New Orleans - Experience
New Orleans, or Nawlins, as the locals call it, is a tasty gumbo stew of African, French, Spanish, Italian and German cultures. America still comes to party in the birthplace of jazz and, above the water line, the good times still roll.
Watch the artists, tarot card readers, street performers and horse-drawn carriages in the French Quarter's Jackson Square, part of the 20% of New Orleans that escaped the fury of Hurricane Katrina. As night falls, have a ball on Bourbon Street.
Buy Mardi Gras trinkets, voodoo dolls or love and passion spells in the French Quarter. Arty people retreat to the Warehouse District galleries. Fashionistas browse Magazine Street and chi chi shopping malls such as Canal Place. Don't leave without stocking up on Creole recipes and spices.
City Park is an oasis of towering oaks, Spanish moss and duck-filled ponds. It is a popular spot for jogging, fishing or just going for a stroll. On the far side of Lake Pontchartrain, bike or hike around New Orleans Northshore. Kayak through pristine marshes or search for alligators on a swamp tour in the bayous.
The birthplace of jazz still swings. Hear old-time jazz at the tiny Preservation Hall or drink a fruity rum Monsoon cocktail to the sound of something more contemporary at Frenchman Street's Snug Harbor. Peruse bayou-inspired paintings at the Casell Gallery in the French Quarter or the contemporary artwork at the Arthur Roger Gallery in the Warehouse District.
Traditional Creole or New Orleans fare is rich and flavoursome, with specialities such as oysters Rockefeller (in cheese and spinach sauce), shrimp remoulade (in spicy sauce) and rich, rum-infused bananas foster. Cajun is more 'po' folk' food, such as gumbo (a brothy combination of spices, rice, shrimp, sausage) and jambalaya (sans broth but another tasty hodgepodge of spices, rice and meat or seafood). Drinks are packed with bourbon and rum. Pat O'Brien's rum-filled Hurricane can make you feel like your head has been inside a storm.
Woldenberg Riverfront Park sits between the French Quarter and the Mississippi. Surrounded by magnolia trees, its red-brick walkway cuts a tranquil path between the Aquarium of the Americas and Jackson Square.
