-ending historical kaleidoscope
The streets were filled with people, young and old, all with different destinations. Some tourists, some locals, all enjoying a carefree, easy-spirited way of life that is very seldomly reflected appropriately in the stories we hear about this city.