Thoughts on New Orleans

I've spent a little bit of time in New Orleans. In college, we made a few trips to the Big Easy for the nightlife. Then, when I worked on a cruise ship in 2000, I spent 10 days there.

Our ship had been chartered as a floating hotel. We docked next to the mall on the river. Since the ship was only being used for room space, most of the crew had days off. Most of the crew members were from foreign countries and had seen very few American cities, except the ship ports in Florida. New Orleans proved to be especially enchanting for most of them.

As for myself, I was dating the woman that would become my wife. New Orleans was the place where we solidified our relationship. We spent our days strolling through the less-visited sections of the city. We watched the musicians on the street in Jackson Square. Listened to jazz at Snug Harbor. Gambled at the casino on the river. We looked for out of the way restaurants.

For all the charm that New Orleans had, I knew that is was a nice place to visit, but I would never want to live there.

At the time, I thought that 10 days in New Orleans was enough to last me a lifetime. Unfortunately, those 10 days of memories will have to last me a lifetime, as the New Orleans in which my wife and I fell in love is gone forever.