We are so happy that you all will get to spend some time in the magical city of New Orleans. Many of you won’t have time for much outside of the French Quarter and our backyard. Lucky for you, both of those things are really special. If the only sight-seeing you have time for is a stroll in the Marigny of French Quarter, fantastic! Make sure to walk through Jackson Square and the Quarter’s residential blocks – which are the blocks closer to Esplanade Avenue – on the opposite end of where the Hotel Monteleone is. Esplanade Avenue is a wonder. Stroll along the Neutral Ground (known in other locals as the median.) I highly recommend sitting down for a beignet and a café au lait at Café Du Monde, one of my favorite places. It’s really touristy, which is somehow PERFECT. There’s a staircase right next to Café Du Monde which will take you to the Mississippi River – an oddly difficult body of water to get to.
There are plenty of museums in the Quarter, but one of the most unique is the Back Street Cultural Museum, which exhibits New Orleans’ most unique traditions: Mardi Gras Indians, Jazz funerals, and Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs. It’s a few blocks outside of the Quarter. More info can be found here: http://www.backstreetmuseum.org/
Also, the National Park Service has a French Quarter Visitor Center which runs programs. More information can be found here: http://www.nps.gov/jela/french-quarter-site.htm
For those of you with a little more time, who have a car, we highly recommend going to the Barataria Preserve. It’s so beautiful. More information can be found here: http://www.nps.gov/jela/barataria-preserve.htm Stop by at one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants while you’re over there on the West Bank (of the Mississippi River).
For those of you with a little more time, but without a car, there are several wonders relatively close at hand that you can bike to (or, of course, drive and walk to). Click on the bike routes for more information. The Green Bike Route will take you to a little beach on the Mississippi, and the Blue Bike Route will take you to Holy Cross – which offers a fabulous vista of New Orleans.
If you’d like to see the part of the Lower Ninth Ward most effected by the flooding following our 2005 levee failure, bike/drive around Jourdan, Deslonde, and Tennessee Streets bordered by Claiborne and Florida Avenues. You’ll see lots of new and amazing homes built by Brad Pitt’s Make It Right organization. This neighborhood is a really interesting place to explore. Just keep in mind that, prior to August 29, 2005, this neighborhood was as densely populated as ours!
A good way to get to this section of the Lower Ninth Ward if you’re coming from the Blue bike route is to bike along Caffin Avenue – past Fats Domino’s House, near St. Claude Avenue. You can’t miss it. At the end of Caffin, where it meets Florida Avenue, is another jewel. Follow the path (and read the billboards) which will take you up to Bayou Bienvenue. (On the map, this is called “Main Outfall Canal.”) Bayou Bienvenue is a really special place. If you do an internet search under “Bayou Bienvenue” you’ll find information and pictures.
Note: if you’re biking, you should bike over the Saint Claude bridge – which is bike friendly – and not the Claiborne Bridge.
