Category Archives: North America

Oct30

Walkin’ to New Orleans

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New Orleans street

New Orleans is an old, thick book that I’ve barely managed to crack open in my two (so far) visits there. But I love it, pure and simple, and can’t wait to get more of it. But then who wouldn’t? It takes one meal at Bayona, a few morsels of chargrilled goodness at Acme Oyster House, or a bite o’beignet at Cafe du Monde to want to stay forever. (Yes, there is a pattern here: a path to my heart often leads through stomach.) Most visitors never venture outside the French Quarter – and although there is surely enough there to keep you busy, there is definitely more to the city. Colorful shotgun houses and beautiful Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church are just a short ferry ride across the Mighty Mississippi in Algiers Point. Impressive mansions – including the house where Jefferson Davis died in 1889 – are only a streetcar-hop away in the Garden District. And then there are the cemeteries. Ancient white vaults, angels cast in stone, and faded names carved on weather-worn tombstones tell the story of generations past. St. Louis Cemetery #1, the oldest one in the city dating back to 1789, is the closest to the French Quarter. It’s just across North Rampart Street and yet ages away, stretching back to the time when this place was called Nueva Orleans. Read the rest of this entry →

Oct15

More than a market

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This is the place that made me fall in love with Capitol Hill and a true gem of DC. If you haven’t been here yet, mark the address: 7th & C St SE. I first stumbled upon Eastern Market as a hungry student, delighted to partake in generous free sampling of sumptuous local produce. I love walking and – I guess partially due to my European background and partially due to more primordial self-preservation instincts – I absolutely need to be able to walk to places where I can feed myself (i.e. no suburbs for me). But in addition to providing me with daily sustenance Eastern Market every Saturday and Sunday becomes the pulse of the neighborhood. Like clockwork, it counts the seasons through delicious colors, flavors, and smells: sweet strawberries in the spring, palate-pleasing peaches in the summer, cider in the fall, and fragrant fir wreaths in the winter. And everything in between – parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – a modern-day Scarborough Fair. Read the rest of this entry →

Sep17

Sandstone…

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Capitol pillars in National Arboretum

To most visitors Washington DC is the city of marble. Greek temple of Zeus-like Lincoln. Gleaming white facade of the Supreme Court. Cherry blossom-framed dome of the Jefferson Memorial. But before marble, there was sandstone. Virginia sandstone, to be exact.

My first extended stay in DC was during a college internship. I spent the summer working at the State Department (in the good old pre-9/11 days when non-citizens were allowed to do that). The internship was 10 weeks long and at that point I had no idea if I would ever make it back here again so I was on a mission. Each Thursday I picked up the City Paper and frantically circled events and venues I should visit on the weekend – preferably with free admission given that the internship was unpaid =) One of the places it brought me to was the National Arboretum. Read the rest of this entry →