Just got back from NO on a eight day trip. Stayed at the Sheraton on Canal. Great hotel. Well appointed, great service and the food in the restaurant was good.

French Quarter was like Times Square ten years ago. It's like Spring Break all the time and anyone over thirty would be bored silly. Garden District was teriffic and the cemetary tours were very excellent.

Friend from NO took us to a neighborhood restaurent called Tony Angelos which was billed as a real big local favorite. Quite disappointing. The Palace on Canal was excellent for both lunch and dinner. The Cafe Giovanni on Decauter Street was also great with waiters singing Broadway and Opera favorites. Food was good but diners were to busy talking and drowned out the singers. A bit rude for my taste.

The muffelatta was like a warm sub or hoagie with olives on it. Tasty but not unique.

HJarrahs casino slots were not generous. don't have to be when you are the only game in town. Overall the trip was fund but a tad disappointing.

We return to New Orleans almost every year for a long weekend. Stay at small hotels or B&B's in the Quarter and love every minute. Great walking, great food, great people watching.

Sorry it wasn't everything you expected.

Jean

mrchipry, a relative was there for about four days, and they thought that was about one day too many. They really enjoyed the first three, but then grew a little weary of the French Quarter chaos, as they put it. Maybe you stayed too long at the Fair........

I think BOURBON is like Times Square 10 years ago. The rest of the Quarter (90% of it) has galleries, restaurants, local bars, etc. It's rarely chaotic if you actually get off the main streets.

Glad you liked the Sheraton. It's a nice "large" convention hotel.

As for Tony Angelo's, I can't imagine a local recommending it. Blech.

Mrchpry, Which cemetery tours did you take? I'm off to NO next month and would love to find a good one!

LKL: saveourcemeteries.org (a not for profit group that does tours & cemetery restorations) -- GREAT!

What do you mean mrchipry? anyone over 30 would be bored? I am over 50 and am never bored with a party type atmosphere. It's also fun just to watch....and besides that, I can keep up with the best of them

While I agree that Bourbon St. is more like a constant frat party than an actual place, the rest of the FQ is beautiful and surprisingly quiet. The Garden District was indeed lovely. Fauborg Marigny was also interesting. I am also over 30 and thought that our 6 days in NO was not enough to do everything that we wanted. We will be back when our waistlines and livers can take it.

We spent 6 days in NO as well and could have easily spent 6 more! We will definitely be going back. I loved the energy of the city, the architecture, the diversity, the food, the people.

I think NO is one of those places that you either love or you don't - you know?

I agree J. I know some people who thought that NO was dirty, smelly, etc. I think that it is very much a city that is a tourist attraction rather than a tourist attraction that builds up a city around it (such as Disney and Orlando). To each his own.

I agree, shaz. Give me NO, NYC, SF etc anyday. You can keep Vegas, Orlando and Branson!

Hmmm. I'm 60 and I still love New Orleans and the French Quarter. Heck, I like Times Square, too! And San Francisco...and even Las Vegas - I love gambling When our children were small we spent lots of time in Orlando and loved every minute of it. But Branson???? Over my dead body.

Sorry, folks, but NO is the armpit of the United States. You can call dirty surroundings "architecture", and public drunkedness and the smell of urine and vomit in the streets "culture" all you want. I know I didn't just have one bad experience because I've run across countless others with the same report. Give me the clean streets of Disney anyday.

I am with Knute, went to NO once and once too many, YUCK. Why waste the time or the money going there. It is crazy to compare NO with San Fran. I was never disgusted in San Fran, NO is a different story. But like JCorrea said, yo either love it or hate it, I for one hate it.....

What areas of the city did you visit? Was your whole trip spent in the Quarter? What time of year were you here? All of these things can influence your enjoyment.

New Orleans isn't for everyone & that's ok. I am sorry to see that most people posting negatives have focused on the French Quarter (Bourbon St especially). The city is much more than just the French Quarter. That's like going to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco & running the whole city down because the water looked diry & it smelled of fish. San Francisco is a charming city but the people going there are not necessarily going there to eat & drink themselves silly like some visitors to NO are.

I do agree that at times the Quarter can be "ripe". Bourbon St is what most tourists want to see so it is usually crowded & not the clean of Disney. You have to remember that this is a real
city with limited resources unlike Disneyworld. Just ask yourself what other city could handle the huge amount of visitors any better when the main occupation of these visitors is eating & drinking?

I have often said that the city is like an old woman that hasn't really accepted aging well. She's all made up to look pretty but sometimes underneath you can see the decay. Even so there are also times when you catch a glimpse of the beauty that made her famous & you are charmed again.

People who would call a city the "armpit" are just stupid indeed. They never got out to see the real sights, apparently!

Well, Dan, armpit was the most charitable body cavity I could use to describe New Orleans.

The only area of the Quarter that I thought was seedy was Bourbon Street and it was excactly as I expected it to be. The rest of it was wonderful. Jackson Square is beautiful and you can just feel the history around you. Royal is fun just to walk along and look in the antique shops. I was there for 6 days and could of stayed a few more but then I wouldn't of fit in my clothes! Why is the food so good in New Orleans?

The first time I visited New Orleans with a friend I felt it was kinda nasty, too. Then my husband & I went back and for some reason I saw the city in a different way and we've been returning once a year since. We're now on our 8th visit (in September) and are counting the days. From the decadence of Bourbon Street to the opulence of the Garden District - what a wonderful city it is when you see and experience it all. I can hardly wait to wake up our first morning in our hotel on Bourbon Street and walk out on the balcony to watch the city come to life.

We went back in Feb 2002 and I can't wait to go again. Sure Bourbon St is crazy/dirty etc etc but we liked it - so very different from our everyday life. But the rest of the French Quarter was clean, pretty well kept and down right sedate in parts. I would describe the FQ as a genteel old family with excellent breeding but maybe not quite as well off as it once was - with Bourbon St being its crazy alcoholic uncle that just won't behave.