meg

i have heard that New Orleans is the closest place to France. so what about it has french culture or ambiance?
thanks
meg

John

New Orleans is far from France, although it is possibly the most French of U.S. cities. Few people speak the French language anymore and most of the city's historic architecture (like the French Quarter) is actually Spanish! However, much of the local food has evolved from French cuisine, the area is very Catholic (like France) and several museums have great exhibits on the time when Louisiana was part of the French empire in North America.

Christina

I have been to France a lot, especially Paris, and I've been to New Orleans several times and I don't think NO is remotely like France except for the fragments of some place names (which they do not even pronounce correctly, eg, Chartres Street is not pronounced like a French word). I don't know if the food has French influence, all of the food I ate there did not seem French at all, but more southern/Caribbean-influenced IMO but I'm no gourmet. I did see some good French restaurants there but they were deliberately French and of fairly recent origin and perhaps run by expat French people. For example, biegnets are some kind of heavy fried doughnut but I've never seen anything like that in France. I think New Orleans has wonderful restaurants and I love their food, but it doesn't remind me of France. To me, New Orleans is unique. I think you actually get more French culture and ambience if you go to some French Caribbean islands like Guadeloupe or Martinique. Now, I do agree NO would be the most French of US cities.

Ess

NO has a French creole heritage. Whatever vestigial Frenchness you'll encounter there is from a long time ago and probably mostly by way of the French West Indies. The cajuns were originally French Canadians, I think. I'm not really sure how many people emigrated directly from France, but the few who did must have done so well before the Louisiana Purchase.

So many cultures and languages have converged in NO - Spanish, French, African, Caribbean, Native American, German, Irish and Italian. It's really fascinating. But if you think you're going to find a "French" city, you'll probably be disappointed. It's a hybrid, unique to itself (and thank goodness for that!)

I always think of New Orleans as a romantic place, where l'amour reigns, which is what we think of as a "French" attitude, so I guess there's still something identifiably French there, and also as someone else mentioned it has a very Catholic tradition (most of the south is protestant). Louisiana is divided into parishes, not counties.

You do get kind of a sense of a tropic island in NO, because of the humidity and all the flowers. I always get that balmy island feel at Cafe du Monde, because it's open-sided. I was last there in '96 or '97. Thinking about all this makes me want to go back right now!

Deb

Having been raised in New Orleans, I can definitely tell you that it is NOT a 'French' city---not like Paris, Provence, Cannes, Marseilles, or any countrysides I visited. It is as others posted, unique unto itself. It is a blend of many cultures which results in its own feel. You will not confuse a visit to NO for a trip to Europe, but you would never regret the experience. See it on its own terms and you will enjoy a memorable time!