Well gradiation is upon us in May and I shall be gradGateing. Things be luking up fo this man.
Anywho enough with the idiocies, my girlfriend has decided to treat me to a trip to New Orleans after my graduation. Yes, yes I know, she’s sweet. Anywho it is incubent upon me to figure out what to do there. I’ve always wanted to go, so one would imagine that I’d already have a preplanned idea of what to do…
Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. So far we have one of those boat things scheduled and I have the vaguest conception of trying to see Ann Rice’s house.
Other than that I’m stumped. So please fellow dopers, tell me the great sites of the city of Gumbo.
Pat O’Brian’s is THE French Quarter bar, the one most tourists go to. (Which is not to say that natives don’t go there - going to Pat O’s is arite of passage for many a young New Orleanian.)
You’ll want to have begniets and cafe au lait at the Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter.
Be sure to get a good guidebook. The problem with New Orleans is that there are areas very close to tourist areas which are definitely not safe.
And tool around the suburbs of Metairie and River Ridge to see my old stomping grounds.
If’n you can, make ressers at the Royal Sonesta. It’s right around the corner from the Absinte House, a damn charming historical bar. Please tell Big Red hello for me.
Oh, Creole (NOT to be confused with cajun; that is completely different) refers to the unique mixture of French, Spanish, and African cultures that occur in a few places like New Orleans. A creole person is generally a person of mixted descent from french, spanish, and black ancestors. The creole language is a blend of these cultures. Creole food is a particular style of food that came about from these combinations (red beans and rice, blackened chicken etc.).
Good bars, he asks for. Just look around, you’ll find one. And if you don’t like it, get your drink in a go cup and find another.
Have dinner at The Gumbo Shop.
Don’t forget to visit Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo.
Be sure to have breakfast at Brennan’s at least once, and make sure you order Banannas Foster.
Definitely hit Cafe du Monde for begniets and cafe au lait. Do this later in the evening when things start to swing and have a blast watching the people go by.
And if you’re in a romantic mood, you and the GF should take a streetcar ride through the Garden District. Even if you’re not, you should do it anyway.
Do you have a place to stay, yet? The Fairmont, right at the edge of the French Quarter has some very cool atmosphere and is relatively inexpensive. Also IIRC, the Sazerac Bar in the Fairmont is where the Ramos Gin Fizz was invented (back when it was the Roosevelt Hotel.)
Other drinks to try while there:
Yes, get a Hurricane at Pat O’Brian’s, but also have one made from scratch at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop.
Get a Sazerac at the Old Absinthe House Bar (better than at the Sazerac bar)
Try a Pimm’s Cup at the Napoleon House
Drink lots of Abita Amber (or Turbo Dog, if you’re into that sort of thing) everywhere!
And don’t miss my favorite bar in the French Quarter, The Dungeon. It opens at midnight, and is located behind a big wooden door with bars on the window, through a dark courtyard, right off of Bourbon Street (corner of Toulouse and Bourbon).
Have fun! I’m so jealous - I can’t wait to go back.
As some of you have pointed out I know exactly SQUAT about New Orleans. I do, however, have the desire to know more about it.
Now I have heard some nasty rumors regarding the safety of travel in New Orleans. I was wondering, is there any place that I should not go, in any circumstances? What are the places to avoid?
Most of the city is probably much more dangerous than you are used to especially if you don’t pay attention to what you are doing. Here are some tips to keep you safe (They worked well for me for 4 years).
DON’T wander the backwaters of the French Quarter especially at night. Stick to Bourbon Street, Royal Street, and Decatur Street. These streets are where most of the attractions are anyway and have a large crowd and police presence. Criminals WILL traget someone who looks lost and drunk and wanders even one block away from Bourbon Street by him or herself. I had a friend get to dunk and had a gun put to his head and mugged TWICE in less than an hour.
IGNORE people that call out to you on the street. Believe it or not, IT WILL happen all the time. Most of these people are simply trying to pull a street scam (ask about the stupid but classic “I bet I can tell you where you got them shoes” ruse once you get there). However, some are trying to beg money or even set you up for a robbery or god knows what else. Simply DO NOT LOOK AT THEM and keep walking. Do not be afraid to be rude and completely ignore their presense. They are looking for an easy target and will leave you alone.
Always WALK in a rapid determined manner. It makes you look like less of a tourist. Most criminals like to target tourists because they are easy targets.
Don’t carry more money, credit cards, etc. than you absolutely need. Girls, do not carry a purse at night or at all if you can help it. Carry a small girly wallet or something. A purse is too tempting a target for muggers and the straps can be cut before you can say “Hey!”.
Don’t let groups of teenage boys or even pre-teenage boys (even as young as 9 or 10 :eek:) approach you at all. EVER. That is one of the quickest ways to lose all your possessions.
I don’t mean to scare you. Follow these rules to the letter and you should do just fine. However, realize that you are not in Kansas anymore and you can’t act like it if you want to stay safe.
To piggyback on Shagnasty’s excellent advice, I would also add:
Nola is not a walking city. You can walk around the French Quarter during the day, sticking to the main streets at night, and take the street car to the Garden District. Otherwise, take a cab, not a rental car. Nasty people target tourists in rental cars, and where did you think you were going to park anyway?
If you have time however, DO rent a car and drive out of the city on to River Road. Head out about 20 miles or so, and you’ll find plantation homes to tour. Even better, you’ll find really fun, really cheesy swamp tours where you can see alligators leap out six feet out of the water. No kidding, this is the most fun you’ll have sober in New Orleans.
If you have way too much time on your hands during the day, you can visit my home town (not much there but antique shops and restaurants). Cross the causeway bridge to the North Shore, and follow the signs to Covington. For a really great meal, go to Morton’s Seafood in Madisonville. For an awesome burger, go to Badeaux’s, in Covington or Madisonville. I hear there are some nice golf courses in Slidell, but I wouldn’t know first hand.
Oh, one more tip. Do not ever pronounce the city name Naw Leans or anything else that rhymes with “Jeans”. There are several correct ways to say it but that is not one of them. Talking that way will have you branded an uneducated outsider faster than a sorority girl can get her shirt up on Bourbon Street.
Pick one of these variations:
New Orluns (common and safe)
NawLuns (A little risky and daring but it shows you are trying at least. Some locals pronounce it this way)
This man speaks the truth but let me add that it IS acceptable to use the “Or-leens” pronunciation if you are rhyming it with “Do you know what it means” in a song.
There are natives of New Orleans, speaking the characteristic New York-sounding accent, who insist that the real native pronunciation of the city’s name in their dialect has four syllables:
noo AW-lee-unz
Granted, they’ll make an exception and rhyme it with “means” in that one song, as Legomancer observed.
Cheesy though it may sound, I would recommend one of the ghost tours. Some of them are apparently not very good, with tour guides that dress up like vampires and crap like that, but the one I took had a guide with a Ph. D. in history. He just took us around the Quawta after dark, stopping at various houses and telling us ghost stories about them.
The best thing about the tour is that it ends at the Funky Butt, a jazz club up on Rampart, where you get free admission. I’ve been twice, and both times there was top-notch jazz going on. Even if you don’t do the ghost tour, you should make it to the Butt.
My fiancee and I are planning to get married in Jackson Square the weekend after Christmas, so we’re going to go down and scout locations fairly soon. I’ll probably start my own thread at some point.
One thing that a lot of people do not know is that portions of New Orleans are actually part of the national park system. Stop by the national park office in the French Quarter, and check the schedule of their walking tours. They have free tours of the French Quarter and the Garden District (the tours are conducted by a park ranger) and you can get a lot of interesting historic information. And the price is definately right.
And I wholeheartedly second the suggestion to EAT. The food is amazing. If you like deserts, there are a couple of wonderful pastry shops in the French Quarter. If you like spicy food, have blackened something (chicken, steak, fish, whatever you prefer). If you want to impress your girlfriend with a fancy restaurant, Commander’s Palace in the Garden District is a good place to take her (I really enjoyed the rabbit gumbo) though expensive. And a good tip on expensive restaurants in general is: if you want to try a pricey place, don’t go for dinner - go for lunch. You’ll find much of the same food, but the cost will be significantly less. Oh, and you may also want to try the po-boy sandwiches at Mother’s. I highly recommend the debris sandwich. They scoop out the bits of roast beef that have been floating in the juice all day and put them on a sandwich. Very tasty and very, very messy.
