The Best of New Orleans

Many tourists never wander off of Bourbon street, which is a pity. New Orleans is so much more than a street full of drunken tourists. To see the real New Orleans, venture outside the French Quarter and into the places the locals know and love. New Orleans can be a great place for romantics, for friends,and for families. From swamp tours to historic plantations to ghost and vampire tours, this truly is a city with 'something for everyone'.

Quick Tips:

Bathrooms in the French Quarter can be hard to find, especially during Mardi Gras. During the day, try the riverfront malls, like Jackson Brewery and the Riverwalk. At night, just go buy a drink somewhere and use their bathroom. Some places you might even be able to get away with not buying anything, though most places insist on the 'restrooms only for customers' rule.

Best Way To Get Around:

The French Quarter itself is definitely made for walking. Parking is plentiful in lots, except during Mardi Gras, but can get expensive. To get out of the Quarter, a car is recommended. If you don't plan on staying in the Quarter past midnight, parking is always cheaper across the river in Algiers, and the ferry ride is free. (The ferry stops running at midnight, so watch the time if you choose this route.) The New Orleans police don't hesitate at ticketing and towing from illegal parking spots or when meters run out, so keep that in mind if you attempt to park on the street during the day.

Café du Monde is quintessential New Orleans. In the heart of the French Quarter, across from Jackson Square, the café features a limited menu but loads of atmosphere. It’s been in the same place since 1862, and it’s easy to find. The café only serves beignets and a small selection of drinks. Most highly recommended is the café au lait, a half-chicory coffee-half- milk concoction. You can get the coffee black, but be warned, it’s thick and strong! For kids, milk and juice are other options.

My favorite time to go is at 3 AM, when the streets are almost quiet and the café is like a beacon in the fog coming off the river. But beignets are tasty anytime, and worth experiencing mornings, days and nights. On busy days, you have to act fast. When someone leaves a table, grab it before someone else does. If you stand around waiting for a waiter to clean it, someone else will jump in and you’ll end up standing around for hours. You can eat inside if you want, but in my opinion it’s not nearly as fun. CDM is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

This is the 'other' beignet place in New Orleans. Locals have been arguing for years whether Morning Call or Café du Monde serves the best 'donuts', as locals call beignets. Morning call used to be in the French Quarter too, but they moved to Metarie years ago. They still look like old New Orleans, though. You can sit at tables or counters in the little building, watching yourself in the mirrors on the walls. The only things on the menu at Morning call are coffee, beignets, milk, and hot chocolate, but that doesn’t stop the place from being packed. Morning call is extremely popular with locals. During the school year, it’s common to see local high schoolars in formals at the Morning Call after school dances. If you see them, be thankful it’s not you who has to clean all that white powder off their dresses. The powdered sugar at Morning Call is probably the biggest difference between it and CDM. Morning Call lets you put the sugar on the donuts yourself. The sugar is in glass containers on the tables, you just pour it on.

The number one rule for eating here- don’t wear black. You’ll end up with white spots everywhere.

Morning Call is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you’re dreaming of the French side of New Orleans culture, this restaurant in Jackson square features French antiques and authentic French food. The line here is always long, for good reason. A case of pastries - Napoleons, croissants filled with fruit, tarts- faces the front door, and people often just go here for the pastries. Too bad for them, because around the corner of the pastry case is a glass window full of amazing French food. Quiches and puff pastries are among the offerings behind the glass window. The food here is consistently fresh, hot and rich. This is not a place to eat every day, but an indulgence. Bread, baked fresh at the café, is included with all meals. After you get your food, you sit at rustic tables looking out French doors onto Jackson Square, where painters and tarot card readers are plentiful. This place fits in New Orleans, it goes well with the cobblestone streets and parade of people passing by. It can also be quaintly romantic, so if you’re in town with your sweetie, this is a great spot for lunch. La Madeleine is a treat to the senses, just like New Orleans itself.

As if New Orleans didn’t have enough world-class attractions, it also features a top-5 rated aquarium. If your idea of an aquarium is a couple of tanks with a few colorful fish in them, then you really need to visit this aquarium. Like the zoo in New Orleans, the aquarium is set up in themes. You start out in the waters of the Caribbean, meeting creatures like sharks, turtles and seahorses. The walk-through tank at the beginning of your journey gives you a first glimpse of how exciting this place can be. You move along through various aquatic ecosystems of the world. The focus may be on the sealife, but the aquarium has made sure that the entire ecosystems have been represented, to give you a real feel for the different regions. The tropical rain forest area takes you above and below the canopy, on a boardwalk in the trees and alongside tanks featuring Amazon river fish. You can go face to face with a piranha here, or if you prefer, have a conversation with the manahs who also live in this exhibit. In the Gulf of Mexico area, local birds like a hawk, an eagle, and an owl join the fish in watching visitors pass under the replica of an oil rig platform. Other areas take you to the Pacific Northwest and the Mississippi River.

Some of the most popular exhibits with the younger set are the penguins and the sea otters. If you catch the otters at feeding time, you’re in for a real treat. The keepers give them food trapped inside toys, so the otters have to think to get it out.

Another exhibit getting a lot of attention is the collection of jellyfish, the largest such collection in the US. Watching these delicate creatures is amazing. The lighting of the exhibit highlights their glowing forms, and some people sit in this room for hours.

When you’re tired of the jellyfish, you can also check out the new seahorse exhibit, just opened in March. It also features Seadragons from Australia, a rare animal for US aquariums to have.

You stop to rest at a boardwalk overlooking the plains. A mosquito hovers around lazily in the afternoon heat. Across the plain, you spot a zebra, a rhinoceros, an ostrich. Are you on safari in the wilds of Africa? No, you’re in the African Savanna of Audubon Zoo. Consistently named one of the top zoos in the US, Audubon Zoo is also one of the largest. Aside from the African plains, you can immerse yourself in the Asian Domain, the Australian Outback, and of course, the Louisiana Swamp. Each theme area could be a small zoo in it’s own right. If those aren’t enough, though, smaller areas are also scattered across the park, from the Creatures of the Night building to the Reptile Encounter to the giant walk-through bird cage. There are over 1500 animals in the zoo, along with centuries- old oaks with branches that reach down to touch the ground, welcoming young climbers to come join the plentiful squirrel population. If there’s an animal the zoo doesn’t have yet, you can be sure they’re in the process of getting one (or more!) Recent additions have included a Komodo dragon and two new white tigers to replace their original who died of cancer last year. There’s also an area dedicated entirely to kids, with a petting zoo, a discovery trail where zookeepers let you pet live animals,and a playground.

On an amusing note, don’t forget to look for Monkey Hill, near the swamp exhibit entrance. This hill was built in the 1930’s to show the children of New Orleans what a hill was. It is the tallest hill in the area to this day.

If you think Mardi Gras is just a bunch of drunk people doing stupid things on Bourbon Street, you've never been to the real Mardi Gras.

Many visitors never see the parades that are a hallmark of Mardi Gras, since they stay inside the French Quarter their entire visit. No parades are allowed to ride in the historic heart of the city, and the closest they come is the bordering Canal street.

To get the real parade experience, get a copy of the local paper, the Times Picayune, which lists parade routes across the city. Other free guides are available with the same information at various stores across town.

Parades take on a different character in different parts of the city. If you are with young children, the Gretna and Terrytown parades on the West Bank ( across the Mississippi river from the French Quarter area) are a good choice, since these are suburbs with a lot of local kids. Mention you’re from out of town and those local children will often help yours 'catch the best stuff'. Remember to pick up a box of Popeyes fried chicken for a picnic while waiting for the parades.

For the college crowd, catch the parades on St Charles near Tulane and Loyola Universities. For general Mayhem, try Canal street, near the French Quarter. You’ll see the most flesh here, so this is not a good area to bring the kids. The parades themselves have unique personalities. The West Bank and Chalmette area parades tend to be laid back and family oriented. Here is where you’ll see kids yelling for 'Uncle Joe' to throw them something from the float, and high school band members telling parents in the crowd 'go get me a bottle of water and bring it to me at the end of Terry Parkway.' On Mardi Gras day, these areas are where you’ll still see families dressed in costume. Costume shops around the city make it easy to get your own family involved, or you can plan ahead and make your own costume at home.

The old line parades, Proteus and Rex, are the most formal. Originally four krewes, the other two stopped parading during the 90s for various political reasons. These two, one on Mardi gras day itself and the other the night before, showcase some of the most beautiful costumes and floats. They parade in the heart of the city.

On the weekend before Mardi Gras, Endymion and Bacchus parade Saturday and Sunday nights respectively. These two are the biggest parades of the season and the most elaborate. If you miss all other parades, catch these two.

Zulu is another favorite of natives and tourists alike. This historically African-American krewe has an unusual 'throw' - coconuts. Since its illegal and dangerous for them to actually throw the coconuts, you have to get a float riders attention for him to hand you one. This is probably the most prized 'throw' in the city.

Aside from the parades, another 'must do' for New Orleans’ Mardi Gras is to stop at a local bakery (McKenzies is the best seller) and pick up a King Cake. Kids of all ages love these, especially when you follow the local tradition of making whoever gets the piece with the plastic baby doll inside is 'Mardi Gras King or Queen for the day.'

A new arrival on the parade scene, Orpheus offers paradegoers something no other krewe does- an open invitation to their ball. The parade and party are both held on Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras.

Whatever you choose to do for Mardi Gras, have a fun and safe time!