This building in the French Quarter sports the wrought-iron railings seen on many of the older buildings in New Orleans. The city melds a variety of cultures, French, Spanish, Creole and Caribbean. The Louisiana state flag featuring a pelican flies on the right.

Spending time in New Orleans is like leaving the country without needing a passport.

No other American city has a history quite like New Orleans: founded by the French in 1718 on the high ground at the mouth of the Mississippi River, ceded to Spain in 1763 whose 37-year-rule is still evident in street names and architecture, reacquired by the French, bought by the Americans in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and menaced by the British in the War of 1812.

It's a city that revels in revelry and delights in good food, good music and good times.

Its legends are filled by figures such as Old Hickory, pirates, ghosts, 'gators, Mardi Gras, voodoo queens and vampire nuns.

Anybody who thinks of New Orleans only in terms of Bourbon Street and the Super Dome is doing the Big Easy a big disservice.

Read more about New Orleans in Sunday's Butler Eagle.

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Above, a young alligator snaps a treat from a tour guide’s pole during a boat tour of the Honey Island Swamp near New Orleans. At left, stained glass windows glow against the dusk at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the New World.