New Orleans?

tony glenn

We're thinking of a Canada holiday in September/October, but it looks like it might be over our budget as the places we want to see are so far apart, we'd have to spend a lot of time (and money)travelling.
I have a plan B, we'd love to experience New Orleans, for the music, food and atmosphere.
Any comments would be appreciated if you've been there....e.g: weather and temperature in September/October, places to see (and places to avoid!), things to do, etc etc. We're a 'mature' couple, but well up for a bit of adventure! Thanks in advance for any input.

Fr Tod Umptious

Great idea to look at New Orleans.

Weather that time of year should be nice, warm but not too humid.

The French Quarter is just a great place to wander in, great food, great places with music, great beer gardens
Its like no other US city.

There is also a part called the "garden district" I think, it's supposed to he nice but I have never been.

Places to avoid seem to be places away from the main thoroughfare, but that's the case with most cities.

There are also plenty of tours out to the bayou to see gators etc.
Plus there is a casino boat on lake Pontchartrain, just outside the city

nosietoes

If you have an interest in WW2, they have an incredible musuem there.

InTheTrees

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Great idea to look at New Orleans.

Weather that time of year should be nice, warm but not too humid.

The French Quarter is just a great place to wander in, great food, great places with music, great beer gardens
Its like no other US city.

There is also a part called the "garden district" I think, it's supposed to he nice but I have never been.

Places to avoid seem to be places away from the main thoroughfare, but that's the case with most cities.

There are also plenty of tours out to the bayou to see gators etc.
Plus there is a casino boat on lake Pontchartrain, just outside the city

Its a beautiful city. Certainly one of the pettiest in the US. We went once at Halloween and it was beautiful weather, warm enough to be eating outside late at night.

The Garden District is more residential but its full of the huge old civil war era mansions so its fascinating to walk around. Old french colonial architecture with lush overgrown Caribbean gardens. Very unique. There's a huge old cemetery as well that you can tour, because of the low level of the city the graves are all above ground so its like a maze. Its easy to get to on the Trolly car that runs through the downtown area.

The trolly car line also goes to the Zoo. We didnt get off there but we took it as far as it goes and then back again.

Crime is something to be aware of but you'll be fine in the well lit tourist areas. Louis Armstrong Park has an iffy reputation at night and its almost in the French Quarter.

InTheTrees

The large hotels are on Canal Street which is on the edge of the French Quarter. Stay in the French quarter if you can but the hotels are smaller and more expensive.

There's a famous New Orleans doughnut called a Beignet, and the place to buy them is at the Cafe Du Monde in Jackson Square (by the Cathedral). You'll have to give them a try:

http://www.cafedumonde.com/

Wompa1

New Orleans is one creepy place. A lot of crime and junkies. I drove throughout Louisiana last year. I loved it because I thought it had an edgy feel to it. If you're a big drinker, you can go into a bar, get a drink and walk out onto the street. The food was underwhelming, I was all set to stuff my face with fried foods but what I had was MEH.

dave2pvd

Wompa1 wrote: »

The food was underwhelming

You were doing it wrong.

ProudDUB

Southern food (be it something relatively simple like fried chicken, or a complicated gumbo) is some of the best eats in the world, when cooked properly, by people who care about what they are doing. But a mass produced batch of jambalaya, cooked up for hordes of tourists, is gonna be horrible. It is too complicated a dish to be mass produced. The food in diners can be very hit and miss.

I lived in Atlanta for years & most of the traditional so called staples of southern eating left me cold, unless they were cooked by friends in their own kitchen and even then, it was touch and go. Restaurant versions of shrimp & grits, chicken and waffles, collard greens, fried catfish or oysters, green bean casserole, pecan pie etc etc didn't do anything for me.

The southerners love it, as its their comfort food. But you have to grow up eating it to really love it and appreciate it imo. If you didn't, its hard to get into, especially if your palate is used to Irish food and flavourings.

InTheTrees

Wompa1 wrote: »

New Orleans is one creepy place. A lot of crime and junkies.

It has a reputation for crime but like most US cities it usually stays in the kind of neighbourhoods you wouldnt go into anyway. Sometimes though it can spill over.

The southern racism is more creepy. It may not seem like it on the surface but its there. I'd always thought New Orleans was more tolerant but after speaking to people who have lived there its not at all, its as divisive as anywhere else down there.

billy few mates

I was there last week and it's a lovely part of the States, very different from anywhere else I've been there.
It is a bit dodgy in some places but not any of the places the tourists go and you won't accidentally stray into them. Tourism is the main gig down there so you'll see lots of police all over the french Quarter but they're just there and they don't put a dampner on anything from what I saw.
Bourbon street is like Temple Bar but with American adults falling around the place drunk instead of Irish kids, its a bit grubby, seedy, smelly and noisy because that's the American idea of a 'par-dee', maybe I'm getting old but I found it a bit down market. It's unusual to see Americans falling around drunk like that, you don't really see it anywhere else. There are also lots and lots of down and outs begging and sleeping rough in the streets in that area. The Garden district is very nice, beautiful old houses and mansions and nice streets to walk around. There were four murders and a half a dozen car jackings in the city when we were there but as previously said it's all within the districts you won't be going to.
We also did one of those city tours that brought you through all the areas, the nice ones, the not so nice ones, the famous cemeteries and the areas affected by the hurricane, it's hard to imagine it when you're sitting in an area that was 22 ft under water, it's worth doing.
Lots of celebrities have places there, Sandra bullock has a house in the Garden district, Nicholas cage bought a house owned by very famous N'Walins (as they call it) historical character, the house (like a lot of places down there) is reportedly haunted, he even has a grave down there in one of the famous cemeteries. The actor Channing Tatum owns a bar down there (Saint's and Sinners) and he hangs out there when he's in town, although he wasn't there last weekend when we had a couple of drinks there.
The food is different, the Americans rave about it but it's a matter of personal taste. You have to try the Jambalya and gumbo because it's the local cuisine but it might not be to everyone's taste. You see a lot of people sitting in bars eating huge piles of Crawfish so the place stinks of fish, beer and piss especially in the streets around Bourbon Street. Also we found the quality of the food increases the further out you go from the main touristy areas. There are also a couple of eating places that featured in man V Food in the city, they're typical American eating houses, frequented by many celebrities whose photos are on the wall, Mothers Restaurant and Deanies Seafood restaurant which are worth a visit. Ruby Slippers on Canal St also does a really good breakfast but you'll find you have to queue for twenty minutes to get into the popular places.
It is well worth a visit

Wompa1

InTheTrees wrote: »

It has a reputation for crime but like most US cities it usually stays in the kind of neighbourhoods you wouldnt go into anyway. Sometimes though it can spill over.

The southern racism is more creepy. It may not seem like it on the surface but its there. I'd always thought New Orleans was more tolerant but after speaking to people who have lived there its not at all, its as divisive as anywhere else down there.

New Orleans seemed to be predominantly black to me. Baton Rouge was less so. I had food in a good few different places in New Orleans, itself and ate at a handful of places in and around Baton Rouge. I don't eat seafood, so I was eating Fried Chicken. I've been to almost half the states in the US. I've had better in other states.

The week after I was there, there was a shootout in the French Quarter. The main street out towards the football stadium had crack addicts everywhere

billy few mates

Yeah you do see a lot of crack (or whatever addicts) wandering around the streets just off the tourist thoroughfares, loads of people begging or "looking for help to get home" (according to the signs), they're in your face but they don't really hassle you because the police have the touristy areas well covered from what I saw. It would be a disaster for them if anything happened a tourist down there, they take tourism really seriously, the rest of the population (and the world) see N'Walins as a 'Par-dee town' and the locals like it that way so a lot of stuff goes on that you wouldn't see in very many other places in the States.

wicorthered

I was there last week. Absolutely loved the place. Great atmosphere around Bourbon street. Yes Bourbon street is tacky and a bit sleazy but it's also amazing fun. Ticklers piano bar was my favorite spot. Frenchman street have some really good good jazz clubs. The Spotted cat was excellent.

The World War museum is pretty good as is the tour of Oak Alley plantation.

I thought the food was fantastic. Lot's of really good, fresh seafood. Parkway bakery tavern, 10 mins from Bourbon street do a particularly mean surf and turf Po-boy sandwich, worth the trip out to.

Felt perfectly safe at all times. Yes there were beggers and a couple of junkies but no more than you'd see on O Connell street. Like others said a big police presence in the tourist areas.

Can't recommend New Orleans enough!!