So, I’m going to New Orleans next week. 
It’s for work, so I’ll just be there for a couple of days, but I should have a little time to do something fun. Is there anything I just absolutely shouldn’t miss?
I’m doing a presentation at a conference, and if it goes well, they might ask me to come back. So I might be going to New Orleans a little more often. 
That would be nice!
This is mudbug season. You must feast on Crawfish!
I’m sure there are many enclaves where you can do your part to rid the world of crawfish, but there is one place accross the lake in Slidell that I can personally stand behind as a fabulous restaurant–atmosphere & taste are memorable.
Boiling Point
2998 Pontchartrain Dr
Slidell, LA 70458-4346
(985) 641-5551
Identify the people who make the decision of “Everything went well.” and bring them with you. Your knowledge of good places to dine outside of The Big Easy will impress them. I Gar-On-Tee!
Hubby and I went there for our 1 year anniversary. What we enjoyed - the haunted tours (probably a load of baloney, but still interesting. Also good for helping you get a layout of the French Quarter) and a voodoo tour that took you to Marie Laveaux’s tomb, explained how the burial process worked, etc. We also liked just walking around. We aren’t into the club scene, so I can’t tell you much about that, except there were a lot of them! The zoo there is really nice as well.
Have fun!
It’s a touristy thing to do, but I enjoy hanging out at the Café du Monde, sipping cafe au lait and muchning beignets while I watch the people pass by, listen to the music, and feel the breeze off of the Mississippi.
There’s another coffee house across the street from Café du Monde. Not so many tourists there, and on a nice day it’s nice to sit by the elevated, open windows and people-watch. I can’t remember the name of it right now, but I’m sure someone will tell me.
The French Market is fun. Try the gator-onna-stick! Mmmm.
Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo is worth a look, but only because she’s so famous. The Voodoo Museum (on Dumaine?) is better. Marie Laveau’s tomb is just outside of the French Quarter (I forget the name of the cemetary). Make three Xs, knock three times, leave an offering of tobacco, alcohol or money, and make a wish! (Didn’t work for me, though. I’m still single!)
Also on Dumaine (I think) at Bourbon is The Clover Grill. I like a burger with a side of hash browns. And the staff are fabulous! 
There’s a funky little Thai restaurant on Esplenade, near the French Market. Saim House? Something like that. Go upstairs and sit on the floor. Good food.
Checkpoint Charlie’s is a rockin’ little bar with live music and very good burgers. You can also play video games and do your laundry there.
The R Bar is good, but I like Checkpoint Charlie’s better. There’s also the Saturn Bar. It’s a real dive, and has the weidest collection of stuff in it.
I think Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is the oldest building in The Crescent City. It’s a bar now. Worth it just to say you’ve been there.
Just walk around the Quarter. The architecture is wonderful.
Ride the streetcar into the Garden District to see a bunch of nice old houses.
Go to the Audubon Park and see the nutria!
Walk along the river, or take the ferry over to Algiers. There’s not much in Algiers, but I had fun walking around it.
Visit the cemetaries.
I’d avoid Royal St., but just because it’s too chic-chic-buy-this-stuff-y.
I love The Big Easy. It’s my favourite city! I thought about moving there once, but my friends moved away. I could live there if I had friends there, but otherwise the summer heat is opressive.
Oops. In the above post, it should be ‘Esplaande’! Probably other typos as well, but I’m not going to go back to find them.
:smack: :smack: :smack: Esplanade! Crikey, I give up!
MagicEyes – me and my mom are going to New Orleans on the 22nd, 23rd. Drop me an email if you want to meet up for lunch or something.
I went to Tulane so I am familiar with New Orleans quite well. I second the “Haunted New Orleans” French Quarter walking tour. I went after I lived there for a few years and I still thought it was great. I also recommend going on a swamp tour. They are a little ways out of the city but many have a shuttle that will pick you up. Seeing an alligator leap out of the water to grab a chicken on a string makes for a cool experience. Ask the hotel staff which is the best one to go on. The Funky Butt on the edge of the French Quarter (Rampart Street) is a cool and interesting place to listen to music and party.
If you have any interest in beer:
It is worth going just to see how many beers are available!
Eat
Thanks for all of the great ideas! Too bad I won’t be there longer. 
Mississippienne, I don’t think I’ll be able to do lunch. I should have evenings free, but I don’t know what I’ll be doing at lunchtime. (But if you’re ever in North Carolina, let me know and we can do lunch then.)
Zebra, I like the way you think!
That sounds really nice.
Well, we were working on that, until that other thread was closed! Marie Laveau’s is high on my list of things to check out, if I have time. The “Haunted New Orleans” tour sounds really cool, too. I wonder if they have tours at night–that would be very creepy.
Have lunch at the Croissant d’Or. They have yummy lunches – their red beans and rice is to die for. If you’re too full to eat dessert, get a pastry to go. That place is wonderful.
I always stop at Beckham’s Books when I’m in the city. It’s across from the House of Blues. I always find something to buy, but it’s worth it just to browse in the dusty shelves and roam upstairs.
If you’ve never toured the Cabildo and Presbytere, by all means do so. Simply strolling Jackson Square is a treat. But don’t miss the French Market, either. It’s a wonderful place to pick up an inexpensive but distinctive souvenir of the city. If you’re into hot sauce, for example, you can buy at least 200 different varieties in one booth alone.
The Voodoo Museum is kitschy but interesting. I liked the cemetery tour (St. Louis Cemetery I) a whole bunch. By all means have some pralines. We always go to a little shop in the Quarter, Aunt Somebody’s, can’t remember the rest.
If you’re not in the mood for whatever the Croissant d’Or is having, try a muffaletta at Napoleon House (ambience is great), or if you’re in a hurry, grab one from the Central Grocery or Progress Grocery. Yum.
It’s not a visit to New Orleans for me without a beignet at the Cafe du Monde, touristy or not. Get some Community Coffee to take home, too.
Swamp tours are great, but if you have only two days, I’d stay in the city. There’s so much to see and do there.
I love, love, love that city!
Mrs. Furthur
Yes, by all means eat a muffuletta! (I prefer them hot.)
I love the muffalettas from the Central Grocery Store on Decatur–perfect with an ice-cold Barq’s root beer in a glass bottle. But I prefer them cold. Johnny L.A., great call on the French Market and the gator-on-a-stick. I wish I could get that stuff locally.
Shagnasty, I’ve been to the Funky Butt! We stumbled in there just to grab a drink, and it turned out Jason Marsalis (the drummer brother from the first family of jazz) was playing there with a combo, and it was an awesome night. Dave Pirner, the lead singer of Soul Asylum, was just hanging out with a few friends, same as we were.
You MUST go to Cafe du Monde, eat beignets, and people-watch. I believe they won’t let you leave the city limits unless you chill there for a little while.
If you have a chance, take a streetcar tour to the Garden District, and grab breakfast or lunch at the Camelia Grill. It has been featured on Food Network, and it may be the perfect diner. Another restaurant I remember liking was out of the French Quarter, so you’ll have to drive or take a cab. It is called Frankie and Johnny’s, and it had a great selection of all the local specialties, all delicious, and very casual and moderately-priced. I never went for the linen-tablecloth places in N’awlins, but I’m convinced it is impossible to get a bad meal in the city.
Just a warning: be mindful of your belongings (pickpockets supposedly abound), don’t wander down empty-looking streets at night (stick to well-traveled areas), and don’t answer anyone who tells you they can guess where you got your shoes.
Pop over to the Garden District, if you get a chance, and check out the old houses. Anne Rice’s mansion is beautiful, though she doesn’t live there anymore. Her house is also just a little ways from Lafayette Cemetery #1 (I think that’s the one) where Lestat’s tomb is supposed to be. Tip: it’s the Karstiendieck tomb and it’s white and wrought-iron.
I think that’s the cemetery where we filmed Cut Up.
It was my first trip to New Orleans, and it’s been a while. Seemed to me that the cemetary wasn’t too far from Magazine St. I know the one we used was Lafeyette, but I don’t remember the number. (We called it something else, but the Director of Photography got a bit of the wroght iron sign in the shot, so you can see it’s Lafeyette.)
This thread is really making me want to go there for a couple of weeks!
Is your conference at the Fairmont? I bet you’ll be at the same one my best friend will be at - I was going to go and meet her there, but she sounded like she’s going to be so busy we decided to wait for another time.
Definitely visit the French Quarter and walk around - if you will be at the Fairmont you’ll be right there. I don’t think it’s possible to get bad food there anywhere. And I love the zoo, too:
http://www.auduboninstitute.org/zoo/index.php
It’s one of the best zoos in the country, and quite lovely.
When we visited, we took the St. Charles streetcar and walked through Audubon Park to the zoo - big trees with Spanish moss hanging from them. Beautiful. Loyola and Tulane are on the other side of St. Charles, across from the park.
Also, definitely go to a club and listen to some music. That’s a requirement in New Orleans, I think :).
I really liked Royal Street, some really nice galleries and antique stores. My wife and I stumbled into a hole in the wall place, the civil war shop I believe, and found some some old stock certificates she framed and gave to her brother. The pharmacy museum was interesting and I really enjoyed the D-day museum which was different than other military museums in that it less emphasized artrifacts and more emphasized people. It had a lot of cool stuff but a lot of it was firsthand accounts of those involved in Normandy and other WWII invasions. …The Cabildo was impressive but TheLadyLion and I thought the voodoo museum sucked big green ones. Yeah, let Marie Laveaux put a hex on me, :p. Oddly it gave me a flashback to the Amsterdam tortgure museum which itself looks just like the torture chamber at the Apache Junction Renaissance Festival. …what was the question again?
River cruise was a bit pedestrian but an enjoyable evening. We didn’t get the big paddlewheeler but rode the Audobon I think. OK food, quite a good dixieland trio who kicked it old school on Muskrat Ramble and Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Bellhop suggested the Pelican Club which we both really enjoyed, nice atmosphere and excellent food. The Cajun Cabin on Bourbon St. was a bit touristy but decent food and a kickin’ house band. Stayed at the St. Louis. Not a cheap weekend rate but quite even though it’s just off Bourbon street.
:rolleyes: …quiet even though it’s just off Bourbon St.