bachslunch

Am planning a trip to New Orleans, and have set up the following itinerary. Am staying in the French Quarter (below Bourbon St. not far from Jackson Square). Will not have a car. Before replying, please note well that I very much like full sightseeing days and do not take lunch breaks -- and I've been successful with full itineraries in past:

--One day
Cab (maybe #91 bus) to Esplanade Av. and Johnson St.
9 AM: Begin Frommer's Esplanade walk
9:30 AM: Degas House tour (will make reservations)
10:30 AM: Continue Esplanade walk
12 noon: St. Louis Cemetery #3
2 PM: Pitot House tour
3 PM: New Orleans Museum of Art (will go on a Wednesday when the museum is open until 8 PM)
Canal St. streetcar back to French Quarter

--Another day
#11 bus to Magazine St. and St. Alphonsus Av.
9 AM: St. Mary's Assumption Church
10 AM: St. Alphonsus
#11 bus back to French Quarter
12 noon: Beauregard-Keynes House
1 PM: Old Ursuline Convent
2 PM: New Orleans Pharmacy Museum
3 PM: Historic New Orleans Collection
5 PM: Historic New Orleans Voodoo Collection

--And another day
8 AM: Frommer's French Quarter walk
10 AM: Musee Conti Wax Museum
11 AM: Hermann-Grima House
12 noon: Gallier House
1 PM: Old US Mint
#5 bus to
2:30 PM: Blaine Kearn's Mardi Gras World
#5 bus back towards French Quarter to
5:30 PM: Southern Food and Beverage Museum
#2 bus or walk back to French Quarter

--Yet another day
St. Charles streetcar to Carondelet and Poydras
8:30 AM: Gallier Hall walk-by
9 AM: National World War II Museum
12 noon: Ogden Museum of Southern Art
2 PM: Confederate Memorial Museum
3 PM: Contemporary Arts Center
5 PM: St. Patrick's Church (open late the day I plan to do this)
St. Charles streetcar to French Quarter

--Still another day
9 AM: Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine
10 AM: St. Louis #1 Cemetery tour
Canal Street streetcar to
12 noon: Metarie, Greenwood, and Cypress Grove Cemeteries
Canal Street streetcar back to French Quarter

--And yet another day
10 AM: Audubon Insectarium
12 noon: Audubon Aquarium
Shuttle to
2:30 PM: Audubon Zoo
#10 bus back to French Quarter

--And still another day
9 AM: St. Louis Cathedral
10 AM: The Cabildo
1 PM: 1850 House
2 PM: The Presbytere
4:45 PM: French Market

--And again another day
All-day plantation tour -- Oak Alley, Laura, Nottaway

--And yet again another day
All-day plantation tour -- Destrehan, San Francisco, Houmas House

--One final half day
St. Charles streetcar to
9 AM: Frommer's Garden District walk (starts at Washington and Prytania)
10:30 AM: Lafayette #1 Cemetery tour
St. Charles streetcar back to French Quarter

Have done plenty of research on safety issues, including at the various cemeteries. On these, have been pretty much seeing a consensus that St. Louis #1 and Lafayette #1 should only be seen via tour, that St. Louis #2 is in an exceedingly dangerous part of town and should be avoided altogether, and that St. Louis #3, Metarie, Cypress Grove, and Greenwood should all be OK to see on one's own. That's how I'm planning to experience all these (or not, in the case of St. Louis #2) as of now.

My research suggests that Madame John's Legacy is still closed (would be a walk-by) and that the Backstreet Cultural Museum is also no more.

This itinerary should work logistically, but if certain details are out of whack would like to know that. Also, if there's something major I've missed, would like suggestions.

New Orleans is a major food destination, so have made reservations at or am planning to go to the following eating establishments:

Breakfasts: Brennan's, Cafe du Monde, Cafe Beignet, Mother's, Johnny's Po Boys, Lil' Dizzy's (the one at the Whitney), EnVie, Croissant d'Or, La Boucherie, Royal Blend. Please note that I'm fine having a po-boy for breakfast, and both Johnny's and Mother's serve them early.

Dinners: Acme Oyster, Mandina's, Felix's Oyster House, K-Paul's, NOLA, Arnaud's (will also see their on-site Germaine Wells Mardi Gras Museum), Galatoire's, Antoine's, Commander's Palace, Deanie's (in French Quarter).

Will make time for a stop at Central Grocery for a half muffaletta on one of the days in the French Quarter. Will also try to get to Angelo Brocato's for gelato.

Many thanks.

ccolor

WOW - I'm tired after reading this!! My thought is that you only need one cemetery venture. I would also add that you can take a Gray Line city tour, which gives great information about the city, and includes a short cemetery stop in with the rest of the sights. Of course, that could do major damage to your totally planned days...........

Good luck to you and enjoy the city.

SAnParis2

Might want to keep all the cemetery tours in, this appears to be a 'death march'. I'll just add my 2 cents as a frequent Nola visitor for the past 15-20 years. In all the times I have visited, I discover something new, each & every time I go. One of the joys of NOLA (or any city for that matter)is wandering about & stumbling into a Clover Grill in the middle of the night for a burger, a muffaletta from Cafe Maspero (yes they are better than CG's)while enjoying the banter of the bar, having an Abita w/the locals @ Molly's or Cooter Browns or stopping @ the Spotted Cat for a few tunes. I still haven't seen everything, I don't expect that you can in one week either.

SusanCS

If you'll be there on a weekend, I strongly suggest you try Commander's Palace for a jazz brunch. It's a very old-fashioned NO institution and one that we love.

I'd leave out Deanie's. I've never been to the original, but the one in the French Quarter is so-so.

BudgetQueen

Your plans are doable. BUT, I would suggest just a rental car for your plantations. Enterprise and Budget are right on Canal. Would give you WAY more freedom, and not tie you down to a group, going as fast as the slowest person. Could route yourself in the 9th ward direction. Still hard to believe the distruction still visable. Not sure if still open, but Evergreen is another very worth while visit.

With a car you have the option to eat at B&C's next to Laura's excellent regional food at bargain prices.

BudgetQueen

Although they no longer give FQ walking tours, the Park service visitor centers are worthwhile, and sometimes the Jazz has programs to consider. www.nps.gov

Haunted History tour, night time FQ is also excellent.

For more in depth Cemetery tours, Save our Cemetery does a great job.

bachslunch

Thanks for the helpful ideas, BudgetQueen and SusanCS.

I plan to do the St. Louis #1 and Lafayette #1 cemetery tours with Save Our Cemeteries.

Am also considering substituting Mr. B's Bistro for Deanie's.

bkluvsNola

Ok, I have some comments to make on your itinerary:

First, make sure that the time you want to visit the museums actually correspond to the day and time that they open. Many museums are closed Monday or Tuesday, which are the "quieter" days in New Orleans. Also, many museums do not open before 10 AM.

Second, I do not see any Katrina tour. That is probably more a part of New Orleans history than many of the museums you list above. Consider substituting a museum visit for a Katrina devastation tour. Please note that all of the Audubon attractions and the WWII museum are must sees so do not cancel any of them. I also didn't see the Audubon IMAX theatre, that is not to be missed as well...

Third, I do not see that you are going to visit Bourbon Street. This is kind of like visiting NYC without visiting Times Square. Yes, it is touristy, but you must see it, and at night especially when it comes to life.

Fourth, I do not see a swamp tour. This would be a very integral part of understanding the environment in which New Orleans was built - former swampland. Also, unless you're from a swampy area, you'll probably find the wildlife (alligators, egrets, herons, nutria) quite fascinating and the Bald Cypress trees with moss hanging from them is quite nice to see. Consider substituting one of the plantation days (you have two) for a swamp tour.

bkluvsNola

One final note. Your "aggressive" itinerary doesn't really lend itself to the New Orleans culture. You may find that several factors may get in the way of you getting everything done that you want to: (a) long lines at attractions (I've seen the Aquarium line take over 2 hours to get in), (b) streetcars/buses not on time (sometimes can wait up to 30 minutes), (c) tours taking longer than specified (New Orleanians love to talk, especially about their history), (d) breakfast taking longer than you planned (1+ hour breakfast is standard in New Orleans, same for lunch, dinner can be 2+ hours), etc...

They don't call New Orleans the "Big Easy" for no reason. No matter how much you want to rush people there, you will not be able to, so just "go with the flow" and you'll have a good time...

If you get half of what you listed on the list done, I would say it was a success.

bkluvsNola

Okay, I guess the last point wasn't the last afterall The Audubon Zoo is one of the best in the country, and I would not start it at 2:30 PM. You need a full day there to really see it all, or at least start at 12 noon. Otherwise, you are not getting your money's worth. It is a very large zoo with lots of walking involved.

writealiving

I agree with bkluvsNola. The Katrina and Swamp tours are both worth it! I would also recommend the Court of two sisters for a jazz brunch one day. The courtyard is beautiful and it was a lovely experience. As far as food goes, we didn't eat anywhere that could be considered not worth it!

bachslunch

Thanks for the further feedback, and am appreciative of attempts to help here. Am hoping I've planned for at least some of this already.

Have done a good bit of research on hours for these attractions and have based what was drawn up on reliable opening/closing times. In practice, delays are always possible, especially if traveling some distance via public transport or when bad weather strikes. My research suggests that (unlike say, Memphis) the buses and streetcars tend to be pretty reliable, frequent, and timely in New Orleans, but I could be wrong.

Am planning to see Bourbon Street as part of the morning French Quarter walk on "And another day." Will also walk there at least once in the evening before or after a dinner at an area restaurant. Do not like live jazz or live pop music or clubs because I find the highly amplified decibel levels painful and unpleasant -- recordings are much preferred as a result.

Am also trying to take into account a reasonable amount of time for meals, having dinners in early evenings (starting at ca. 7PM-8PM), breakfasts at opening times (7AM or 8AM except for Brennan's at 9AM), and mostly no lunches (especially not lingering ones). Am planning my lingering for dinner. Practically no attractions are open after 5PM except for the Art Museum on Wednesdays, so there should be no cross-over with most all 7PM or 8PM dinner times.

Have seen swampy areas in other parts of the South, so did not include this type of tour. Have no interest in IMAX. Have heard that much of the Katrina damage is now cleaned up -- this may or may not be true, but that's what I've been seeing pretty consistently, plus am feeling conflicted about ogling the misfortunes of others. Have scheduled the two cemetery tours on less busy days and plantation tours on days with no other plans. It looks like many of the house tours (though not at the Degas) are self-guided.

Am going to explore ways to pre-purchase a combo ticket for the Aquarium, Insectarium, and Zoo, both to take advantage of any discounts and hopefully gain the option to bypass ticketing lines. Am thinking the WWII Museum may have a chance of a line, but plan to go there first to minimize a wait (Gallier Hall walk-by may be earlier than 8:30 AM or moved to another time). Am guessing the zoo is indeed huge, but I'm fine with not seeing every last thing there if need be; may also start here earlier.

Are there other attractions that will likely have very long lines? Would very much like to know this info if anyone has it. Anybody?

jthwrh

Have fun in our great city. Looks like you are jammed packed with stuff to do. Just a note on the restaurants...ACME is just across the street from Felix's. If all you are doing is enjoying raw oysters, avoid the wait, and go at "off peak" times. You'll only need to do one of them if you are just doing oysters. Do the bananas foster for dessert at Brennan's. That's the birthplace of the dessert. Take a cab to Jacque-Imo's for dinner and get a real local taste of New Orleans. I would not sink 2/3 of a vacation day into a swamp tour. You'll ride around in a boat, see a couple of wild animals and may see the captain feed a alligator. That's what the Animal Planet Channel is for. Have fun here!

bkluvsNola

The WWII Museum will definitely have a line. They just added a new wing in November and so there's a lot of history buffs that are going to see it. I recommend 3 hours minimum for the tour there. There's even a Besh owned restaurant "The American Sector" that serves 1940's style cuisine, may be interesting though I haven't tried it.

Depending on which time of year you go (when are you going?) you may find lines at the Insectarium. A lot of school kids go there on field trips.

In the lower 9th Ward, there is still much rebuilding to do. There's still devastation but the new rebuilding styles are what is interesting now. I would visit Brad Pitt's "Make it Right" Houses, there's even a floating house. This appeals to architecture buffs as well as people wanting to understand what Katrina did and how New Orleans is dealing with it. In the upper 9th Ward, visit "Musician's Village" to see what kind of rebuilding is occurring there. Probably the best way is to do a Katrina Tour, where they will take you into Lakeview, Gentilly, and the 9th Ward. Another alternative is to rent a car.

One of the plantation days, I may suggest to you to go to Avery Island to tour the Tabasco Factory and see the Jungle Gardens. It would be just a little further out but you would need to rent a car.

Streetcars and buses are generally on-time, but they can have delays, especially during rush hour. School children and commuters take public transportation in addition to tourists and New Orleans is not Switzerland, there will be some delays... Go to www.norta.com and print out the schedules ahead of time.

MollyM

I loved Mr. B's! It was my favorite meal of the trip when I went last May. Don't miss the barbequed shrimp or the pecan pie!

bachslunch

Reporting back. There were some tweaks to this itinerary (including one massive one involving plantation tours), but much came off similarly to what was planned out.

--One day
Cab (maybe #91 bus) to Esplanade Av. and Johnson St.
9 AM: Begin Frommer's Esplanade walk
9:30 AM: Degas House tour (will make reservations)
10:30 AM: Continue Esplanade walk
12 noon: St. Louis Cemetery #3
2 PM: Pitot House tour
3 PM: New Orleans Museum of Art (will go on a Wednesday when the museum is open until 8 PM)
Canal St. streetcar back to French Quarter

This went pretty much according to plan. Decided to cab it to Esplanade Ave. and Johnson St., though, as the idea of waiting for a bus on Rampart Street held no appeal given possible safety concerns. Tours of the Degas House and Pitot House were excellent, very informative, and the houses were quite interesting (and very much contrasts to each other). The stretch of Esplanade Ave. here contains several lovely houses, different in retrospect to those seen at the Garden District. Walked around St. Louis #3 Cemetery but did not explore the narrow stretches off the beaten path here because of safety concerns -- actually decided to hook up with an incoming tour, which the guide graciously let me join (yes, I slipped him some green for his kindness). Liked the art museum very much, good sized place but not impossible to see in several hours, and arguably one of the best such places I've been to in the South -- has several name brand artist paintings, some artifacts from various cultures (Africa, Latin America, Asia), especially strong holdings of glassware and porcelain. The nearby sculpture garden was closed for resodding, but almost all of the sculpture was easily visible through the metal fence -- a nice collection of items, too. There was also a Botanical Garden in an adjacent part of City Park, but I was advised that the recent cold snap had pretty much made a visit here not worth the while -- advice was heeded here.

--Another day
#11 bus to Magazine St. and St. Alphonsus Av.
9 AM: St. Mary's Assumption Church
10 AM: St. Alphonsus
#11 bus back to French Quarter
12 noon: Beauregard-Keynes House
1 PM: Old Ursuline Convent
2 PM: Historic New Orleans Collection
3 PM: Walk through French Market
3:30 PM: Old US Mint
5 PM: Historic New Orleans Voodoo Collection

Mostly this day went off fine. The two churches were very interesting, the best I saw on the trip in NOLA. St. Alphonsus no longer celebrates mass, but was lovely despite being quite worn around the edges inside. Nice detail work in both places. The Beauregard-Keynes House tour was very good, heavy on biographical detail of the two most famous residents here. The Convent is right across the street, the oldest extant building in the Mississippi Valley, and worth the stop-by. Did not find the Pharmacy Museum open as expected (more on that later), so went to the nearby Historic New Orleans Collection and did the house tour there -- this residence is of much later vintage and the tour was well done. They would not do the other tour (the historic artifacts one), so opted to walk to the Old Mint via the French Market. The latter reminded me a lot of the so-called "Old Slave Market" in Charleston, SC -- lots of trinket merchants and food stalls -- not too bad as a walk through. The Old US Mint is still recovering from Katrina damage and only has a small exhibit of coin minting apparatus, minting history information, and some old coins struck there. A fairly quick visit, actually. The Voodoo Museum was kind of a rip-off, a dusty hodgepodge of voodoo paraphernalia, minimal information about the practice and local practitioners, and a gift shop that seemed to get more attention paid to it -- not an essential stop, really.

--And another day
8 AM: Frommer's French Quarter walk
10 AM: Musee Conti Wax Museum
11 AM: Hermann-Grima House
1 PM: Gallier House
Shuttle to
2:30 PM: Blaine Kearn's Mardi Gras World
Shuttle to
5:30 PM: Southern Food and Beverage Museum
Walk back to French Quarter

The French Quarter walk was interesting, with a maximal showcasing of this area's unusual architecture. None of the courtyards listed as visible were, though (not to worry, others were viewed during other strolls of the Quarter). Give the Wax Museum credit for trying to impart a historic basis for all the figures encountered, though like most such places, I found its interest a bit limited. Given the length of the tours of the Hermann-Grima and Gallier Houses, it was not possible to do these in back-to-back hours -- both tours were informative and the houses (especially the latter) were very interesting to see. It turns out that one can catch a shuttle bus to Blaine Kern's, which is convenient given its somewhat out-of-the-way location. Blaine Kern's makes pretty much all the floats used during Mardi Gras locally, as well as some floats for Disney and Universal theme parks. The tour provided a taste of coffee and king cake as well as a solid up close and personal look at the Mardi Gras floats in various stages of construction. Interesting, as was the Food and Beverage Museum, which deals with Louisiana's unique cuisine in great detail, plus a description of the history of the cocktail, which may or may not have been invented in NOLA. Its later hours (open till 7 PM) were welcome in a city where most attractions close by 5 PM or before. The walk back to the Quarter was brief and easy -- took a detour through the Harrah's Casino, which looks just like these kinds of establishments everywhere.

--Yet another day
St. Charles streetcar to Carondelet and Poydras
8:30 AM: Gallier Hall walk-by
9 AM: National World War II Museum
12 noon: Ogden Museum of Southern Art
1:30 PM: St. Patrick's Church pop-in
2 PM: Confederate Memorial Museum
Walk back to French Quarter
4 PM: New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

The WWII Museum is huge and very informative, detailing the Asian Theater, origins of the war and its affect on the US homefront, and loads of info about D-Day. A must. The Ogden is a pleasant collection of mainly recent Southern regional paintings, sculpture, and crafts, pretty good in quality and housed in a nice new modernist gallery space. The Confederate Memorial Museum is another dusty place, full of uniforms and portraits and battlefield effects and what appears to be no shortage of misinformation about Benjamin Butler, who governed the city during the Civil War to much local populace venom (The Cabildo, the major history museum in NOLA has a useful corrective to what's here on the subject). A stop by St. Patrick's Church afforded the luck of a pre-mass opening look inside courtesy of a church official who happened to be there, an interesting enough church for a pop-in when in the area. Bad news -- the Contemporary Arts Center was closed, not to reopen for several days. Good news -- the Pharmacy Museum finally deigned to open up after being closed all week (even though they're supposed to be open according to their website) -- this was in fact the most interesting of the dusty variety of museums seen, housed in a former 19th century pharmacy space with lots of tools of the trade and plenty of info about patent medicines and folk remedies.

--Still another day
9 AM: Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine
10 AM: St. Louis #1 Cemetery tour
Canal Street streetcar to
12 noon: Metarie, Greenwood, and Cypress Grove Cemeteries
Canal Street streetcar back to French Quarter
St. Charles streetcar to Garden District
4:30 PM: Frommer's Garden District walk (starts at Washington and Prytania)

The Guadalupe Shrine was basically a run-of-the-mill church, distinguished most by its full gift shop and a statue of "St. Expedite." Worth a miss, actually. St. Louis #1 Cemetery was terrific, earlier than St. Louis #3 and more evocatively crumbly in spots -- the tour was long-winded, but had a few nuggets of info, plus this is one of those cemeteries where a tour is a must for safety reasons -- and given how crowded and narrow the walkways are and where it's located, that's good advice. The other cemeteries listed are further out and can be seen on one's own -- and each is different, with Cypress Grove, Greenwood, and Metarie being respectively newer chronologically on average (though even Metarie has some very old tombs). The last two are quite large, and all are well worth the visit. Had enough time to head off to the Garden District to do the Frommer's walk -- this is a lovely area, filled with huge, elaborate, gorgeous homes. A must as well.

More to come.

bachslunch

Continuing:

--And yet another day
10 AM: Audubon Aquarium
11:15 AM: Audubon Insectarium
St. Charles streetcar to Audubon Park, then shuttle to
1:30 PM: Audubon Zoo
#10 bus back to French Quarter

Again, pretty much as planned. The aquarium apparently suffered horribly from Katrina damage to its fauna, and the fact that it's running in decent capacity may be something of a miracle. In objective terms, a good and enjoyable aquarium, if not the best such attraction in the US at present. The insectarium was quite interesting, with plenty of live and mounted creepy-crawlies -- the best feature here was a large butterfly room filled with flitting and resting butterflies of all kinds and sporting soothing Oriental style music, really nice. There is no shuttle directly from these attractions to the zoo, though there is a shuttle that leaves from the St. Charles entrance of Audubon Park to the zoo entrance. I found 2-1/2 hours to be a good amount of time at the zoo, an enjoyable facility featuring the usual critters, not in cages but in small habitats that gave them room to stretch out and wander if they wanted.

--And still another day
9 AM: St. Louis Cathedral
9:30 AM: 1850 House
10 AM: The Cabildo
2 PM: The Presbytere

A few tweaks on time, but again about right. The cathedral is pleasant, with a scrubbed-clean look that may reflect damage repair (apparently, they had some roof problems here courtesy of Katrina). The 1850 House gift shop was open early and the proprietor said I could go in before 10 AM -- a pleasant enough historic house, maybe not quite as essential as its local peers, but worth seeing. The Cabildo is the major local history museum in NOLA and huge, exhaustively covering the period from Native Americans to Reconstruction -- very informative, but set aside a lot of time if this kind of thing interests you (I spent nearly 4 hours here). The Presbytere building is essentially the Cabildo's twin, flanking St. Louis Cathedral on its other side -- and this is also a museum, in this case devoted entirely to Mardi Gras, its history and customs and artifacts. Quite interesting, and more purely informative on the subject than Blaine Kern's, though both have their merits.

--And again another day
All-day plantation tour -- Oak Alley, Laura, Nottaway

Of the two planned plantation tour days, this was the only one that actually happened, and the leg to Nottaway was touch and go for a while, but fortunately did happen. The problem here is that nearly all such tours have a minimum before they'll go out (something some companies lie about when you ask them), and sorry to say, unless your tour covers Oak Alley and/or Laura, you're pretty safe to assume it won't occur -- some tours, like the one I had hoped to go on that included Destrehan, San Francisco, and Houmas House, has apparently not been given by any company in over a year despite still being on the books at some places as available (have never gotten the minimum to sign up in all this time). Whoever suggested renting a car if you're serious about seeing a number of these attractions above was spot on. All that said, the three plantations were wonderful, very much worth seeing and very different from each other. Laura is a very simple place in Creole style; there are also several out-buildings on site. Oak Alley is larger and more showy, with a procession walkway flanked by ancient oak trees at both the front and back of the house, and minimal other buildings. Nottaway is gigantic, currently the largest existing Southern plantation, and beautifully ornate throughout. Tours at all three were excellent, with the slickest one by costumed guides at Oak Alley. Very much wish I could have seen more than these three, though these were excellent.

--And yet again another day

Instead of the hoped for all-day plantation tour of Destrehan, San Francisco, Houmas House -- which never happened -- this became a mop-up day of things not seen yet.

Began by taking the St. Charles streetcar out to Lafayette #1 Cemetery, which has had erratic hours to say the least lately. This is another evocative burial place probably dating not much later than St. Louis #1, and having tombs that look to be of StL#1 vintage. This is another cemetery that has safety issues and should be seen on a tour, having no shortage of narrow walkways and cubbyholes where thieves might hide. I decided to chance it, sticking exclusively to the two wide main walkways that connect the gates to this place. Like StL#1, it's full of old, crumbly tombs in varying degrees of shape (some tombs have plant life growing out of their roofs). Next, headed back to the French Quarter to take the historical tour from the Historic New Orleans Collection -- interesting, if not so essential after visiting The Cabildo. From here walked to the Contemporary Arts Center, which finally deigned to open, though it only had a couple videos and some kiddie art up to see -- nice space, though. This was a very quick visit. Decided to finish up with a visit to an attraction I thought I wouldn't have time for, Longue Vue House and Gardens. It's reached by taking the Canal Street streetcar to the cemeteries last stop, then a brisk walk to the southeast for about half a mile. This is a very enjoyable attraction, a large and tastefully ornate mansion that looks like it was a plantation house but was actually built in the 1930s. Lovely place with all the original furnishings, very good tour given. The gardens suffered from Katrina damage, and were further not at their best since the recent cold snap in NOLA, though they're likely more impressive in better weather.

A few final remarks -- NOLA looks like no other city I've ever seen in terms of architecture, by and large. It's also a little ragged and run-down around the edges, maybe not the most tidy place to visit, still suffering from Katrina's effects in some ways (there are apparently several high rise buildings in the Central Business District that now sit abandoned, plus some areas that have more obviously abandoned homes and smaller buildings elsewhere). And the tourist infrastructure really could be a lot better. One can do without attractions that are apparently open "Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 5pm, or if we feel like it" (that would be you, Pharmacy Museum, Lafayette Cemetery #1, and Contemporary Arts Center). It's irritating to find other attractions open only two or three days a week, which makes itinerary planning a challenge. Bourbon Street can be a nightmare in the evening -- it's not fun having morons throw firecrackers at you here, and according to the Tourist Bureau, that happens a lot on this street. And the plantation tour circumstance here is a disgrace, pure and simple -- there's no reason to lie about tour minimums, carry tours on the books that haven't run in over a year, or pull similar shenanigans. But I'm glad I experienced this city -- for all its inconveniences, it was worth visiting.

Hopefully, will have a chance to say more about food here, which was fabulous by and large.

bkluvsNola

bachslunch,

Thanks for the wonderful report. You've visited some places I've never visited.

I kind of warned you about the hours, New Orleans keeps its "own time" so itinerary planning is extraordinarily difficult.

I think you got unlucky on Bourbon Street - never heard of somebody throwing a firecracker at someone else.

Hope to hear more about the restaurants.

november_moon

Sorry to hear about the firecracker thing. I haven't seen that either, but it wouldn't surprise me since things can get a little nutty. I did see a pretty serious fight on Bourbon street once where some guy threw another guy into a window. These guys definitely knew each other though and had some particular issue with each other. Oh, and I think I was pickpocketed once - either that or I dropped a $20 bill, which is probably just as likely.

Glad you had a good time - New Orleans is one of my favorite cities.

writealiving

I felt very safe on Bourbon Street despite the partying so I too am surprised to hear about the firecracker thing. Unfortunately things happen everywhere and there are always idiots who do stupid things. Overall, New Orleans was one of the friendliest places I've visted and I enjoyed my visit very much.