New Orleans Distraction

L’aissez les bontemps roulez!  It’s not easy to kick back in the current political climate, and one shouldn’t it, but if you have a little time to spare, why not take a walk on the streets of New Orleans?

Mark and I have been here for two weeks, out of our van and in an apartment in the Bywater section.  This neighborhood was settled by free people of color, working class creoles and families who took refuge in New Orleans from the violence in Haiti as well as immigrants from Europe, especially Ireland and Germany. Many of the shot gun houses and Creole cottages of the Bywater and nearby Marigney have been fixed up since Hurricane Katrina and are a sign of a new, more hipster, demographic.  Others have been like this for decades.  Around every corner you can expect to be hit with a cacophony of color.

Here are some of the many houses we have seen in our daily travels.

Oui, oui!

Who knows what a Yat is?

We stayed in the second floor apartment of this house with a former grocery on the first floor.

The view from our balcony.

Wood lace.

Beer halls are in abundance throughout the city.

Gotta love the painted steps!