New Orleans was my hometown for a while. At this time of year you walk down Prytania in the Garden District and smell the heady scent of Sweet Olive blooming. (The title of one of my books, that scent would stop me dead to take it in--it haunts me still.) These photos shock me.
If you've never lived there, or even visited, you can't imagine how eerie these photos are of a city during plague times. The French Quarter never closes. There was a Yellow Fever epidemic in New Orleans in the 19th century--it must have looked like this then. Haunting. #COVID19
The empty Café du Monde--I can't imagine it. No smell of chicory and beignets wafting through, battling against the smell of the Mississippi. Even on Ash Wednesday, when everyone is in church, repenting Mardi Gras and starting Lent, there is incredible bustle.
Not since Katrina has the French Quarter been empty. But even then, not like this. This is an abandoned movie set from outtakes of "Streetcar Named Desire" or "Walk on the Wild Side." A bygone era, not our own. Just heartbreaking, really.
#CoronavirusPandemic
#CoronavirusPandemic
