What does a proper Frenchwoman think of New Orleans? I was recently visited by a schoolfriend who lives in Paris. She spent a week in New Orleans before reaching me, and here are some of her comments about "The Big Easy."
"Sitting on a sunny morning over café-au-lait and featherlight sugared beignets in the riverside Café du Monde I might have believed that the influence and heritage of the first French settlers still shaped New Orleans today. I was lodged in a charming boutique hotel in the vieux carrée, I had shopped in the French market (founded 1791) and I had admired a gleaming statue of Joan of Arc steps away.
"I was impressed to find many streets with French names—Bourbon, Chartres, Toulouse and so on—unchanged. The state capital, Baton Rouge, would sound quite odd as Red Stick. And New Orleans itself is named for the French Regent in 1718, Philippe d'Orléans. How agreeable, how French! So far, there was indeed much evidence that the French were here. Yet I could not fail to observe that French culture does not figure as large as tourist promotion suggests. Certainly menus list such delicacies as foie gras and boudin, yet it is easier to learn of po-boys, golf courses and how to get quickly married than of the French explorer, Sieur de La Salle, for instance,who in 1682 loyally named extensive territories in the New World Louisiane, in honor of his King, Louis XIV.
"Hearing so much about Cajuns, I ventured to Lafayette, Louisiana to experience the delights of a ‘Festival Acadien’, I found that Cajuns today, of independent temperament, with their own infectious music and savory food and speaking a unique mixture of French and English. More than once we heard the rallying cry 'Laissez les bon temps roulez', Let the good times roll.
"So pondering the 'Frenchness' of New Orleans, I concluded the city was more Deep South than French, but with enough carryover from the days of greater French influence to make it a unique blending. I enjoyed it and I will come back!"
As we all know, New Orleans has suffered tremendously, from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. Nevertheless it remains one of the most popular cities in the U.S. for visitors. Do you have any favorite places in and around New Orleans that you would share with other readers of this blog?
Paula "Muffaletta Lover" Gifford