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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — We call it the Big Easy.

That’s because, in New Orleans, Louisiana life is laid back.

Easy.

Like a streetcar rolling right up to take you away as you’ll see in this tale told by WGNO Good Morning New Orleans features reporter Bill Wood.

“New Orleans is the tourist capital of the world. Let’s go, Ginger.” That’s what a mule and carriage man says in the French Quarter.

New Orleans is big.

Like a night on Bourbon Street.

In a city where you can go from booze to beignets, down the street.

The line is long.

It’s down the sidewalk for a bite of a powdered sugar-covered puff of pastry.

It’s a deep-fried dream come true.

And right here in New Orleans is where Bananas Foster was born.

That’s at Brennan’s Restaurant.

Christian Pendleton can tell the story and make the dish.

It’s where a guy named Foster used to order a dessert with bananas and more.

With oysters on the grill.

And on the half shell.

It’s a menu of food that’s world-famous.

The icing on the cake is the king cake.

And now, picture this, for the first time ever, a book packed with king cake pictures.

It’s called The Big Book of King Cake, by Matt Haines.

Carnival Season parades around town every year.

That makes Mardi Gras the greatest free show on earth.

Nobody misses a note in New Orleans.

It’s where jazz was born.

And lives on.

At Pat O’Brien’s bar, a hurricane is a storm of a cocktail.

In the French Quarter, every hour is happy.

A visitor from Texas wants you to know, “New Orleans is the city that never sleeps, yea.”

After more than 300 years, it’s still the city below sea level.

And above it all.