Bourbon Street is the place where the fun is at night: people are walking everywhere and there are lots of pubs to have something to drink and many dance clubs for hearing good music and shaking the booty!

On every corner you have a pub where you can listen to a live performance while drinking something. Many pubs become a dance club later in the evening. No admittance fee is charged in most of the places.

Bourbon Street is lined with bars, hotels, and souvenir stores. During the morning it is full of tourists, while at night it is full of partygoers. Even when it is not Mardi Gras at night, the people cram the narrow sidewalks and have some drinks, dancing to the rhythm of the music coming from the bars. You are allowed to drink on the streets. Try one of the "hand grenades" or the "hurricanes" on for size. The guy to the left in the picture is enjoying a hand grenade.

You can't visit the French Quarter and not walk down Bourbon Street; however, how long you stay and how much you drink is up to you. At night, Bourbon Street is crawling with tourists and bars. If you can't stand an obnoxious crowd, don't go, or go earlier in the day when everyone's a bit more sober.

You have several options if you want to buy a drink. You can duck into one of the many bars or grab a drink from one of the many to-go bars. Drinks from the latter tend to be a bit weaker and just as expensive. Drinks (and food) are pricey on Bourbon Street. Hurricanes were going for $15 at one bar we went to. Pat O's probably offers the best (and original) hurricane -- the entrance is just off Bourbon.

Well there is no place else like Bourbon Street.

Just walking up and down and watching people. You can get a to go cup of beer and just hang out, of course if you hear some music that you enjoy, then you can carry the beer in but they will make you purchase one there. Sometimes its fun to just hang out on the street and listen.

There are lots of shops and restaurants on Bourbon Street also. Some are very expensive and some are inexpensive like the Cajun Cabin. The T-shirts and souvenirs are less expensive at the French Market.

The life of the party, Bourbon Street is where almost all the tourist folk head to have a good time. Flanked with bars, restaurants featuring bars, clubs, and even take-out convenience stores that primarily sell cocktail slurpees, an emphasis is placed on alcohol consumption. It's rather liberating to take your drink from one stop to the next or slurping your hurricane as you amble down the street on a balmy evening.

But there is much more to Bourbon Street that imbibing liquor, if you're willing to investigate the area during the daytime. Many of the bars are worth checking out in the afternoon when the crowds have disappeared, so that you can truly appreciate the architecture and decorative touches of the older building. There are also smaller stores on Bourbon Street that may appear to be souvenir junk shops, but when you step in for a closer look you'll discover interesting (and more expensive) artifacts and memoribilia of the loacl cultures. Lots of stores sell voodoo related ites, but I wouldn't expect much of it to be authentic. Then again, do you really want to possess authentic voodoo items in your home?