QOTD #57: Have you ever visited New Orleans?

I went once for a conference, once with friends. The drinking and shopping culture was pretty dominant when we were there. I did enjoy wandering up and down the streets, but it was crowded both times (February near Mardi Gras and Memorial Day Weekend). I really wanted to explore the cemeteries and some of the galleries. Oh, the Audubon Zoo was a lot of fun, I forgot about that.

 

I've been twice during Mardi Gras. I don't have much to add because both times I didn't get very far outside of the French Quarter, and drank copious amounts of alcohol.

I would like to return during a "slow" time for tourism, and spend several days checking out the city and the surrounding areas.

 

ZS & I went down with a couple other friends of ours for their Spring Break one year. It was right after Mardi Gras, if I remember correctly. We, uh, did not participate in many "family friendly" activities.


That said, the architecture and just... the general vibe of the city was amazing. I will absolutely go back one day, and check out some of the tourist-y stuff we kinda planned on, but didn't actually do—like walk around the Garden District, take a boat ride through the swamps, visit the aquarium & the butterfly garden, the antique carousel, the churches & cemeteries...

Bourbon Street was a lot of fun. Every bar had a live band, the restaurants were awesome, and you could buy daiquiris as tall as me. Not so much for the kiddos, though, at least not after the sun goes down.

 

I did visit the well-known voodoo shop. I can't recall the name, but I got creeped out and left after a couple of minutes.

 

I did and felt the same way, I took my family to The French Quarter in the morning time for Benjays and cream. I will not go there at night, place is creepy. It is full of all the pleasures that can make a good man do a bad thing

 

On one Mardi Gras visit I went with a group of friends (the trip getting there is a story by itself) and met up with some other friends. The weather was great, the nights were warm.

The other Mardi Gras trip I took by myself. The days were great, but once the sun went down the temps very quickly dropped into the low 30s; by 8:00PM it was freezing. The only people on the street at night were very few brave tourists, and people who were only out on the street because they had no place to go.

 

A common question people ask me upon finding out I'm a jazz musician is whether I've been to New Orleans. I haven't. It's not really the world's jazz capital and it hasn't been for decades.

I *would* like to go, however.

 

Those folks clearly don't keep up jazz. If there are any serious & real jazz (not the tourist crap) clubs in NO, they're way off the beaten path.

 

I have been three times. Twice with my exwife—the first for her college best friend's wedding and the second as a group trip with some of her friends—and once with my parents.

In addition to some amazing food, I thoroughly enjoyed the National World War II Museum, the Pharmacy Museum, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

I would like to return, bring my camera, and make taking photographs the hallmark of my stay there.

 

simple answer..

no, ive never been. not that i wouldnt like to go, i would like to go. but i dont get out much. i have friends that have been and they say its great for sight seeing, activities and they said that the food is fucking great