Travel
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tell me about New Orleans
H and I will be going on a vacation for our anniversary in may and we enjoy going places with a lot of culture and things to do, so were thinking about new orleans. What can you tell me about visiting? And about how far is the gulf?
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: Tell me about New Orleans
When I have gone it has been for a few days (DH had a week long training class, and a friend took us for her b'day for 3 or 4 nights). I stay in or near the French Quarter and walk everywhere. The bignets at Cafe DuMonde are a must. There are lots of shops, restaurants, drinking is permitted on the streets. There is a National Park Museum in the French Quarter as well. Gambling (Harrah's) is in the area. Love and recommend the breakfast buffet at Court of Two Sisters,
Others will have to tell you what there is to do outside the French Quarter.
New Orleans is fun. We've stayed right on Bourbon and Canal at the Hotel Astor. Great location. As the previous poster said, Cafe DuMonde is a must. We went outside of the French Quarter for dinner to Jaques-Imos and it was amazing. The fried chicken and seafood cheesecake was seriously so good. We also went down to Frenchman street to some of the bars and, honestly, they were more fun than the bars on Bourbon.
We went to the WWII Museum and it was very cool. DH is a history buff, I'm not, and I enjoyed it.
Deannie's is good for fried seafood.
Walk around the French Market and go into the little shops. Muffalettas at the Central Grocery are good but I like the ones at Cochon Butcher better.
Definitely go to the Garden District and look around at all of the houses. Absolutely stunning.
Many people love the ghost tours/swamp tours and cemeteries but we've never done any of that.
TI, IUIs, IVF = c/ps and BFNs
Cemetery tour is a must
WWII museum was awesom
plantation tours
cooking class
muriels is one of the nicest places to have a romantic dinner
ditto the rec for frenchmen street - the bars and live music is a lot of fun
also ditto the rec for garden district - the homes are just beautiful and the shops are fun. can couple that with a lunch at Commander's Palace for 25 cent martinis and their awesome turtle soup. It's kind of an institution - some people don't care for it, but I loved it.
there are all kinds of tours - cemetary, voodoo, garden district, katrina, etc. while it may seem kind of cheesy to do a tour, we took one and are glad we did it. we learned a lot that we wouldn't have otherwise. there is also a katrina and mardi gras museum next the cathedral in jackson square which is interesting.
shopping in the french quarter is always fun.
past that...eat and eat and eat. ohmygosh the food! you will never run out of places for excellent meals. ditto the rec on muriels.
Pantry Raid Blog | Travel blog | My Goodread shelf
New Orleans is 90 miles up river from the mouth of the Mississippi. It's not a quick trip, but it is doable, if you have a rental car. You can go to Grand Isle, a barrier island southwest of the City. That trip will take between 4 1/2 - 5 hours round trip. Or you can head east to the Mississippi and see the Gulf in someplace like Waveland, Bay St. Louis or Pass Christian. That will take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours round-tip from the City.
If you are looking to spend serious time on beaches on the Gulf, I would recommend a trip to Biloxi or Gulfport, MS or Mobile, AL, or the Florida panhandle. The Gulf is not really close or convenient to New Orleans. I think there are fishing trips from way down in St. Bernard or Plaquemines Parishes, but I really am not sure about that.
Go hungry. Seriously I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed eating my way through a city so much before (and that's generally the main focus of any trip).
Cooking classes/demonstrations are a must.
You'll miss Mardi Gras but you can go to the museum year-round. It's a bit of a hike from the French Quarter but it's really interesting.
We did a pub crawl (which wasn't anything to write home about) and a ghost tour (which was great). We also did a fan boat tour.
And did I mention go hungry?
Hungry is right! We ate our right through it. I can't wait to go back and stay a little longer, but I bet it is like Vegas, a few days is enough.
We stayed at the Westin and were right at the edge of the French Quarter. It was a great location and a steal on Hotwire for us.
We had breakfast at Mother's. They are famous for making sausage and ham- the best thing about it was the Bloody Mary's. It is one of those places where you have to stand in line and they treat you like crap:)
We took the street car to the Garden district and saw the beautful homes and the Tulane campus. We did the all day pass for $3 and it is pretty easy to navigate the differnt routes.
We did a mule carriage ride around the French Quarter to get our bearings. We did the group one so it was pretty inexpensive- like 15 bucks and got a dose of "history". We then spent time exploring the quarter.
Loved going to the French Market. We had some King cake and pralines while we were checking it out.
We saved Cafe Du Mondes for late night, since they were open 24 hours. Yummy bengiets, but that chicory coffee even au lait is not joke, but admittedly I am not a coffee drinker. I was amazed at their system. It was a fun experience to see it and blow the powdered sugar.
I waited until the day of so we could not get reservations at Emeril's NOLA for dinner, but did go there for lunch. It was very good.
We took the Algiers ferry to see the city from the water. It was free. Not sure I would really waste your time doing it, but I am glad we did.
We missed out on the cemetery tour because I did not realize they close at 3:30.
The Cathedral is beautiful. I loved the atmosphere out front of it. There were several musicians, performance artists and fortune teller set up along the street.
Pat O'Briens is famous for the hurricaine.
We had dinner at Oliver's after a reccomendation for local food. It was decent but the service was spotty. It is creole and I learned there is a difference between cajun and creole food.
I lost about $5 and 20 minutes of time at Harrah's. Heard that the locals do not really gamble there because not great payouts- they go to Biloxi.
There was a popsicle place somewhere it the quarter where we had great and unique organicish popsicles. Do not remember the name, but they hit the spot.
I missed the sandwhich at Central Grocery from Madelyn 07 reccomendation, so eat one for me. They closed earlier than I thought. But there are several bars and restaurants open all night.
Almost all of my suggestions are recs I got on here. The museums got lots of recs from people there, but we had limited time there.
Happy Planning!
What I've blogged in the past:
NEW ORLEANS
cafe du monde*
herbsaint
l?ke
nola (do not recommend)
restaurant august*
--------------------------------------------------
renaissance arts hotel
--------------------------------------------------
audobon aquarium of the americas
the french quarter
st. charles streetcar
swamp airboat tour
What I haven't blogged yet:
Cochon*
Dante's Kitchen
Elizabeth's Restaurant
Green Goddess (do not recommend)
Jacques-Imo's*
Parkway Bakery and Tavern*
Patois
Ruby Slipper Cafe
Sylvain*
--------------------------------------------------
Oak Alley Plantation
I've starred my favorite restaurants. Have a great time!
We went to NO last November and loved it. We did two tours through Tours by Isabelle, one of which was a tour to see the plantations. That was great and I won highly recommend it!! I recommend Cochon, Luke, Mothers, and the jazz brunch at Commanders Palace for dining. Also recommend checking out Creole Creamery. You can ride the streetcar uptown. So good there! We also enjoyed oysters at Acme and Fesire. A MUST is a muffuletta sandwich at Central Grocery. Have fun!!!