I wish I was in New Orleans.

Shannon's Favorite Things to Do in New Orleans

• Going for a walk. Walking anywhere in New Orleans is interesting, whether its the mansions of the Garden District, the Spanish architecture of the French Quarter, and cemetaries and churches anywhere you go.
• Watching performers in Jackson Square. A great place to kick back and watch the buskers. You can also meet a lot of people this way.
• Eat! There is so much good food here, and so many local specialties that you can't get anywhere else. Don't worry - you'll walk it off.
• Bar-hop. Whether you choose Bourbon or Decatur, there are too many bars to count in the French Quarter. Seen the bars here? You can move onto other neighborhoods. You can hit many bars in one night, and take your drink in a go-cup if you'd prefer to sip it outside. You can drink all night and into the morning. Quiet bar, rowdy bar, dance bar, gay bar. New Orleans has a bar for every 21+ adult.
• My favorite place to take pictures is St. Louis #1. All the cemetaries offer great photographic moments.
• Alligator Tour. You don't know what soft means til you touch the belly of a baby alligator. Getting out of the city to cruise through the bayou, only a few feet away from huge gators, is a great way to spend a day in Louisiana.

Quick Tips:

One way to save money visiting New Orleans is to visit offseason. New Orleans is never cold, so it's not like you're visiting Alaska off-season.

I never would go during Halloween, Jazzfest, or Mardi Gras. Unless you specifically want to take part in these events, you shouldn't either. You'll just pay more for accomodation, if you can find it.

If you can take the heat, summertime is a great time to visit. There are fewer tourists and room rates are way, way down.

Best Way To Get Around:

I always stay in the French Quarter, and as a result, never need to drive. Even when I have driven to New Orleans, I park my car and leave it there.

The entire French Quarter can be walked easily, and the streetcar goes from the French Quarter all the way through the Garden District. Busses run to other locations in the city, and you can take taxis. Most tourists will be visiting the French Quarter and will not need a car.

A car is useful for visiting the plantations outside the city. Otherwise, you are limited to tours with transportation.

The Best Western has its own parking lot, very convenient to the rooms. Like all New Orleans hotels, it also has its own pool.

When I stayed there in 1999, we were very satisfied with the quality of the rooms. The AC is functional and the rooms are very clean.

This hotel had the most beautiful furnishings of all the hotels I've stayed in in NOLA. However, the service was the absolute worst. Our rooms were not cleaned until the worst possible time, late in the day. It took forever to get the room ready for us to stay. Also, the front desk staff was less than pleasant. However, none of these are dealbreakers, especially if you can get a low price like we did.

This hotel is painted pink and in past lives it has served as a brothel and a gay bar.

The hotel has a pool and a courtyard, of course. There is a continental breakfast included in the price. Valet parking is $10 extra per night.

Website: www.fqch.com

The hotel is perfectly suitable. The concierge here is excellent for recommending tours, and the location is ideal - in the center of the French Quarter. I have two warnings.

Do not get a poolside room. The walls are very thin, and if you aren't listening to the screams of children playing, you are hearing drunk people laugh as they fall backwards into the pool. Neither sound creates a romantic atmosphere.

Breakfast is not included. There is a somewhat pricey cafe with good food attached to the hotel.

If you can afford it, the Marriott on Canal Street offers guaranteed luxury in a great location. It is a short walk to Bourbon Street's bars and discos, convenient when you are walking back late at night. I know my best friend and I were thankful for the nearby location, stumbling back at 4am without being able to see straight anymore!

One unique feature of the Marriott is the pool on an upper floor. Rather than being in a first floor courtyard, the pool gives an outlook onto the city. It's an outdoor pool, and with the warm sun beating down, it feels as if it's heated.

Mama Rosa's almost never has a wait and they have delicious calzones. They also serve pizza. They are located on N. Rampart st on the French Quarter side. This is very convenient to those of us who are staying in the cheaper hotels on North Rampart.

There are many gourmet wonders in New Orleans. Mama Rosa's can't compare to the likes of Commander's Palace. However, it's a hot, tasty meal that you won't have to wait in line for.

Ignore the cheesy pamphlet - this tour is the best! It came highly recommended by the Hotel Provincial, and we are so glad we took it.

It was a short drive outside the city of New Orleans by air-conditioned van, and we arrived at the docks. A small covered boat awaited us, with a quiet motor that doesn't scare off the gators.

The guide told us all about gators, and periodically we would stop and he would feed the gators marshmallows and raw chicken. I snapped some great photographs as the alligators leaped up to grab the food in their massive jaws. They guarantee that you'll see one alligator, and we saw more than we could count. I guess they know it's feeding time when that boat comes around.

The scenery was breathtaking when we sailed into a quiet bayou. It was just like I had always imagined that the bayou would be like. I am so glad I had this experience.

Website: http://www.audubonzoo.com/zoo/index.htm

This zoo has some very rare animals, like an albino alligator, a komodo dragon, and orangutans. Its beautiful natural settings allow the animals to live in their own environment. You can tell they really care about the animals.

The zoo has a regional section, featuring animals of the bayou. This is a nice touch. Tips

1. Bring water! It gets hot in the zoo.
2. If you are staying in the French Quarter and haven't rented a car, a great deal is to take an Audubon Cruise from the Aquarium of the Americas to the zoo.
3. Cameras are a great way to take home a free souvenir.

A theatrical and historical tour through the French Quarter, a Mortuary Cathedral, and St. Louis #1. Attendees learn about religious practices of slaves, the mourning of widows, the unique way that bodies decompose in the sub-tropical climate of New Orleans, and of course voodoo. Every voodoo tour stops at Marie Laveau's tomb.

What is special about the tours given by the Voodoo Museum is that you get a free pass to the museum and a mini-tour of it. It would be very hard to figure out what some of the artifacts in the museum are for without a tour guide.

Some bystanders were heckling my tour guide, as she showed us the alleged House of the Rising Sun. I would take any information on the tour with a grain of salt. True or not, it sure is fun.

Bonus: When my friend and I showed up early, we were brought upstairs to see the snakes used in voodoo cemetaries. A snake-lover myself, this was a special treat.

The French Market is a major outdoor market. Near Cafe Du Monde, it is more upscale, selling fresh vegetables and spices. As you progress through, you get to a great little flea market. Any overpriced souvenir found in any store on Bourbon or Decatur can also be purchased here for much, much less. Besides, you have the power of bargaining. I usually come here and pick up all of my souvenirs - knockoff designer pens, jewelry, masks and beads for the folks at home. If you underpacked and need an emergency pair of socks or a t-shirt, you can get some here.

There are also some stands on the perimeter selling what can only be called hippie clothing. These are a mixed bag. While I met one friendly proprietor who told us all about New Orleans, another stand-owner informed me that I was too large to fit into any of her clothing. I neglected to buy any souvenirs from her, even though I had considered buying a scarf.

Ever since my first trip, I have been trying to get a picture of myself on the Bourbo-Cam. Last time I went, I brought a cellphone. In the pouring rain, we stood in front of the Bourbocam and called our co-workers. They took a screen capture from the Bourbo-Cam. Not only did it amuse our office mates back in New Hampshire, but it gave us a hokey souvenir.

You can get on the Bourbo-Cam by standing directly across from the Cat's Meow on Bourbon Street. Then get your friends back home to look at this website.