We walked to Cafe
du Monde for beignets,
Strolled through Jackson
Square to get to the Cabildo,
which had a lot of great exhibits,
Took a French Quarter Walking Tour with a Friends
of the Cabildo guide -- he did a terrific job of bringing the French
Quarter history to life and pointing out how important women were in the
founding of the French Quarter.
Ate lunch at Cafe Maspero,
Walked to the Riverwalk to catch the Creole
Queen Battlefield Cruise, which took us to the Chalmette
Battlefields, where the Battle of New Orleans was fought. We were lucky
to be there on a "living history" day -- men in costume
fired very loud cannons for us,
Did some shopping in the Riverwalk before going back to the hotel to get
ready for dinner at Michauls,
where we listened to Cajun music and learned how to Cajun dance.
After breakfast, we
worked up an appetite taking a canoe trip through the Bayou
Savauge Wildlife Refuge, after canoeing, our Refuge guide took us to
a Vietnamese bakery, where we all ruined our appetites for lunch!
We returned to our hotel to clean up, then walked to the Old
U.S. Mint, which houses a very informative Jazz Museum.
We then shopped our way through the French Market, enjoying the flea market
and the farmer's market.
Dinner was eaten at several different places -- there is no restaurant shortage
in New Orleans!
We wrapped up the day with a Haunted
History Ghost Tour -- our guide Catherine was the best!
After eating breakfast
on our own, we took a Canal Street bus to the Riverwalk to attend the
Cookin' Cajun Cooking School. Chef Bang not only taught us how to cook
different Cajun and Creole dishes -- he also gave us some great "professional"
cooking tips. We ate the food he taught us how to cook. Some found the jambalaya
too spicy, but everyone loved the shrimp beignets and the bread pudding!
We caught the Canal Street Ferry to get to Mardi
Gras World, where we learned about Mardi Gras traditions and saw Mardi
Gras floats under construction,
We walked over to the Voodoo Museum
to learn a little about voodoo in New Orleans, walked back to the Riverwalk
to do some shopping, then caught the Vieux Carre bus to eat dinner at Mona
Lisa's Restaurant
Then walked along Royal Street to get back to the hotel to finally put our
feet up!
We started the day off
walking with a Voodoo
and Cemetery Tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1. We were lucky to have the
fabulous Catherine as our guide again!
We grabbed an authentic New Orleans po-boy at Johnny's Po-Boys, then hurried
back to the hotel to catch our ride to the Honey
Island Swamp Tour where we saw a few alligators (getting cooler now
so they aren't as active) and really enjoyed the serene feel of a swamp.
The narrated ride to and from the swamp was also interesting -- there's
so much to learn in New Orleans!
After freshening up, we had dinner at the House
of Blues, good food and funky atmosphere,
Then walked to Preservation
Hall to hear some good ol' fashioned traditional jazz.
We walked to La
Marquise and ate croissants and other French pastries. You'll notice
we've done a lot of walking, so we're allowed to eat like this!
We stopped in a the Jean Lafitte
National Park Visitor Center (lots of great New Orleans exhibits at
a glance, covering just about every topic we learned in class) on our walk
to the Riverwalk to catch the John
James Audubon cruise to the Zoo. We visited the Louisiana
Swamp exhibit at the Zoo and had time to grab a quick lunch at the Zoo
McDonald's (great service, guys!) before it was time to cruise back to the
Riverwalk.
We escaped the warm weather of New Orleans for a bit by taking a trip to
Antartica at the IMAX
theatre, then returned to our tropical paradise in the Aquarium
of the Americas.
We caught the riverfront streetcar to get back to Jackson Square, went to
the Pharmacy Museum to see
if we could find some Love Potion #9, walked down Bourbon Street to visit
Marie
Laveau's House of Voodoo, then walked back up to Iberville Street to
have dinner at Acme Oyster House.
After a quick breakfast
at the hotel, we walked along Canal Street to catch the St.
Charles streetcar to the Garden District, for our Garden
District Walking Tour. We saw a lot of the early "American"
mansions, and visitied the Lafayette
Cemetery #1, which had a completely different feel from the St. Louis
Cemetery. We were also able to see various burial styles here - they don't
just dig holes in New Orleans!
After our walking tour, we ate lunch at a nice little sandwich shop on St.
Charles Avenue called "The Grocery". We sat at tables outside,
admiring the Mardi Gras beads that got caught in the trees when thrown from
the floats in the Mardi Gras parades.
We caught the streetcar back to Lee Circle, where we went to the Confederate
Memorial Hall to see some great Civil War artifacts. Then we walked
several blocks to get back to the Riverfront Streetcar to head back to the
French Market and Jackson Square for some last minute sightseeing and shopping.
After we spent all of our money, we headed back to the hotel to rest for
a while, then went to Rock n Bowl for
a Zydeco Festival. Where else can you bowl and dance to live Zydeco
music all at the same time?
Checkout time. What a great trip -- one we'll always remember!!
Back to the main Web Project Page