aw man this bums me out. I thank you Riggs for at least attempting this tho. Technology is a blessing and a curse.
BUt
the trip was awesome! New Orleans is GREAT!! It is such a cool cool town just packed with history and activity! The French Quarter is awesome!!
If you go, here are my recommendations:
I highly recommend the Place' de Arms hotel. You are in the heart of the French Quarter- 3 walking blocks away from Burbon Street, right across from Jackson Square and the St Loius Cathedral- 3 walking blocks in the other direction and you are at the river front with Cafe Du Monde, a whole host of cool tours, and the French Market. There are no bars on the street of the hotel (St Ann Street) so at night it is very quiet. 10% off with AAA card too!
Visit Burbon Street early evening, before it just becomes filled with drunk dumb kids. If you go early evening, you "get" the flavor of it, its still a happy place, the service is good and its not overly crowded. One tour guide called Burbon Street the place where "Disney Land meets the Apocolypse". We never stayed there long enough to find this to be true.
The French Quarter is great and tourist friendly, but with all the history and authenticity right there. Everything to see is right there; a short walk away.
On your first day take the St Charles Street trolley. For $5 you can get a day pass where you can catch it from anywhere on the route. You will see everything- the Quarter to the Garden District and back again. With the pass you can jump off and back on from anywhere.
I recommend getting an Entertainment book- many of the tours that we did were buy one get one free because of the book.
They Gray Line Oak Alley Plantation tour, the Ripley Museum, The Haunted History tour, The Cemetery tours offered in the entertainment book were great! The plantation tour is a bus tour that gets you out of town, so you can see the area surrounding New Orleans with a guide telling you cool facts too and fro.
You can eat good and for cheap! Johnny's Po Bo's were good, the choice of fillings was infinite and were only $5 a piece. At Cafe Mespero the Muffulata with fries was like $4. An appetizer side of red beans and rice was $2. One night that was our dinner- 2 appetizers of red beans and rice. It is packed with sausage too- it is really a meal in itself.
By all means do go to Cafe Du Monde and get the beneits (sic?)- $1.35 for a plate of the 3 best hot and fresh french donuts you will ever have! Open 24 hours, open air seating under a roof. (Everything I am mentioning is within blocks of eachother).
If you feel the need to leave the quarter, take a cab. On the far side of Louis Armstrong park is the projects/ up near Cemetery #1. This is NOT a good area. But the world famous Dookie Chase restaurant is up there ($7 cab ride). The fried chicken will be the best you will ever have. Crispy on the outside in a home-made batter, but the chicken will melt in your mouth. It was other-wordly. Plus anyone familiar with PBS cooking shows or the food network most likely will be familiar with Leah Chase from "Cooking With Leah Chase". She is a doll, she is soo friendly and nice and has a smile as big as New Orleans itself.
It is true that you could head to this town without an itinerary and just step outside. Something will happen, you can just stroll about and make a day of it. One day we had no plans written in stone and still stumbled upon the acquarium, one of the cemetery tours, a walk along the mississippi river, a hurricane at Pat Obriens, and found the House of the Rising Sun. This is all within blocks of each other.
Go to Frenchmen Street and not Burbon Street or Basin Street to find the real blues and jazz that the locals like. Frenchmen Street it just up from the French Market. On any given night, Ellis Marsallis, Dr John etc might just be at this club called Snuggs performing. The locals usually avoid Burbon Street like the plague.
Go to Preservation Hall (next to Pat Obriens) and see the house band. They create a party out of thin air that will heal any and all that ails ye!
While Amtrak may offer good steaks for dinner, movies on board, private sleeping cars with complementary coffee, juice and newspapers; the whole "seeing the world via amtrak" hype is overrated. Fly down and spend an extra day in N.O. instead of seeing the country's building-backs and train yards.
-- Edited by JD The Jazz Doctor at 14:37, 2005-05-29
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"And like Web, I enjoy throwing JR under the bus. Problem is, it's usually under the special bus that I ride every day". Ghostdancer 12-18-09