The Five Sense in New Orleans

Last week my husband and I vacationed in New Orleans.  Before dinner, there was some time to pen a few words.  Here are the five senses of NOLA before returning to the hotel to write.

I Hear: jazz music pouring out of bars, a guitar and violin duet on a street corner, brass bands blasting tunes, taxi drivers venting about politics, tour guides giving their spiels, a trumpeter playing outside Café du Monde

I Smell:  strong sewer odor and beer on Bourbon Street, chicken Creole, jambalaya, a fishy whiff of the Mississippi River

I See: musicians,artists, and fortune tellers in bustling Jackson Square, above-the-ground cemeteries (and Nicolas Cage's pyramidal tomb awaiting his demise), the crescent bend of the Mississippi River, old men playing chess on the sidewalk of Canal Street, tourists carrying drinks throughout the French Quarter, stately homes in the Garden District

I Taste:  rich tomato-based Creole, mouth-burning spicy etouffeé, warm sugar-dusted beignets, black coffee that needed no sugar, sweet brown sugar pralines, a Pat O’Brien virgin piña colada and a sip of a Hurricane

I Feel:  a vicioius bug bite while walking through the coarse grass of Chalmette Cemetery, the sun baking my bike helmet-covered head, chilly night time breeze during a carriage ride, uneven bricks on sidewalks, my husband’s hand in mine