People from New York might object, but my vote for America’s coolest city goes to New Orleans. It was my first time visiting, and it was only for four days, but I loved everything I saw, heard, ate, and felt while I was walking around doing stuff. The city doesn’t feel like the rest of the United States, which is a bonus—it feels like an alternative reality, a post-apocalyptic jambalaya with a French twist, in my opinion, even better than France.
Now every city, especially New Orleans, has problems. But I’m going to completely ignore them here because I was a tourist and it is completely within my right to just enjoy the things I like about a place I visit and leave the rest to an NPR think piece (‘did Katrina really end?’). The little donut beignets are delightful. The chicory coffee was likewise cute (even though I couldn’t tell a difference compared to normal coffee; maybe it’s just my broken sense of taste). Cajun and Creole food — so special. There is a difference between Cajun and Creole, and I already forgot what it is — let me see if I can save you a Google search while avoiding one myself. Cajun cuisine, derived from the French-Canadian settlers in Louisiana, contrasts with Creole cuisine, which I believe is influenced by African cultural heritage during slavery. However, I might not be entirely accurate on this distinction.
I had convinced Valquiria that we should travel to New Orleans since I thought she would enjoy the unique aspects of the city’s culture within the USA and compared to Austin, the only other place that she had direct comparison to (being that this was her first time visiting the USA). Experiencing New Orleans through the eyes of a foreigner made it even more fun because she was inspired to do things that I wouldn’t have by myself — such as renting a car for a day to drive two hours to visit historic former slave plantations.
It was the first time that I’ve seen that sort of southern aesthetic that’s so prevalent in movies from the American south. Southern culture is not really something I had any exposure to growing up, so really the south still feels like a foreign country to me and why I try to visit my friends and family in Atlanta when I can.
I visited the National World War II Museum, which is ranked as one of the top museums in the world by TripAdvisor. It is really well done to provide an immersive experience of the entire World War II from the American perspective. The exhibits are educational yet entertaining; for instance, a 1940s American suburban living room setup allows visitors to sit on a couch and listen to a radio broadcast announcing the attack on Pearl Harbor. I thought it was a fascinating glimpse of how life must have felt during that period in history.
We spent our nights on French Street (not Bourbon Street, which now caters mainly to college students) to enjoy live music. Really great atmosphere in each of the venues we walked up to. The music too – you can’t hear southern funk like that in many cities in the USA.
I think if someone asked me which city to visit in the USA if they could only choose a single place, I will recommend New Orleans. It’s the one place I, as an American, can proudly recommend to foreigners because it showcases a rich, complex, and unique history within the United States.”
