I went to New Orleans the weekend before last. It wasn't a super-exciting trip - I was there to see people, not tourist attractions - but there were some cool elements.
- LaGuardia airport, which has been under construction for at least as long as I've been living in New York, has a new cool terminal. At the gates, instead of long benches, there are various seating configurations (mostly some variation on what you'd find in a bistro... this is probably cool for the short-hop tourists and business travelers who are likely their bread and butter, but seems less hospitable for someone trying to sleep off the layover after a redeye), most with built-in ipads on which you can play games or order from the terminal restaurant. There's also a high-tech water-bottle filler and a fairly cool newstand/coffee shop (although, arriving there in a totally uncaffeinated state, I was kind of hoping for something normal, like a Starbucks).
- Louisiana is apparently full of plantations-turned-tourist-traps. Apparently they are furnished in period style and staffed by guides in period costume. This is mostly kind of weird, like if they had interpretive tours of a concentration camp. But also they had an art festival at one. Possibly the most interesting part of that (aside, I suppose, from the deeply-discounted-from-NYC-prices-but-otherwise-mostly-standard art) was the food, which was half Cajun, half State Fair. So you could have a crawfish sandwich and a funnel cake for lunch, I suppose.
- Oh, yeah, I ate crawfish. And (inferior) hushpuppies. And beignets, and various gumbos, and fried chicken, and pralines. I came home craving salad.
- They really know how to do Halloween in New Orleans. Houses were decorated, some very thoroughly - skeletons in the lawn, a giant spider covering the whole front of the house.
- There are gorgeous spreading oaks, and spanish moss, and incredible old houses in the Garden District.
- I ran on the levee, which was pretty cool, except for the part about insane late-October heat and unrelenting sun.
- Also, the French Quarter is still there.
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