Broadcasting Live From Planet NOLA...

For those of you that don't know it, NOLA stands for New Orleans Louisiana (LA being the abbreviation for Louisiana). If any of you were unaware (highly unlikely lol), this is the area where I grew up. I am here for the week and wanted to take a couple of minutes to talk about the city I love. New Orleans is known by many people for the city's various draws. I wanted to be an advocate for this wonderful city and go over some of the things that the millions of people that come and visit New Orleans experience. Excellent cuisine is one of the more well known reasons that tourists come visit New Orleans. Dishes such as jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, po boys and a variety of other cajun, creole and seafood platters. There are renowned restaurants such as Commanders Palace, Brennan's, and Emeril's or you can sit along side the Mississippi River and have some delicious beignets at Cafe Du Monde any time day or night, the original location is open 24 hours. Of course, no visit to New Orleans would be complete without trying out a good crawfish meal, preferably going to a crawfish boil.

New Orleans is a very old historic city, having been part of both Spain and France before becoming part of the United States during the Louisiana Purchase. Because of this multi-cultural history many people enjoy the different style of architecture throughout the city. You can go visit the famous Oak Alley Plantation which you may have either heard of or seen in pictures as it is a famous photo op spot. The oldest active Catholic church (1720) in the United States, the Saint Louis Cathedral, is also located in New Orleans and brings devout Catholics throughout the country to the city. New Orleans cemeteries have above ground tombs, rather then burying the deceased because they city is below sea level and digging deep enough to bury someone would lead to hitting water. The city is known for swamp tours, voodoo, vampires, Jazz and Heritage Festival and several other interesting events. New Orleans is home to the NFL New Orleans Saints, who I frequently write about in my blogs, as well as the NBA's New Orleans Hornets.


Now we can't talk about New Orleans and not talk about Bourbon Street. It is in the part of the city called the French Quarter and thousands of people visit this area every year. It is a street lined with bars, strip clubs, hotels, and restaurants. People from all over the country come here all year round and enjoy the wild sights. Mardi Gras is the biggest draw to New Orleans and everyone should experience it at least once. The streets are lined with thousands tourists and there are daily parades all throughout the city in celebration for 2 straight weeks. This coming year Mardi Gras Day is February 24, 2009, so make arrangements. Ok, well there A LOT of other things I can explain about New Orleans but just wanted to cover the basics. There is no place like home.