A Day In the Life Of a Real New Orleanian

I would tell you what I did today but you wouldn't believe it.  Let me tell you about a day in the life of a real New Orleanian.  You will think that my life, living in New Orleans as I do, is much more interesting than your life wherever you live.  You are probably right but not in the ways that you think.  We all have our crosses to bear.

Would you like to know what I did today?  

Okay.  Full disclosure: I, your humble narrator, have been invited to ghostwrite this blog post.  Full disclaimer: All of the characters portrayed in the following description of my day are fictional and any relation to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.  That's just the way we roll here in New Orleans.  Full admission: It is all true.

I will tell you the true story of a day in the life of a real New Orleanian.  I will tell you this:

I got out of bet before the sun was up.  I cleaned up with a splash of bay rum, dressed, and walked the dog.  The dog and I went up to City Park, at the end of our street.  In the morning, usually around 6:00-6:45, some time in there, we are walking around Big Lake, which, well, is the big lake on the downriver side of the Esplanade Avenue entrance to City Park, you know: the good one, not the one across from Ralph's-on-the-Park.  I wouldn't walk a dog in that neighborhood.

I got on my motor scooter and went to pick up fresh bread and pastry.  

Your humble narrator out on patrol.

I had good conversations over breakfast.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  When you have breakfast where I have breakfast, then we'll have breakfast tomorrow.  It will be a curated breakfast of local delicacies from around our neighborhood.  How do I know?  I go out on my motor scooter to pick everything up, that's how.

Being a New Orleans goodwill ambassador is a calling.

I walked the dog, again.  This time we went way, way back in City Park.  It isn't a part of City Park where tourists go.  It's way, way out where nobody goes, a secret trail network in City Park.  I would tell you where it is but I don't want the trails to get crowded with other people who are scared off by a dog off a leash.  Plus, I now don't want the City Park Police to go looking for me now that I've admitted I let the dog off his leash.

I went to the New Orleans Athletic Club where I swam a few laps under fountains, took a long steam, and got a massage.

I saw a puppet show.

My lovely wife, who is the better half of this operation, and I had lunch at Café Degas, just up the street from our address.  It is super-duper romantic in there, that's why we like it.  The food is excellent, too.  I had snails because they are good for your kidneys. I also had crab and asparagus soup.  I also had the hanger steak---it's the best hanger steak in town, even better than Gabrielle's. so you know I'm serious when I'm saying it's good.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A REAL NEW ORLEANIAN 

(PART II)

I bumped into someone I know on the street.  Imagine that!  She told me that she had moved in two blocks away from here last week.  That's great.  It is always nice to have good neighbors.  Our part of New Orleans is full of them.

I had a heart-to-heart talk with one of my old neighbors.  He and I have a lot of respect for each other.  Scratch anyone who lives here and you will find a New Orleanian underneath.  Home is where the heart is.  If you can't be friends, at least be good neighbors.  Love makes New Orleans go around.

I stopped in for a nice cold Dixie at Pirogue's.  While I was there, I made small talk with a woman named Destiny.  She asked me if I wanted to go up to Liuzza's-by-the-Track for a bowl of gumbo.  I had to tell her that I was still full from lunch.

On my way home, I helped two kids get their kite unstuck from a tree.  The kite was just a stick-and-construction paper affair but, luckily, I had some scotch tape in my pocket to make the necessary repairs to get aloft again.  Who dat?

Then I came home.  Now, I am writing this blog post to tell you about my day thus far.  What will happen next?  That is for me to know and for you to find out.  If you want to spend a day in your life as a real New Orleanian, you have to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.  Visit like you belong here.

Stay at La Belle Esplanade and enjoy a curated breakfast over good conversation, get personalized about everything and everywhere New Orleans that you want to know about.  Then, go out and have some New Orleans adventures all your own.  You never know what you'll find when you turn a corner in this wonderful city we call home.  Sometimes it's a parade, sometimes it's some kids putting on a sock puppet show in a washing machine box.  Everything will make you smile.

Keep yourself in a New Orleans state of mind and you'll make good memories worth keeping there rest of your life.  Be a New Orleanian when you are in New Orleans and spend a day in the life of a real New Orleanian.  It will be hard to wipe that grin off your face when you're done.

Here's a video I took in City Park when I was walking the dog way, way back:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o395cmxMgPQ