New Orleans – French Quarter

The first stop in New Orleans was the French Quarter. I followed the online walking tour from Frommer’s to get some background on the buildings and Architecture. The French Quarter is not the place to be if you are looking for a quiet stroll. There are street performers everywhere: solo musicians, bands, tap dancers, magicians and mimes. You could spend your entire vacation budget on tips. The number of performers increases the closer it gets to sunset.

Bourbon Street is lined with bars and restaurants, Royal Street is lined with galleries. In the window of one of the galleries paintings signed by ‘VENA’ caught my eye, so I walked in. Vena turns out to be Vena Grebenshikov, an Artist from Seberia, who graduated from Architectural College in Siberia. I talked to the Gallery Owner and found out that he listens to Reinhard Fendrich and Georg Danzer, Austrian singers. He also introduced me to Vena Grebenshikov who happened to be in the gallery.

The French Quarter for sure is one of a kind. You get everything from A(rt) to Z(ex). It’s hard to describe. At night it seems like one big block party on Bourbon Street with the street and all bars and restaurants filled with people, carrying and sipping on booze. As you walk along you move from one noise cloud to the next. You can’t help but be drawn into a bar and listen to live jazz music …