There is so much about visiting New Orleans that feels to me like that moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy lands in Oz and her world transforms from black and white to color.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D8PAGelN8]

One of the things that strikes me most is the colorful paint jobs so many of the houses wear.
Yes, houses in some other cities have a flair for the dramatic — some of the Victorians in San Francisco are works of art — but where I grew up in the Midwest, it seemed houses were purposely bland, inside and out, so as to not offend the neighbors. Appropriate exterior paint colors include neutrals like white, beige, tan and brown, and even trim leaned conservative in shades of forest green or brick red.
When we were dating, John’s neighbors in Ann Arbor painted their house blue with orange trim and it was the talk of the neighborhood.
Blue and orange in New Orleans? It wouldn’t really be news.
Perhaps drawing from its Caribbean influences, perhaps bringing some of the dazzle and flair of Mardi Gras to the rest of the year, New Orleans houses show off all the colors of the rainbow.
John and I get to New Orleans next week, and we’ll be there through Mardi Gras. I look forward to oogling all the houses and appreciating how much brighter everything seems in NOLA.

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• Katrina spurred me to visit – and fall in love with – New Orleans
• Blogversation 2012: Why New Orleans inspires me
• Goin’ to New Orleans: sinking in to a city we love
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