Guest post by karenj
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
We arrived in New Orleans late on New Years’ Day and took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel, Prince Conti Hotel. The hotel is a fantastic location right off Bourbon Street.
Day 1
- Cafe Du Monde French Market
- The National WWII Museum
- Preservation Hall
- Bourbon Street
Day 1 we walked from the hotel to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast. Everyone must try the beignets! The weather was a little questionable the first day so we bought tickets for the hop-on/hop-off bus. It was a good orientation tour, but we mainly opted to do it because it dropped us off right in front of the World War II Museum. You cannot go to New Orleans without seeing the World War II museum. One of the best I’ve been to, and we spent a lot of time there. Later in the evening we had dinner at GW Fins. Again, highly recommended. Next we went to Preservation Hall, which has the best jazz group I’ve ever seen. You have to wait in line for a while, and it’s mostly standing room only, but it’s definitely worth it! Later we walked along Bourbon Street and tried out some bars.
Day 2
- Garden District
- Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
- Pat O’Brien’s
- Arnaud’s
On the second day we took the St. Charles streetcar into the Garden District. We did a Garden District walking tour, which was a perfect way to see the ‘famous’ houses. Our tour guide pointed out all the houses owned by celebrities and from movies. We took the streetcar back to the French Quarter and went to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. It was raining a bit, so we needed an indoor activity. The aquarium was okay, but not overwhelmingly impressive. Later in the evening we went to Pat O’Brien’s to try a Hurricane and listen to dueling pianos. We had dinner at Arnaud’s. The bananas foster was particularly great, as it was made right in front of us! They also had a jazz trio walking around to tables during dinner.
Day 3
- St. Louis Cathedral
- French Market
- Presbytère – Louisiana State Museum
- Carousel Bar
- Emeril’s New Orleans
We spent the majority of our last day in Jackson Square. We went inside the St. Louis Cathedral and went to The Presbytere Museum. The exhibits on Mardi Gras and Hurricane Katrina were very interesting and worth the time. We also went to the French Market to do some shopping. Later in the day we went to the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone. Dinner on our last night was at Emeril’s restaurant NOLA.
Traveled in January 2015
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