Spirited Weekend Escape: New Orleans, Louisiana 👻🎃
10 years later, different celebrations but the same NOLA ⚜️
There is nowhere else like it. Not in the United States, not anywhere. New Orleans operates by its own rules, on its own clock, in its own key, and has been doing so for three centuries without apology.
About 10 years ago, I came to NOLA for an Alternative Spring Break to provide community services, taught a Junior Achievement class, and repainted houses for the Hurricane Katrina victims rather than the traditional Spring Break parties. 10 years later, I came back to the city to revisit the recoveries and the differences it achieved.
NOLA was founded by the French in 1718, shaped by the Spanish, transformed by the largest population of free Black people of any antebellum American city, and seasoned by Caribbean, African, and Native American influences that never fully separated. New Orleans is a place where culture did not arrive from somewhere else; it grew here out of the particular mix of people and circumstance that the Mississippi Delta produced, and it has been exporting that culture to the rest of the world ever since.
Jazz was born on these streets. So was the cocktail, the po’boy, and a culinary tradition that stands entirely apart from anything else in American cooking.
Travels:
Frontier | F9 4781: Philadelphia ➡️ New Orleans
🛫 15:12 EDT PHL (2h Late)
🛬 17:22 CDT MSY (2h 3m Late)
Duration: 3 hr, 10 min
Stay:
Holiday Inn New Orleans - Downtown Superdome (3-Star Hotel | 4.1 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈)
330 Loyola Ave, New Orleans, LA 70112
5-min walk to the Caesars Superdome & Smoothie King Center or 10-min walk to French Quarter.
Steps away from the Tulane or Poydras Streetcar stop.
Dining:
Bread & Butter (4.5 ⭐️ $$ 🏳️🌈 🚺 V) Cajun and Creole
814 Gravier St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Downtown diner with an affordable menu. Every dish comes in a huge portion.
Café du Monde (4.5 ⭐️ $ V) Coffee and Dessert
800 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Café du Monde is the oldest coffee shop opened in New Orleans since 1862. The coffee shop itself is open-air and located on Decatur Street in the French Quarter.
The menu has remained largely unchanged since its opening. It still features dark-roasted coffee with chicory (in black or au lait), beignets, white and chocolate milk, hot chocolate, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
The coffee shop is cash only, and exact change preferred.
Expect long lines and no reservations, but it moves quickly.
Tableau (4.4 ⭐️ $$$ 🏳️🌈 V) Cajun and Creole
616 St Peter St, New Orleans, LA
Great area to dine. The second floor balcony can over see the nearby Jackson Square and the river.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables, eligible for the dining credit.
Activities:
French Quarter
French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in the city and still its most magnetic, a dense grid of iron-lace balconies, candlelit restaurants, and music spilling from open doors at every hour.
Goldring Woldenberg Riverfront Park (4.6 ⭐️)
1 Canal St, New Orleans, LA 70130
A riverfront park filled with family-friendly activities, seasonal programming and community gatherings.
Nightlife:
Burbon St
Frenchmen Art Bazaar (4.7 ⭐️)
619 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Nighttime open-air art market. Open every night between 6pm to midnight.
30°/-90° (4.5 ⭐️)
520 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, LA 70116
One of the many high energy & jazz music venue on Frenchman St.
Rawhide Lounge (4.0 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈 $)
740 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70116
One of the many laid-back dive bar with a pool table in the French Quarter.
Oz New Orleans (4.0 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈 🚺 $)
800 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Oz is one of the premier dance club with a huge dance floor and balcony oversees the Bourbon Street.
Cafe Lafitte in Exile (4.4 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈 $$)
901 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Cafe Lafitte in Exile has been continuously operating since 1933. It claims to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States.
Razzo Bar & Grill (4.1 ⭐️ $)
511 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70130
Live Music Sunday to Thursday.
3 for 1 Drinks Everyday until 6pm.
