So excited to be headed to NOLA for our first time, next Sat.! We'll have a whole week so hope to enjoy at our usual slow pace.

So far only completely set in stone plans are Sun. brunch at Commander's Palace and cooking class with NOCE and Frank Brigsten on Thurs. night.

Planning to do many of the things I've seen reported as enjoyed multiple times: Preservation Hall; Frenchmen St.; cemetery tour; a drink at the Carousel Bar; walking the Royal St. shops; City Park; walking around FQ,/Jackson Sq./St. Louis Cathedral/Café du Monde; Garden District; Fauborg Marigny neighborhood; a plantation tour. DH not into swamp tour tho' maybe I'll convince him; other way around for ghost tour.

My current five q's:
1) Is Charles St. trolley back up and running its usual route?
2) For plantation tour, would you rent a car for the day, or just sign up for one of the organized tours that picks up at FQ (where our hotel is)? We won't have a car, other than this.
3) In case there are times we just feel a need for a break from what sounds like amazing local cuisine, and want something either lighter or other type of ethnic, any recs? (I think I'm pretty good on the more classic NOLA kind of recs, from reading here and chowhound)
4) We enjoy touring campuses even tho' we're in our fifties and no kids, lol! If it feels time allows might try to do that, would you recommend Tulane, Xavier, other?
5) Any NOLA experience you love/d that's not in our plans?

Thanks in advance, all!

No, the street car doesn't go the entire route, you have to get off and take a bus.

http://www.norta.com/RTA/media/RTA-P...te-1-21-14.pdf

We did several walking tours:
http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-orleans-tours/

We did Garden District Tour; FQ Tour and Saint Louis #1 Tour
They are free except for tips.

We took the Canal Streetcar out to the museum and gardens, really lovely -

http://noma.org/

We went to the World War 2 Museum which we thought was worthwhile too -
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/

Oh, 1 more. We walked to The Old Mint and saw a free jazz concert -

http://musicatthemint.org/

I really enjoyed the cooking class at New Orleans School of Cooking. While out shopping check out Louisiana Loom Works - on of my favorite NOLA purchases. I have a trip report here somewhere for other suggestions.

Have a great trip!

Thanks!
Deb, do you particularly recommend any of those over others? I appreciate the links.
POlson, I'd found your trip report a while back and got great ideas from it, in fact, I think it was one of a couple that got me thinking @ cooking classes. I'm going to NOCE instead of NOSC and will report back.

If I had to rate the ones I listed:
Walking tours would be first.
The jazz concert at The Old Mint would be second.
The Art Museum and Gardens third.
WW2 Museum fourth.

I would do all of them over walking around a campus. We passed Tulane a few times on the street car. Nice, but I would prefer the things I listed. YMMV.

(4) Thinking there are better things to do. Now, if you were near Oxford, MS or Charlottesville, VA or Durham, NC, the answer would be different.

Thanks again.

Follow up question as we're continuing to plan: there are some restaurants we're interested in trying out for lunches, in the Warehouse District. Do you think that area's worth devoting some hours to before/after lunch? Are there activities that geographically make sense to pair with being in that area?

Warehouse District is where the WW2 museum is located. There are some other museums there as well.

I think seeing things that are unique to NOLA would be my preference. Just my 2 cents worth. That is why I listed the WW2 museum 4th.

Although I've heard some people really rave about the WW2 museum, I'm not too interested in going. DH might be, in which case I'll do something else. Sounds like maybe we'll just go have lunch and then get back to some of the other things to do our list!

We took Charles St. trolley to Commander's Palace. It lets you off a couple blocks before but a pleasant little walk. We then went across the street and into the cemetery. People will say it is closed on Sundays but it was open when we were there. It was interesting to walk the cemetery and look at the dates and realize that there a few single graves, most are family mausoleums that continue to be used.

We skipped the ww2 museum because we didn't think we could do it justice. The admission is high and the suggested 3+ hours to view exhibits (citing this by memory from their pamphlet) means you may need more. That means blowing a full day, which we couldn't do at that point.

If you or the hubby go, do tell what the museum says about racial issues (the armed forces were integrated by Truman AFTER the war, not by FDR) - the museum is the brain child of Stephen Ambrose, whose treatment of the US forces tends towards hagiographical (with no small amount of justification - if a country isn't in the right fighting the Nazis and Imperialist Japanese [whose atrocities 70 years ago STILL remain in the collective memories of the peoples of the Far East whom the Japanese subjugated], then you'd be hard-pressed to find a "good war").

I'll be in New Orleans during the same timeframe, this time with 3 boys in tow.

free NOMA admission on Wed, sculpture garden
cafe du monde in AM, Jackson Square/FQ AM, then WWII museum for Thu PM
Fri still unplanned

I lived in NOLA for 10 years, so here are a couple of suggestions. If you want to check out a campus, stroll around Tulane & then cross the street over to Audubon Park. You can follow the pathway & then cross Magazine Street where the zoo is located. Walk around the zoo to the back & you will be at the levee. Great place for watching the Mississippi and the locals playing with their dogs.

For something a little lighter to eat, try the lunch special at Coquette on Magazine St. Their food is fresh & not heavy plus the price is right.

Hope you have a great time.

You might wnat to take a look at my trip report; click on my name to find it.