How often do we wonder of sitting by the river front, sipping a cup of hot coffee and listening to jazz music? Some of us term this as an ‘ideal life’. Well, you can do this and more in New Orleans, which amongst other things, is famous for being the birth place of Jazz. Since I had heard a lot about the New Orleans culture, I wanted to go there and experience it first hand, especially to experience the much talked about Mardi Gras carnival. The New Orleans things to do are rather a huge list online, but I decided to first go and check out this amazing carnival. Though this carnival is celebrated in many parts of the world, I heard the one in New Orleans was a special one. So I made sure I was just in time before the carnival period.

There was a day left for the carnival is when I decided to venture out and see what more New Orleans had in offering. This time around, I decided to satisfy my taste-buds first and then move on to see places.  I arrived at a place called Antoine’s which was supposedly one of the best and the oldest place to eat. I was surprised to see that they had 14 dining rooms, all differently themed.  Well-known for their French-Creole cuisine, I asked the waiter for recommendations since I was so flabbergasted with the décor of the place. The waiter suggested Oyster Foch – fried oysters served with colbert sauce and Canape Balthazar – didn’t quite remember this one as my mouth was watering just listening to their names. There came both the dishes and here I was floored with the dish presentation and the taste. I was sure this culinary experience would put my taste-buds to rest for the day.

I then headed to a riverboat cruise and was there treated to a good old jazz band belting out all time hits. The name of the cruise was Natchez Riverboat – a perfect mix of entertainment and sight-seeing. While on board, I gently challenged the jazz band to play numbers from my favorite genre – Pop, with my vocal chords and their instruments. I didn’t realize that we had sung a duet of around 3 songs back to back, much to the crowd’s amusement.  I lost track of time and the day was coming to an end. I had to cut short my day and get ready for the Mardi Gras festival.

The fest started and there were millions of people on the road dressed up in fancy attires having a jolly good time. Guess what, when watching the festivities, someone just gave me a pancake telling me that it was a tradition to have these as a part of celebrations. It was the best pancake I must have had for quite some time. The atmosphere was filled with joy and vivacious spirit. I have not witnessed anything like this before.

After Mardi Gras festival, I headed to the hustling Bourbon street. The street was alive and all lit up. It was just good to stroll and feel the vibrancy in the air. Just when passing by, I crossed a lineup of famous bars like Johnny White’s, The Famous Door, Razzoo to name a few. I decided to enter Razoo due to it having a fascinating name. It was a place full of energy having a VIP Lounge and dance floors. The highlight for me was the Patio which gave me a time out from the high octane energy. It had a flaming fountain and 5 LCD’s with soccer and basketball games on – complete entertainment place in itself. I gave a pat on my back for choosing New Orleans otherwise, I would have missed an opportunity to jazz up my life and live it up.

Author Bio:
Charles is an avid traveler who writes on travel destinations, and enjoys his life while traveling. His recent amusement was in New Orleans where he would like to go back and enjoy again.