On a Friday, around noon, our flight arrived in New Orleans and the second we walked out of the airport my jeans immediately shrink-wrapped to my legs. Even living in DC, I don't think I've ever experienced humidity quite like that, and it was about 96-degrees (fahrenheit). Our final destination was Baton Rouge and it started down-pouring the moment we got in our rental car. I have to say, first impressions between the airport and getting on the highway was that New Orleans was kind of a shithole - it was all concrete, power lines and run down strip malls. However, I realize the outskirts of many US cities pretty much look just like this and once you get to the Bayou, which is almost immediately after you get on the highway, it's pretty (if you can see beyond the pouring rain and ignore the oil refineries).
We drove to Baton Rouge through several sporadic deluges. Seriously - it's sunny one minute and the next it's raining so heavily that you can't see more than 3 feet in front of you (see above). But when we arrived it was sunny and even more humid from all the rain. We checked into our hotel: Doubletree by Hilton Baton Rouge - nice digs, especially for a highway-adjacent hotel. My room had almost its own mini living room with a couch and (2nd) tv. We changed clothes (to be dressed more appropriately for the heat) and went to do some of work. Our work that day had us mostly outdoors around the LSU campus and my coworker kept referring to it as "Africa hot." Luckily the rain stayed away while we worked so instead the sun just beat down on us mercilessly. After several hours of being outside, we sought refuge in the LSU gift shop to enjoy their air conditioning and drinking fountain. While I've always found excessive school spirit (or being an extreme fan of any one particular thing in general) to be rather strange, I was especially bemused to find that LSU has its own cologne.
We got several restaurant recommendations from people but the most recommended (primarily because of the view, I believe) was Tsunami, a rooftop sushi restaurant on the Mississippi river. While I'm going to write about this place in more detail, I would say overall it was a positive experience. Of course, it rained on our way to the restaurant but it cleared up quickly enough that we were still able to eat outside.
On Saturday, we were back at work, again near LSU, and it was Game Day for the Tigers, so the fans were out in full force. So was the Southern Hospitality - we were offered food and drink by several of the tailgaters we encountered. My favorite part was a 25-gallon drum of Jambalaya (making 25 gallons of anything taste good is pretty impressive to me).
After a long, very hot and humid day of work, we were exhausted so we stuck close to the hotel for dinner. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which is a chain, though I had never seen it before. Despite being in an area of town where the food options are almost exclusively fast food, it was damn good steak in a really nice atmosphere. I would say it was in the top 10 steaks I've ever consumed and the side dishes and drinks hit the spot, too.
Sunday, we drove back to New Orleans. Our flight didn't leave until after 4pm, so we were looking forward to spending some time wandering around the French Quarter. On our way there, though, the GPS took us a really weird way and we got off the highway and I have to say it was pretty depressing how much of the devastation of Katrina you could still see in parts of New Orleans. Anyway, I'll try to stick to the positive.
My coworker has spent a lot of time in New Orleans, so he showed us around. We started on Bourbon Street, which was smelly and disgusting. Maybe it was the heat magnifying the stench of urine and vomit but I couldn't handle it for very long. It was also strange because, while there weren't many people around, there were still a few people here or there who were wasted and partying like it was Mardi Gras and not noon on a Sunday in September. So it was very quiet and then you'd hear "wooo!" and other drunken yelling and someone would stumble out into the street. Then we walked up Royal Street, but almost all the stores were closed (come on, people, this is the 21st Century!)
We ate lunch at a little cafe on Jackson Square. The food was mediocre - I ordered a po' boy, thinking there was more to a po' boy than meat and bread. I was mistaken, although apparently it depends on where you go. So I had a basically flavorless sandwich for $12. But the view from that restaurant was fantastic (see above). We were looking right out onto the square where all the artists sell their stuff and there was the cathedral and it was just lovely.
We spent a significant amount of time browsing the art on the fence at Jackson Square. My coworker bought a few small paintings for his kids. I bought one medium-sized painting for my home, which I love. I would've bought more if I could afford to. There was one artist who I wanted to buy from but he had left a sign saying he was around the corner at a bar watching the Saints game and to text him if you wanted anything. Apparently that's not uncommon at Jackson Square but I found it surprising that he was that trusting. I didn't want to wait around for him though, so I bought a painting from someone else. Most of the artists take credit cards and are willing to ship the art to you if you can't take it as your carry on (I guess another example of trust, since I don't know these people, but my painting arrived safe and sound).
Then we walked to the Mississippi River. The view of the French Quarter from there was quite nice (see above). But my coworker was focused on the shoreline to see if he could see some famous New Orleans-specific rat-type creature. We never saw one, which I think I'm thankful for. And then we headed to the airport, sticking our heads in the few open shops and galleries along the way back to our car. There was one cool antique store open that had all sorts of random stuff - weapons from various wars, old armor, antique art from different regions of the world, etc. But we didn't buy anything there, most of it was quite expensive.
