New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA)

I heart New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA).

What a great city. Immensely walkable, immensely likeable and a little bit grotty - in a good way.

Highs:
- The food is incredible. If you like butter and seafood and any kind of food that falls into the comfort food category. We ate jambalaya; gumbos (seafood, chicken and sausage, duck), oysters (with mountains of cream and raw); debris (not sure what this is exactly, but it's meat cooked in some way); po boys; beignets (deliciousness. Doughnuts. Like Chinese yau cha gwai but doughier and covered with icing sugar); alligator; pulled pork, ribs and brisket barbecue; fried chicken; mac 'n' cheese; collard greens; biscuits; corned beef hash... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
- The jazz. We went to Preservation Hall. 'Nuff said.
- The architecture. The whole city is steeped in history, which is reflected in its architecture. The French Quarter is full of, well, buildings built in the Spanish style with hugely ornate balconies. Elsewhere, the neighbourhoods are more Frenchy and with plenty of shotgun houses, so-called because a bullet would pass straight through from the front to the back of the building. The Garden District is the moneyed bit. Residents include Sandra Bullock and John Goodman and the houses and behemoth.
- The spirit. I doubt I'll ever visit a town that has as much heart as Nola. If anything good can come of a devastating hurricane, Katrina has left behind resilience and great civic pride. People are so proud to be from New Orleans.

Lows:
- The wait for everything. The worst being my 25-minute wait in H&M to buy a cheap blouse. I only went in because it was so quiet. It's not southern time, y'all. It's just slow.

FYI, I have already found out that you can get beignets on Orchard Street here in NYC. Who wants to try want of those luscious puppies with me?