“You can live in any city in America but New Orleans is the only city that lives in you.” - Chris Rose
Is it the rich history? The beautiful architecture? The lively vibe? The random street parades?
Hard to tell but we fell hard for this city. We were fortunate enough to stay in an RV park within walking distance of the infamous French Quarter. And boy did we use that closeness to spend time, both day and night, in the shopping / party area of NOLA (New Orleans, LA).
But as our tour guide through St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 said, there's more to New Orleans than just the quarter.
We learned that due to the city sitting below sea level, burial here is...different. France and Spain were practicing above ground burials during the time of NOLA's founding so that may account for the adjustment to mausoleum type structures when it was discovered keeping someone buried in the ground was problematic (think flooding).
In this city, the dead are entombed in basically easy bake ovens.
The sweltering hot climate cooks a person's remains in the small spaces, effectively cremating a body within a year. After a year and a day (it's bad luck to open a tomb on the anniversary of its burial), if the oven, I mean tomb, was needed by a different family member, it was opened, the ashes swept to the back so they could fall down a hole inside thus making room for the new occupant.
This process allows for generations of people to be interned in the same place.
Among the famous residents of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 are Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen, who's tomb is still visited by the devoted asking for her help,
and the not yet deceased Nicolas Cage.
Halloween is the second biggest celebration here and the Garden District is known for its festive spirit. So many houses are decorated from minimal effort to the all out wow factor of the Skeleton House.
The trolley is the perfect way to see it all.
If you don't mind a 45 minute bus ride, a swamp tour around the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve is a definite must. It was my first time in both an airboat and a swamp. While the cooler weather was making the wildlife a little shy, the scenery, education, and zipping along over both water and land was a fun experience.
We even got to hold a pocket swamp puppy!
But let's face it, if you're visiting New Orleans, you're spending time in the French Quarter. The food, the shopping, the historic buildings, the street entertainment! Of course, watching the tourists is probably some of the best free amusement around.
Sightseeing during the daytime was amazing, but the night is an entirely different beast.
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