Table of Contents
Leg 1 (New Orleans) [1.0.0]
Jul. 11 [1.0.1]
Jul. 12 [1.0.2]
Jul. 13 [1.0.3]
Leg 2 (Atlanta) [2.0.0]
Jul. 14 [2.0.1]
Jul. 15 [2.0.2]
Leg 3 (Washington D.C.) [3.0.0]
Jul. 16 [3.0.1]
Jul. 17 [3.0.2]
Jul. 18 [3.0.3]
Jul. 19 [3.0.4]
Jul. 20 [3.0.5]
[1.0.0] New Orleans
[1.0.1] Jul. 11
New ORLEEEEEEANS. I am incredibly excited. I have been looking for a reason to go to this freaking city for so long. Cajun food is one of my favorite cuisines, I aggressively love jazz, and I have at least *some* relationship to France. It hits so many of my random interests. I am a bit concerned about its status as a place for out-of-towners to party, but I'm sure (hopeful) that this is not the only vibe inside the city.
Flight was the usual economy fair bullshit, Jetblue makes a big deal of in-flight wifi but I have learned to never trust any mode of transportation which claims to have free wifi.
Outside of the baggage carousel, New Orleans did have a live band playing music and that was pretty cool.
I Ubered with some Boston friends to the hotel, dropped my stuff off, and then began walking around the neighborhood I was staying in (the French Quarter). In the Boston airport I had begun reading about the history of the city and was surprised to learn how many identities it had. New Orleans proper began life as a French colony in 1718, under the name 'La Nouvelle-Orléans' eventually becoming the capital of French Louisiana in 1722. During the secret 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau (not the 1812 Treaty of Fontainebleau), France ceded control of New Orleans to New Spain to help recoup some of the costs Spain suffered when they joined the Seven Years War on the French side. In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte, seeking to reestablish a French colonial presence in North America then negotiated control of New Orleans back to the French Empire in another secret treaty, this one signed in San Ildefonso. By 1803, Napoleon for reasons still unclear to me, decided to sell Louisiana to the eager new American nation. It had always served as a hub for the slave trade, but in the Antebellum South its role quickly grew becoming an extremely prosperous and influential city in the nascent Republic. Waves of immigrants from all over flocked to the city and culture flourished. It was targeted by the British in the War of 1812, but was successfully defended by future president Andrew Jackson in 1815 (this is part of what made him a national hero). In January 1862, Louisiana formally seceded making New Orleans the most populous city in the Confederacy. In April 1862, New Orleans was recaptured by Union forces in a primarily naval battle. General Butler was appointed military governor of the captured city and he supposedly designated the inscription at the base of the Andrew Jackson statue in Jackson Square to read "The Union must and shall be preserved.” Jackson is actually reported to have said, "Our Federal Union: It must be preserved!"
I give this historical overview to make a couple of points. First, New Orleans has a fairly unique history relative to other major American cities. At no point was it under British colonial rule, and it has undergone extensive and dramatic reimaginings in each of its incarnations. Most recently, Hurricane Katrina caused widespread devastation and forced yet another recreation of the city. Second, a lot of the aspects I enjoy about New Orleans derive from the unique confluence of cultural factors and influences that gave rise to it in the first place. PERHAPS immigration is a good thing?? UwU?
Ok diatribe over. Left the hotel to walk around the French Quarter beginning at Jackson Square.
Also caught some street brass playing outside. I particularly liked the use of random stuff as part of the instrumentation.
Despite the name, the French Quarter is much more Spanish influenced. I later learned this is because the Great Fire of New Orleans in 1788 destroyed large swaths of the city and since it was under Spanish colonial rule at the time, the Spaniards rebuilt in their style.
I then stopped for lunch at my new FAVORITE dive bar/restaurant, "Coop's Place," and had some DELICIOUS jambalaya.
Then mosied past the French Quarter to the Mississippi Riverfront, it is actively being gentrified but past the new construction site there is an old quasi-abandoned warehouse(?) which you might or might not be allowed to enter.
In the warehouse, there was a dude really intensely practicing his bike polo shots. So cool.
Then walked to Frenchmen street to catch some live music. There are like 12 bars back to back, each with live music every night. Began with 30/-90 club and saw some blues from Lil' Red.
Then walked next door to d.b.a. and saw a latin jazz set from Margie Perez, ALSO very good.
At this point, quite tired so walked back to my hotel but passed through Bourbon street to get a flavor of it. This street was giving Las Vegas and was significantly less cool to me than Frenchmen street. First night in NOLA, SO good!
[1.0.2] Jul. 12
Began the day with attempting to take a streetcar to New Orlean's Garden district to eat at Camellia Grill for breakfast. The first stop I waited at was apparently out of service so had to walk the tracks a couple stops down to get on. Along the way I passed a bull themed parade/festival? Everyone was wearing red and white and a lot of people had horns.
Eventually caught the cutest green little streetcar you can imagine. One thing which I only appreciated after getting on was that the driver had to manually control the speed of it and determine whether or not it stops. I guess it's not that surprising, but my prior expectation was that it would be quasi-automated.
Eventually I make my way to Camellia Grill. Despite the hype I thought it was just okay. The staff were extremely friendly and you could tell they all get along very well, but the food was fine but nothing exceptional. I did order a slice of pecan pie which was quite nice. They also GRILLED IT, which was my first time being exposed to grilled pie, and for that alone I am in.
I then took a long walk to Audubon Park following a bike trail I came across. Along the way, I found a cool knife on the side of the road that I have now pocketed so ask me about that when ya see me next. One thing that I have come to appreciate about the South is how *lush* it is. The summer air is so heavy and dreamy, and all the greenery is astounding.
The southern summer thunderstorms also produce some absolutely BANGING clouds.
Audubon Park was very nice! Cute little loop filled with trees and wildlife and drops you off right in front of Tulane University.
I attempted to then take the bus back to my hotel to get ready for the BOAT wedding; however, I was once again foiled by service changes along the public transportation routes. This forced me to return the way I came and again use the streetcar to take me back.
By the time I got back and got ready, the thunderclouds I was gleefully admiring from afar had parked themselves above the French quarter and were just dropping oodles of water everywhere. After an hour of intense rain and lightning, they seemed to have their fill and drifted away leaving clear skies and wet decks for the ceremony.
It was my very first fully Western wedding and it was so fun and sweet! Significantly shorter than Indian weddings, but still such a wonderful time!
After the ceremony and reception, the boat docked and some of the wedding party went to Frenchmen street to continue partying. Caught Gumbo Funk at Café Negril, the music was good and there was actually another bride there!
One of the Gumbo Funk singers made me promise to send her photos of the band, and I still need to edit those. This is my mental todo!
At some point the bride and groom left and us remaining stragglers began walking in search of late night po-boys. Along the way we walked by a street food vendor where my man was selling some delisious looking food. I got fried okra that did hit a primoridal spot in my soul.
I got a fried crawfish po-boy from the spot we went to that was also freaking amazing. I love cajun food so fucking much. At this point the night was pushing 2am and we all went home to crash.
[1.0.3] Jul. 13
Began the day grabbing breakfast with a Boston friend at Toast. It's a breakfast food chain recc. I got from the bartender at Coop's Place when I went last time. French toast was insane, too big to finish in one sitting but quite good. After, we walked to the Jazz museum which was housed at the old U.S. mint. Fun fact, the Confederacy minted unique currency there during the Civil War but stopped when they ran out of silver bullion reserves. The building itself still bears the bars and angles of a federal moneyprinting facility instead of a historical museum, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. My only suggestion would be to do a better job delineating where an exhibit starts and ends.
My highlights from the museum? First, the lady who we bought tickets from gave us jazz bar recommendations outside of Frenchmen street. The one we went to, Mahogany Jazz Hall, had some of the *best* cocktails and music I've ever seen; would highly recommend. Second, the section of the museum dedicated to the U.S. mint had a number of artifacts that were created by an artist collective known as Generic Art Solutions (it's two dudes named Tony Campbell and Matt Vis) that are honestly really good. My favorite was a arcade claw machine where players could win a plush coin-shaped toy a literal 'soft-currency.' Each coin also holds a key to some value on a cryptocurrency called 'Easy Coin' which is made my the artists. Finally, in the history of jazz section there is a reproduction of the 'Code Noir' dictated by imperial France mandating that slaveholders allow slaves to take Sunday and religious holidays off. This break enabled Louisiana slaves to gather and produce music, dance, and discuss. These gatherings typically took place in Congo Square and it is accepted that this was the birthplace of jazz. The old French that the Code Noir is written in is still understandable to me which is pretty cool!
I will say that despite these highlights, the museum did not do a very good job at clearly conveying where the start of the exhibit was so I would routinely begin at the wrong section and only realize when I did a full circle.
After that, we went to Coop's Place for some more cajun food and then Cafe Monde for some touristy (but delicious) beignets and coffee. Our waiter at Coop's Place was not the same lady I had last time, he was a fairly unhinged Italian- American with a very manic personality. He began by stating there are 3 rules: 1. No phones, we should talk with each other. 2. Although it's a bar, the food is the real star of the show. 3. Don't order the shrimp etouffe, and some collection of other things (I forget what else he pointed to, but his argument was that they're not real cajun food).
At one point he clocked me as Indian and dropped the Hindi equivalent of 'bitch' (chuutiyah) told me he sees a lot of similarities between Italians, Indians, Turks, and Persians: big money and big *****, we just have slightly different complexions. He is one of my favorite humans.
After beignets, we went to Mahogany Jazz Club. It is an absinthe-forward cocktail bar with *very good* drinks.
The jazz museum lady described it to us as the place where the musicians from Preservation Hall (high-end Jazz symphony spot) go to play with their friends. Good lawd it showed. Each musician was so comfortable up there and they were riffing and vibing with each other. We chatted with the bassist and he was so unbelievably sweet.
So ends my 3rd night in NOLA! I love this city quite a bit.
[2.0.0] Atlanta
[2.0.1] Jul. 14
My train out of NOLA left at 09h15 and was scheduled to touch down in Atlanta by 23h00.
I was seated next to Maryam (Mariam? Mary Ann?) who is one of 10 siblings (7 daughters and 3 brothers), a grandmother, a pastor in Philadelphia, and a former teacher and nurse. She grew up in New Orleans and goes down every year around July to gather with her extended family and grandchildren. Her sister-in-law is, if I understood correctly, a captain in the New Orleans Police Department. She was very sweet and SO nice. She recommended going to Copeland's and Houston's next time I am in New Orleans. I really like her, she's a gem.
Other than my chat with Maryam, the rest of the train ride was fairly uneventful. I read some of the book I'm currently reading (The Underland by Robert Macfarlane it's so fucking good) and watched the movie Perfect Days (also so freaking good, got a little emotional).
I think now would be a good time to reflect on the distinct modes of transportation I have undertaken so far. Until now, I have used: a plane, a car (Uber), walking, a streetcar, a boat, and a train.
After some thought, I have decided that the distinction between different modes of traveling lies in the distinct gradations of freedom that they afford. This freedom manifests in a variety of ways. First, there is the freedom of alteration. If you want to suddenly change your destination, that is eminently possible while walking; it is significantly harder when on a plane. Streetcars, boats, and trains lie somewhere in-between; you can alter the stop you get off at, but cannot wholly dictate a new destination. Second, there is the freedom of expression. On an econony seat in a plane, you can do little except stare at the screen in front of you or sleep. At the other end of the spectrum, you have the boat where I attended a wedding ceremony, reception, and enjoyed an open bar and dance floor *all* while traveling on the boat itself. Then there is the freedom of transition. This refers to the freedom to physically experience the transition of the physical self through space. Think of a commercial plane. You board in one location, you take-off, you break above the clouds, and then you cruise above an ocean of featureless white for some amount of time (this is reductive but just bear with me), and you finally land in your destination. During this process, you are denied the experience of feeling the land, locale, and environment change around you. The transition is abrupt and sudden, a jagged break in experience and feeling. A train has less of this. You watch the landscape roll alongside you, and you perhaps have a better feeling of the physical transition you are undergoing. But again, it is a spectrum. High-speed rail moves closer to the plane side of the spectrum. The landscape devolves into a whirlwind blur and you perhaps lose more of the feeling of the change being taken.
I find it unfortunate that this last freedom, the freedom of transition, is so tightly coupled to the speed of travel. Modern society demands we operate at faster and faster speeds, and while it is very nice to get from point A to point B very quickly I think this convenience comes at the expense of that transitional experience. And I worry that our growing acceptance of forgoing this freedom of transition enables us to disregard, dismiss, and ultimately justify the destruction of those spaces in-between our source and our destination. I'm not sure, I am still thinking about these things. Perhaps a subject for a future essay. In any event, the train from New Orleans to Atlanta was LONG but beautiful.
I arrived in Atlanta late and Ubered to my friend's place to crash. Will explore tomorrow before continuing via rail to D.C.!
[2.0.2] Jul. 15
My one-day exploration of Atlanta begun at 07h00. I accompanied my friend to Starbucks before her shift began and she treated me to an employee-comped oatmilk lavender latte. It was quite nice. I then took the bus to Silver Skillet diner per her recommendation.
After some hearty breakfast, I walked to Georgia Tech's campus. One thing that quickly become clear through my time in the South is how obscenely lush everything is. I think I've already talked about this, but it is truly remarkable how much green there is; even within a heavily urbanized section of Atlanta.
It was about now that I connected the mental dots between this fact and the fact that all the plantations were in the South.
Looking at the landscape now, it feels personally reprehensible that this place of life-giving, fertile abundance was ever desecrated with the death-making, inhuman machine of industrial slavery.
I eventually found my way to Georgia Tech's campus. Along the way I passed their row of fraternities and sororities. UCSD (my alma mater) did have Greek life, but it was never a very large feature of campus life. This does not seem to be the case of Georgia Tech, the houses are on-campus?? This seems wild. Not only that but when I was walking past them (on an arbitrary Tuesday mind you), their front steps and lawns were littered with upwards of a dozen empty beer cans.
It was unexpected, a little grody, but also amusing in a vaguely whimsical sense. I spent some time cooling down in the library which was open to the public and then took one of those electric Lime scooters down to Piedmont Park. Taking this transportation, I came to appreciate another freedom I had not previously considered. The freedom of leaving shit wherever you want. One of the only things that gives me visceral anxiety is the prospect of parking. I hate driving to my destination, seeing the place I want to go, and then spending the next 10 minutes driving in ever-expanding circles looking for some secure place to deposit this idiotic monstrous cage of iron and steel. Even when I bike, I have to look for a bike rack to lock up to; even when I rent one of those rideshare bikes I have to find an open dock to deposit it into. It felt ethereally nice to just drop the scooter off literally wherever I wanted to.
Piedmont Park is truly lovely. I really like it. Beautifully kept, quite large, and host to a botanical garden and public pool.
The original plan was to go to the botanical gardens, but tickets were a wee bit expensive and I did not think I could get the full value in the time I had, so I elected to walk around the park and visit the public pool. I am glad I chose this plan. The pool was recently renovated and exceptionally nice to hang out in *especially* in the hot Southern summer.
The pool had this wild design with a little whirlpool section in the center and an outer current pushing people in a circle. The kiddies loved it quite a bit; but unfortunately nearby lightning and thunder forced the early closure of the pool for safety reasons :(. While it is not safe to swim in a thunderstorm and I do not endorse it, it is very very fun.
Piedmont Park also has a lovely view of the Atlanta skyline as a backdrop against a gigantic recreational field. Really really cool.
I then took the metro to a WAFFLE HOUSE. Had some CHEESY grits with some CHEESY eggs. I now understand grits. I also think Waffle House is woefully misrepresented. It is very solid food at a ridiculously cheap price. 10/10 would recc.
I then took the bus back to my friend's place, showered, and she was nice enough to drop me off at Target to get some snacks for the next train trip (this is a pro move, please do this for long Amtrak trips). After packing a fat bag, I got dinner, and then Ubered to the train station. Despite this Uber ride being all of 10 minutes I got a fairly comprehensive window into my driver's life story. Southern hospitality is real and there is some part of me which really feels at home amongst people this warm and friendly. I spent the next hour waiting at the train station for my 23h30 train from Atlanta to depart. Atlanta? Very nice city, I can see the complaints that it is difficult to navigate without a car and I do think that would frustrate me; however, the city does seem to be laden with culture and opportunity. I only got a small exposure to it and would like to see more of it at a future point in time. Next stop, the nation's capital! The cradle of this great democratic experiment! D.C.!
[3.0.0] Washington D.C.
[3.0.1] Jul. 16
From Atlanta I had to transfer trains at 05h00 in Charlotte, North Carolina to wait for a train at 06h40 to D.C. I only arrived in D.C. around 17h30 and began the metro journey to my friend's place where I'll be crashing for two nights.
Had a delicious homemade dinner with my hosts, showered, and crashed hard. This day was primarily a sacrifice to the twin goddesses of rail and train.
[3.0.2] Jul. 17
Began the day early with a hard metro north to Bethesda for a diner. A major pull of this location was the coin-operated jukeboxes playing old-time classics in each booth.
I had one quarter on me, and played the song Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt. I do like Linda, but I mainly chose it because it had 'Bayou' in it and after my 3 days in New Orleans I am a die-hard New Orleans fan.
I then rented a Citibike to bike back to the D.C. area. The bike ride was very nice, I took the Capitol Crescent Trail back and it was a primarily fully protected bike path.
It took ~1 hour but I eventually made my way back to D.C. and passed some of the monuments along the way.
In the main road to the Capitol building they have a protected bike lane in-between the two lanes which feels very secure, and the view is just incredible.
On the advice of my host's I then went to the Waterside Fitness Center told them I had just moved to the neighborhood and got access to the facility free for one week to demo the amenities. I did some swimming, some poolside reading, and a stint in the sauna before showering and grabbing lunch at Falafel Inc.
Then went to the U.S. botanical gardens as a friend had clued me in that they were having a live performance there. The acoustics weren't super favorable and the band was primarily doing covers but it was still cute. The star of the show were far and away the plants though.
The setting summer sun spilled over the plants, trees, ferns. Light pooled in interweaving leaves and vines. And it felt like home.
It's good. You should go. And it's FREE.
I also had a mango shaved Italian ice that hit so hard.
After chilling for a bit, I next attempted to buy a loaf of bread from 'Bread Alley' which was described to me as the best bread in America. The name is apt as it is literally in an alleyway. But arriving as late as I did, they were out of every loaf of bread so I decided to try again tomorrow. No matter, my next stop was Habesha Restaurant and Carryout a place recommended by a friend with some very good Ethiopian food. As I was enjoying my succulent dinner, a TV in the restaurant playing CNN announced the proposed cuts to PBS and NPR had just passed. Congress has ceded its constitutional power of the purse to the executive.
I also snagged another meal as a thank you for my hosts and headed back to crash for the night.
[3.0.3] Jul. 18
BIRTHDAY DAY. Began with a lazy start to the morning before biking to Bread Alley for the promised loaf. I got a Black Sesame Harissa Sourdough loaf that, while expensive, was absolutely delicious. I toasted hunks on the stove with some olive oil and dipped them in a mixture of grated summer tomatoes and greek yogurt. C'etait incroyable.
Next, I continued the now annual tradition of visiting a café followed by art museum on my birthday. The 28th birhday café was 'maman' and the museum was the national portrait museum. Maman was fine, they served me my latte in a mug which does score some points; however, they did have those newly trendy plastic flower decorations covering the entrance, walls, and ceilings of the café. Maybe it's because I had just come from the botanical gardens and the luscious South but these did piss me off a little bit.
The national portrait museum was a hit. As part of my train snacks I had bought a little bag of nuts. The security guard at the museum had such a fun time telling me to 'take out my nuts.' It was quite funny and very cute.
I mainly wanted to go to the museum to see historically how individuals would position their subjects for portraits. The positions used for oil paintings seem fairly static (standing, sitting) people tended to angle the body in one direction and then have the head turned towards the viewer which I thought was interesting. The medium of portrait photographs does seem more dynamic, there was a fun collection of portraits done by George Hurrell during Hollywood's Silver Age.
I also learned that Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American in the 19th century which is just wild. Apparently this was a deliberate choice by him to confront racist caricatures and stereotypes. He does have an arresting visage so I think he was right.
They also had an exhibition on presidential portraits and that was wild. A lot of bangers, but my favorite is Obama's portrait. I looooove the background, it's very cool to see in person.
I then popped back over to Waterside Fitness for a quick birthday swim and steam room sesh before using a 'Veo' to take my luggage to another friend's place where I'll be staying for the last two nights on the trip. Veo is one of these micromobility companies offering per minute rentals of seated electric scooters. Carrying two big backpacks with all my luggage was significantly easier on these and it made the move trivially simple. I can also leave these scooters anywhere which is just so liberating. Saw my friend's CAT again, he's a very photogenic cat and compared to other cats I've attempted to photograph very chill.
After dropping off my stuff and meeting up with my friend, I napped for a bit before accompanying my friend to pick up our mutual friend at the airport. D.C. drivers are truly something else, genuinely unhinged. We then immediately left for L.A. Bar and Grill where we were meeting up with another friend and his family to have some Bolivian food. The mother of this 3rd friend is the president of the Bolivian-U.S. commerce relations association and is an incredibly sweet lady. After dinner, we went home drank and chatted until like 3 in the morning. VERY good birthday.
[3.0.3] Jul. 19
Slept in, grabbed lunch and then did a tour of the capitol building with the squad.
It was difficult to look at the building and not immediately remember the J6 insurrection. It's remarkable to think that a scene of such ugliness played out in such a beautiful place.
We then went back to my friend's apartment for more gabbin and hangin before I left for the REAL star of my DC trip, the Tiny Desk Contest TOUR!
The 2025 Tiny Desk Contest Tour is a ten-city tour headlined by the winner of a national contest organized by the team behind NPR's Tiny Desk. The winner gets to perform a Tiny Desk at NPR's headquarters and also performs on the tour. This year's winner was Ruby Ibarra, a Filipino-American songwriter, from the Bay Area. I had decided not to watch or listen to Ibarra's Tiny Desk/music beforehand to go in completely blind. Looking back, I think this was the right decision. Waiting in line for the concert, an organization representing Filipinos in the D.C. Metro Area approached me first asking if I was Filipino, and then telling me about a protest they are organizing against President Marcos (Bongbong) as he will be visiting President Trump soon. I told them I was unfortunately going to be leaving D.C. by then, but it was fun to practice the tiny bit of Tagalog I learned in Manila and to chat with them about my time. They were very sweet! I also gave my photography contact to the couple in front of me for potential wedding photography gigs. (Ya gotta network to get work)
The first act was a band called 'Oh He Dead', they are a D.C. mainstay and had quite a few fans in the audience specifically for them. Their music was a mix of funk, soul, rock, and R&B. I really really liked it. The lead singer has such a unique voice. It was groovy as all hell.
The second act was Ruby Ibarra. Mind you, I did not know anything about this performer. The band first came out which was entirely Filipino and mainly women including one older lady on an electric guitar and the crowd is going nuts. The Filipinos were strongly represented in the audience and they were losing their minds and then the lights dim and this tiny Filipino lady comes out dressed to the nines and everyone goes crazy. She has such a commanding presence about her it was insane. I never understood the phrase aura-farming before this set.
At one point she came down into the pit up against the barricades rapping directly to us. At another point she completely entered the pit while performing. I've only ever seen one other performer do that, and it's always so so cool to see happen.
What I also really enjoyed her making the space for her supporting artists to perform solo. Ouida was very good, and the older Filipina lady was June Millington, a co-founder of one of the first all-female rock bands (Fanny) in the 70s!
The final act was 'Big Tony and Trouble Funk,' which is a famous go-go band from the DMV. Go-go is the regional twist on funk music from the D.C. metro area. The band was so fun and comfortable up there. There were so many synchronized dance moves and calls and responses from there. Big Tony is a absolute vibe.
By this point the Ruby Ibarra crowd had left and the main people in the audience were old-timers jamming out to Trouble Funk. Very cute and very fun. They ended about 23h30, and I snagged a ludicrous amount of merch before grabbing dinner and bussing back to my friends. So concluded one of the best concert experiences of my life. Each band was incredible, I was in the front row, I went in completely blind, and it was Tiny Desk!!! Just amazing.
Got back and did more drinking and chatting with my friends until about 01h30, then crashed for 2 short hours before waking up at 04h30 to catch my 05h22 train back to BOSTON.
[3.0.5] Jul. 20
Left the apartment while still obscenely dark outside. I found another Veo scooter to take me to Union Station. It is nice to see Union Station completely empty this early in the morning.
Caught the train and slowly made my way back to Beantown! I arrived in my city around 13h30 and so concluded my trip! I was surprised how nice it felt to return home. I was only gone one week, and yet it felt really refreshing to be back in my city.
It was especially gratifying to see the view from my porch of Mission Church. Long-time readers would recognize this as one of my CLASSIC views.
Final thoughts? In no particular order:
- New Orleans is a vibe, deffo one of my favorite cities.
- When visiting places for longer than a couple days I should find and use free trials of nice facilities (especially facilities with pools, saunas, and showers).
- I plan to attend every Tiny Desk Contest tour moving forward.
- I think the fundamental difference between travel modalities is freedom.
- Cajun food is so good.
1 week trip DONE.
Arya Kaul (C) now - forever
