9 Charming Porches in New Orleans

It feels a bit sacrilegious to admit this, but it's taken me four trips across the span of my lifetime to truly to love (as in L-O-V-E love) New Orleans. My latest visit was just over the past weekend, when I was there for KBIS, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show. I don't know if it was about who I was with, a hankering to be surrounded by Southern folk (my people, you know), or just the need to inject some beignets and cafe au lait into my system, but this go 'round, the Big Easy hooked me big time.

Between visits to the Convention Center, I crammed in some time re-exploring the French Quarter and the Garden District. Some of my favorite sights? The porches. Large, small, up, down. . . they were everywhere--proof of the city's charm and welcoming nature, I think. Not sure why it took me so long to notice.