One of legs on our epic North American trip was New Orleans. The attraction for Darryl and I was not necessarily getting legless and stumbling our way up Bourbon St (no judgment here, just not my style). Instead, it was HBO’s Treme:
Obviously, we aren’t going to visit every place we love on TV but there was something about the draw of New Orleans. The food, the music, the history, the slightly odd unusual side to America which just doesn’t exist anywhere else (or if it does, I haven’t discovered it). I read an article about Bourbon St. on an Air New Zealand flight a few months before Hurricane Katrina. I remember sitting on my flight and thinking that New Orleans was a must-see on my world travel list.
The impact of Katrina was evident to us even years later. I was moved when biking through the Treme I saw houses still damaged (years later) and the tell-tale signs sprayed as houses were checked. This was a sad reminder for a visitor of what this city has been through in recent years. However, this blog is not about that. As a traveler I don’t feel as if I can adequately comment on what this city has been through (and continues to go through) or the resilience required to live amid that chaos.
So, what do you do in New Orleans if you don’t want to get rip-roaring drunk and are traveling with a 14 year old? This was the challenge facing us as we arrived on our flight from Baltimore.
We checked into our very family friendly, budget conscious hotel in O’Keefe Avenue so it was only a short walk to the French Quarter. Staying just these few blocks out saved us quite a bit of money. When we were in NOLA the city seemed to be overrun with conscientious young Christians from around the country who were there for some kind of festival/jamboree type thing and it seemed that all of the reasonably priced accommodation in the heart of things was booked. We only booked our accommodation a few days before which is always a gamble.
Things to do:
Aside from walking around the French Quarter, we opted into a few family friendly activities.
Exploring on bike:
We hired some old-school bikes from Bike Rental New Orleans and explored further afield. I swear our family were the only ones wearing helmets. I loved our white walled tires and retro bikes. The service here was amazing. The guy pointed out some must see attractions and the best places for po-boys, snoballs, and poutine.
We rode up to the New Orleans Museum of Art and Sculpture Garden to explore. I loved this space. It was great to get some shade from the intense heat of the sun. There are so many sculptures set amid lovely garden. My favourite was “Karma” by Do Ho Suh.
Our next stop was to try a local delicacy – a snowball. We went to Sal’s Sno-Ball Stand (1823 Metairie Ave, Metairie) with low expectations but still to this day rave about the delicious sweetness of the syrup covered ice. Who knew that two simple ingredients could taste so delicious. This was a welcome addition to our cycle trip as it was hot (read very, very, very hot) and quite muggy as a storm was coming in.
We then ambled through the Treme. This was sobering as there were still houses with the spray paint on them from the search and rescue post-Katrina.
We rode across the downtown area to the garden district to dine on some po’boys. Tracey’s is a New Orleans institution and while we arrived soaked to the skin after cycling through a summer storm, the food was well-worth the journey.
So unhealthy but so delicious! Po’ Boys and chips with gravy were just thing after a long bike ride in the rain.
This is such an easy city to cycle through. We returned the bikes feeling really satisfied that our day had been well-spent and we were well-fed.
A day in the French Quarter:
Brunch was at the iconic Cafe du Monde. We opted to line up for a table so we could eat and grab a coffee. I’m sure that this line was actually shorter than the takeaway option. The food here did not disappoint.
Our next few hours were spent wandering through the French Quarter. One of the things I love about travelling is meeting other people – we spent a lot of time speaking with a local Cajun man who had spent his whole like in NOLA working as a mask maker. You couldn’t script this stuff! (he spotted us as tourists as Caleb was trying to get the perfect jumping photo in front of St. Louis Cathedral and I think he thought he could help us take a family photo instead).
Our next step was to venture towards the French Market to look around and (if we decided that we were hungry) grab some lunch. It was great to see the mix of culture here. Caleb and I purchased some (slightly creepy) voodoo items. Darryl never buys anything when we’re away but was even taken with a spot of shopping down here.
My shopping mettle was tested at one of the local (amazingly glamorous) boutiques Trashy Diva. I loved the vintage and vintage inspired clothes. The service was amazing and I still regularly check in to this website from NZ. New Orleans is so cool it hurts!
We finished our French Quarter exploration with music at the Preservation Hall. This is a great way to introduce your children to Jazz if they are not quite ready to stay up for live music in the evening. We stood in line for a while to ensure that we made our show of choice. The hall opened in 1961 and stands as an institution. Tickets can be purchased online but we opted to line up and pay about $15 per person. Inside, we were treated to renditions of old faves and when a spirited old lady dropped her $20 in the hat for “When the saints come marching in” we experienced something amazing.
Music and dinner:
Music is indeed the food of love and New Orleans is full of it. We chose to explore the options around Frenchman St to dine and mix with locals, rather than the more commercial and alcohol-fueled Bourbon St. Our first night was dinner and live music at Maison. We loved this place – the food was gorgeous, the music was utterly appropriate to the environment and they were really good about us bringing a music-mad 14 year old into a bar.
On our second night, we chose not to return to Maison but instead try somewhere close by. While we enjoyed the food and music at the Three Muses were great, we were wet from walking in a storm to get here, cramped in, and sitting in an awkward position too close to the door. We just didn’t love the whole feel but would probably feel differently if we were more comfortable.
We felt that we just scratched the surface on all that New Orleans can offer. I would love to go back now that Caleb is an adult and see how the city is without a child in tow.
The Peterson Odyssey 