A light rain started as I climbed through the window to the balcony of my room at the Hotel Maison de Ville in New Orleans. I felt like a teenager sneaking out after dark for a secret tryst. The air was thick with humidity and the rain broke some of the day’s heat, if only briefly. There was an overhang on the balcony, so I sat outside, feet propped on a table, drinking a café au lait and watching the revelers just one block over on Bourbon Street.