Things to do in New Orleans
First day it is nice to have a wander around the French Quarter- we did that in the morning. On our previous visit we took a guided walking tour. Another way of seeing it is by horse and carriage- some of the guides seemed to be quite good, but we didn't go on one.
Another aspect is to go on a guided ghost tour- we did that one early evening. Lots of ghost stories to be had and also lots of voodoo stories! Nicholas Cage has just bought one of the most haunted houses there. We were also shown Brad and Angelinas house in the Quarter( but that one is not haunted!) Other walking tours we did on our last visit was the cemetery and gris-gris tour- that one is a must! And we did the Garden District tour the last time- its still up and running. Unfortunately when all the Americans were oohing and ahhing at who owned the houses we had never heard of half of them!
A trip we repeated was the steamboat Natchez. I was pleased to see it had escaped the hurricane. It is a relaxing way of seeing and hearing more about New Orleans. If we return I would always have a trip on it.
An hour out of NO takes you to the Oak Alley plantation. This tour was fascinating. It's named after the quarter mile long alley of 28 oak trees which seem to form a tunnel up to the plantation house. It is in several films- including "Interview with a vampire" and also recently features in a Beyonce video( don't me ask me which!) If you have time, a visit to their quaint restaurant for a bowl of gumbo is well worth it.
Another brilliant tour which we repeated was the swamp and bayou tour. The presentation by the local naturalist on bayou wildlife before you board the boat is really interesting. The tour is led by someone who lives on the bayous and he has some great stories to tell. The boat trip lasts 2 hours and just flies by. We saw hurricane damage there but they did escape the worst of it. They did lose some boats and these can still be seen where they had sunk. Quite a few trees were down as well. We saw so many gators we got quite blase about them in the end. What is really funny is that the guide throws them marshmallows to entice them close to the boat. Over the years they have tried many things and this is what they like best! We also found out that racoons like marshmallows. We noticed they were a bit reluctant to enter the water if the guides throw was not good but he soon explained this. On a tour the week before a racoon had gone into the water after a marshmallow and promptly been eaten by a gator! The tourists were a bit upset with the crunching noises and had to be reminded that this is how the alligators get their food!
We took a trip to the Audobon zoo. We enjoyed it but it was awful hot and humid that day and some of the cafe stops were not up and running yet so make sure you have enough water with you. We spent ages watching two young leopards trying to get down from their high home- for the first time by the look of it. The gorillas were also fascinating. I have to say I was upset by the last exhibit- the jaguar. Far too small an enclosure. I know it is endangered and they are running breeding programmes- but it really does deserve better.
A stroll along the Riverwalk is a must. You'll go down there to get to the Natchez anyway. Its good for people watching and also to see street performers. Talking of street performers- there are plenty of those in the French Quarter and always of a high standard. Another great place to people watch is Jackson Square- loads of artists and fortune tellers there. We had a seat there, in front of the Cathedral and watched the world go by- and believe me there are some characters there!
If you have a spare couple of hours/it is raining/too hot- a trip to the aquarium is worthwhile- it is really well set out. One thing we did not manage to visit was the Presbytere- which houses the Mardi Gras collections. We had planned to do that on Friday but it was closed for Easter.
Last part to follow!
Sounds fab Fiona. Looking forward to the food and music bit 
Must take all your report in Fiona, before we go in Sept
its our first time so looking forward to it,we are staying
at the Mardi Gras Manor,its a time share complex i think
its in the French dist of N/O,so we should be o.k.it will be
the last week of the holiday we are in San francisco,lake
Tahoe and Las Vegas for the first 16 days then we fly to
New Orleans
Ann
its our first time so looking forward to it,we are staying
at the Mardi Gras Manor,its a time share complex i think
its in the French dist of N/O,so we should be o.k.it will be
the last week of the holiday we are in San francisco,lake
Tahoe and Las Vegas for the first 16 days then we fly to
New Orleans
Ann
i'm really glad to hear,the steamboat natchez survived the hurricane fiona,we have often wondered,whether it did or not!!!! it was one of my favourite trips,while we were there.
did you ever go into,the shopping mall,along the waterfront? the one thing,i remember about it is,they had a stall,where they made toffee & fudge & the staff,were making it,in front of you,but also singing & dancing,making it really entertaining to watch.they really drew a big crowd & looked like they were having so much fun.it was great to watch!!!
sounds like you enjoyed it again.bourbon st,must be one of the craziest places ever,just wish i had been younger!
great report
tracy
did you ever go into,the shopping mall,along the waterfront? the one thing,i remember about it is,they had a stall,where they made toffee & fudge & the staff,were making it,in front of you,but also singing & dancing,making it really entertaining to watch.they really drew a big crowd & looked like they were having so much fun.it was great to watch!!!
sounds like you enjoyed it again.bourbon st,must be one of the craziest places ever,just wish i had been younger!
great report
tracy
Our first night of our last stay (Oct 2004) we hit Bourbon Street on a Saturday night, jet lagged and although it was 9pm it was really 3am according to our bodies. You could barely move and I had visions of losing OH.
We arrived at the same time and day this time and Bourbon Street was almost quite tame. No crowds thronging the balconies above throwing down beads- the "crowd" was done to a quarter of what it had been. I wondered then whether we would still have the same great choice of music. But- it IS Bourbon Street and everyone wants to play there- so we were not disappointed! You really have to just wander down the street and stop outside somewhere to listen to the music and decide whether you want to go in or not. There are most types of music but a lot of jazz and blues and that is what we were there for. We listened to traditional jazz and more contemporary jazz. Where you would go would vary I would imagine as groups will move from one place to another. Quite a classy place was the Jazz Emporium- we noticed a lot of locals popped in to listen to the music there as well. But our favourite place both this time and last was the Blues Club. The music there is fabulous. They obviously get the best blues bands. The one playing this time had different guest singers throughout the evening and these all changed from one night to the next. I had to drag myself away from the place. We also had a great evening at Tropical Isle where there was a Cajun group on - complete with washboard and a strange looking fiddle! They were a real laugh- the sort of music that sounds great in NO but they weren't going to get a lot of their CDs sold on the night as it wouldn't sound the same at home! I just find it amazing that you can walk into a bar and find the most fantastic bands playing. If only we had the same at home.
Food in NO is always fantastic. Start off one morning at Cafe Du Monde- everyone else does! There is only one thing on the menu- beignets! Just be very careful how you eat them as you will get clarted in icing sugar! The coffee is great there too. You can't go wrong with a poboy for lunch but if you are not that hungry you might want to split one between the two of you. Gumbo is also a great soup to have for lunch. Dinner- oysters are big there( literally!) I just can't eat them raw but did have them grilled a few times. There are all sorts of fish there and some I had never tasted before- that is what I had most of the time. But you can have any type of food. TBH there were a lot of Italian but I can't remember it being big for Asian food- perhaps it was just because we weren't looking. Every dinner we had was great. We went to one place twice-Bourbon House. For those who know NO - it is a Brennans restaurant. The Red fish grill is one we had been to in 2004 and it is another Brennans restaurant- still fabulous. Off of Bourbon Street is Crescent City Brewhouse. Again we had visited this in 2004 and knew we had to return. We had a lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company- it meant nothing to me but if you are a fan of Forest Gump like the OH then you will want a stop off there( we had lunch there). A sign of the times- our best meal last time was at Napoleon House. It was a house that Napoleon was going to be put up in after being rescued by a group from NO- as they set off for the rescue though, news came of his death. It has books written about it and recipes. We arrived there to find the restaurant was closed. They just could not get staff to keep it open. ( Almost every shop, bar and restaurant was crying out for staff and there are ads galore) It's a beautiful place and worth a stop off for a drink.
The weather we had was humid and very warm( in the 80s) but on the day we left the temp went down almost 40 degrees. The whole of the States were suffering from freak weather. Luckily we missed it!
The people of NO are so pleased to see you. We were thanked so many times for our visit. I will be praying that another category 5 doesn't hit them. The main reason for so much devastation had been a surge of water from Lake Pontchartrain, tsunami like, racing up the many canals and the levees could not contain them. They are rebuilding the levees and have flood gates being constructed all over the place. They are reasonably confident that the city can withstand anything below a category 5 hurricane. The new hurricane season starts in a couple of months and there are 5 destructive hurricanes forecast- last season they escaped with none. Lets hope the forecast is wrong- they need time to finish reinforcing.
I am glad we returned and would love to go back in the future.
We arrived at the same time and day this time and Bourbon Street was almost quite tame. No crowds thronging the balconies above throwing down beads- the "crowd" was done to a quarter of what it had been. I wondered then whether we would still have the same great choice of music. But- it IS Bourbon Street and everyone wants to play there- so we were not disappointed! You really have to just wander down the street and stop outside somewhere to listen to the music and decide whether you want to go in or not. There are most types of music but a lot of jazz and blues and that is what we were there for. We listened to traditional jazz and more contemporary jazz. Where you would go would vary I would imagine as groups will move from one place to another. Quite a classy place was the Jazz Emporium- we noticed a lot of locals popped in to listen to the music there as well. But our favourite place both this time and last was the Blues Club. The music there is fabulous. They obviously get the best blues bands. The one playing this time had different guest singers throughout the evening and these all changed from one night to the next. I had to drag myself away from the place. We also had a great evening at Tropical Isle where there was a Cajun group on - complete with washboard and a strange looking fiddle! They were a real laugh- the sort of music that sounds great in NO but they weren't going to get a lot of their CDs sold on the night as it wouldn't sound the same at home! I just find it amazing that you can walk into a bar and find the most fantastic bands playing. If only we had the same at home.
Food in NO is always fantastic. Start off one morning at Cafe Du Monde- everyone else does! There is only one thing on the menu- beignets! Just be very careful how you eat them as you will get clarted in icing sugar! The coffee is great there too. You can't go wrong with a poboy for lunch but if you are not that hungry you might want to split one between the two of you. Gumbo is also a great soup to have for lunch. Dinner- oysters are big there( literally!) I just can't eat them raw but did have them grilled a few times. There are all sorts of fish there and some I had never tasted before- that is what I had most of the time. But you can have any type of food. TBH there were a lot of Italian but I can't remember it being big for Asian food- perhaps it was just because we weren't looking. Every dinner we had was great. We went to one place twice-Bourbon House. For those who know NO - it is a Brennans restaurant. The Red fish grill is one we had been to in 2004 and it is another Brennans restaurant- still fabulous. Off of Bourbon Street is Crescent City Brewhouse. Again we had visited this in 2004 and knew we had to return. We had a lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company- it meant nothing to me but if you are a fan of Forest Gump like the OH then you will want a stop off there( we had lunch there). A sign of the times- our best meal last time was at Napoleon House. It was a house that Napoleon was going to be put up in after being rescued by a group from NO- as they set off for the rescue though, news came of his death. It has books written about it and recipes. We arrived there to find the restaurant was closed. They just could not get staff to keep it open. ( Almost every shop, bar and restaurant was crying out for staff and there are ads galore) It's a beautiful place and worth a stop off for a drink.
The weather we had was humid and very warm( in the 80s) but on the day we left the temp went down almost 40 degrees. The whole of the States were suffering from freak weather. Luckily we missed it!
The people of NO are so pleased to see you. We were thanked so many times for our visit. I will be praying that another category 5 doesn't hit them. The main reason for so much devastation had been a surge of water from Lake Pontchartrain, tsunami like, racing up the many canals and the levees could not contain them. They are rebuilding the levees and have flood gates being constructed all over the place. They are reasonably confident that the city can withstand anything below a category 5 hurricane. The new hurricane season starts in a couple of months and there are 5 destructive hurricanes forecast- last season they escaped with none. Lets hope the forecast is wrong- they need time to finish reinforcing.
I am glad we returned and would love to go back in the future.
Tracy
yes the Hilton was actually attached to that shopping centre. The candy shop is still there! Bourbon Street- you would be surprised at how much more quiet is it.
Ann
I would have liked to stay in the French Quarter again-I'm sure you will love it!
yes the Hilton was actually attached to that shopping centre. The candy shop is still there! Bourbon Street- you would be surprised at how much more quiet is it.
Ann
I would have liked to stay in the French Quarter again-I'm sure you will love it!
Fiona - all that talk of food has made my morning bran flakes seem very tame!!
It sounds truly fabulous.
It sounds truly fabulous.
thanks everyone
Hi Fiona
Thanks for your valuable trip report.
Actually, I am in the process of creating an itinerary for our visit to NO during Mardi Gras February 2008.
I'm a Platinum member with Intercontinental Hotels, as ICH have several hotels in the area, I'm looking at staying at a hotel off Bourbon Street, is the area off Bourbon Street safe during the evening?
Apart from "Organised Tours" if you wanted to create your own itinerary, did you find they're to be sufficient.
I'm sure I will have more questions, but for the time being, thanks for any advice / assistance
Driver02
Thanks for your valuable trip report.
Actually, I am in the process of creating an itinerary for our visit to NO during Mardi Gras February 2008.
I'm a Platinum member with Intercontinental Hotels, as ICH have several hotels in the area, I'm looking at staying at a hotel off Bourbon Street, is the area off Bourbon Street safe during the evening?
Apart from "Organised Tours" if you wanted to create your own itinerary, did you find they're to be sufficient.
I'm sure I will have more questions, but for the time being, thanks for any advice / assistance
Driver02
we stayed just off of Bourbon Street the last time and that is where I would prefer to stay. I can't say NO is a safe place- because it just isnt. There is a high murder rate- every day there would be about 3 murders rported- all out of the tourist area though.
How long are you planning on staying? We stayed 5 days the first time, combining it with Memphis, and 6 days/7 evenings the second time. I think I would not stay longer than a week as we covered almost everything then. One thing we did not do was take a ferry across to see Mardi Gras World. I would imagine there would be a LOT going on when you are there and lots to see during the day as well.
How long are you planning on staying? We stayed 5 days the first time, combining it with Memphis, and 6 days/7 evenings the second time. I think I would not stay longer than a week as we covered almost everything then. One thing we did not do was take a ferry across to see Mardi Gras World. I would imagine there would be a LOT going on when you are there and lots to see during the day as well.
Hi Fiona
Thanks.
NO is just an idea at the moment, if we do visit, we are planning on staying 6 nights although, we are not sure whether to go for the Mardi Gras event, or just after.
Driver02
Thanks.
NO is just an idea at the moment, if we do visit, we are planning on staying 6 nights although, we are not sure whether to go for the Mardi Gras event, or just after.
Driver02
6 days is ideal
Informative and insightful report, Fiona - thanks 
. Can't wait for your report on that OTHER place 
. Can't wait for your report on that OTHER place
thanks- not sure about the other report though- others do them so much better
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