Anchor Struck

I was semi-prepared for The Apocalypse when Trump was sworn in Monday, but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. On Tuesday New Orleans got eight inches of snow — the most in a century there — shutting down the iconic St. Charles streetcar and Cafe Du Monde. If you only had a day to spend there, you would want to catch these two landmarks. (Granted, the streetcar may be too mobile to truly qualify as a landmark, but please remember that language is organic.)

New Orleans is famous and infamous for being open all night, so this was a big deal in The Big Easy. You can ride the streetcar all day for $3. It stretches six miles from downtown through the charming architecture of the Garden District and past Audubon Park and Tulane University. If you do a round trip from downtown, you can walk afterwards through the French Quarter to the Du Monde near the Mississippi River for beignets, a deep-fried pastry topped with powdered sugar, and chicory coffee. The coffee looks stout enough to stand up a spoon in it, but it is remarkably caffeine-free.

After that, it’s a short walk to the Canal Street ferry, which goes back and forth all day across the river. It costs $2, but I spent most of a particularly hot and humid day on it without being asked to disembark. If and when you do disembark, you can catch the nearby Aquarium of the Americas, where you can interact with butterflies, penguins, sharks, stingrays and an albino alligator. Aided by a hit of acid, I spent an hour or so (I’d estimate) there watching a lion’s mane jellyfish.

I didn’t intend for this post to turn into a travelogue, but it’s been a pleasant diversion on this dreary mid-winter day. I really do know what it means to miss New Orleans.