New Orleans?

[Mrs. Bradbury]

We have been gifted a week at a condo in NOLA next month.

We're so excited! We've never been and I would love suggestions for budget stuff to do. The condo is in the French Quarter - Bourbon Street, I think, and has a balcony.

My husband is 3 years sober so one thing we won't be doing is drinking. We will also have our 14 year old son. Taking those two things into account, anything else we're game for. Please advise where we can get some great meals and amuse ourselves.

 

[fostrmom2mny]

OK, I'm no expert here by NO means! That being said, there is a waterfront not far from Bourbine (SP) street. The trolly system is cool! I live in OKlahoma where people are buried underground. You must stop and see where they burry people above ground and you can get there on the trolly system. I havent been since before Katrina, there were other nice sight seeing southern sights that we seen while riding the trolley. Hopefully someone who knows more will respond for you.

 

[Gigi22]

Haven't visited NOLA since Katrina. As I recall we had a great time taking the streetcar to the end of the line, because it allowed us to see the amazing old houses. We also toured the botanical gardens and the aquarium--not sure if either survived the storm intact. We took a half day city tour that included a stop at one of the older cemetaries, and were advised not to wander off on our own because people had been mugged in the cemetary.
Go to Cafe du Monde--great chicory coffee, as cafe au lait--and amazing, messy beignets covered in powdered sugar.

 

[MelaBella]

I want to say this very gently and I'm afraid it won't come across that way, but I think you should know...

Even if it were free, I would never stay in the French Quarter with a minor or someone who is trying to stay sober. There is just too much temptation for someone who struggles with alcohol addiction, especially on Bourbon Street. The street is lined with bars (doors open) and take-out daquiri/hurricane stands. Ninety percent of the people you walk past will have a drink in their hand.

As for your son, you should know that sex is blatant everywhere in the French Quarter. You may see strippers hanging out the doors of the clubs on Bourbon, signs that are provocative, and sex toys are in ALL of the gift shops. Females may expose their breasts in public (this does not just happen during Mardi Gras). All of this may or may not be a problem for you, but I think you should be aware.

There are some low-cost and fun things to do in New Orleans that don't revolve around alcohol and sex, but I would not recommend staying in the French Quarter with your circumstances. By the way, I love the French Quarter and have been many times. I even got engage there and honeymooned there. However, I would politely decline the offer if I were in your shoes.

ETA: The French Quarter has always had a fairly high level of crime, but since Katrina, you really do need to be super careful. None of you should walk the Quarter alone after dusk. You also need to stay within a certain few blocks after dark; basically, the center two or three blocks of the Quarter (Orleans and Toulouse) from Bourbon down to the river front.

 

[MelaBella]

The best jambalaya is at a little bar/restaurant on Decatur Street across from the market. It is called Coop's Place.

The zoo and aquarium are popular tourist attractions and not too expensive. There is a mall down by the river and the Jax Brewery at the south end of the French Quarter is a mini-mall.

You can take a carriage ride around the French Quarter and the driver will usually point out places of interest.

There are ghost and cemetary tours. DO NOT go to the cemetary on your own. We also took a daytime city walking tour many years ago. They probably still offer those.

Beignets at Cafe du Monde are a must.

Jackson square - there will be artists there selling their work, but it's fun just to look. There will also be buskers and tarrot card readers there.
I believe you can still tour St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson square at certain times.

This is a good website for info: http://www.neworleans.com/

 

[Planogirl]

We took DS to NOLA when he was a minor teen and we just avoided Bourbon at night. You might see some questionable pictures on the windows of some of the establishments but Bourbon isn't too bad in the daytime. It does get rowdy and noisy at night though so we would veer down the side streets and stay close to Jackson Square or Decatur. Not perfect but way better than Bourbon.

We took a haunted tour one evening that was fun. There are also great places to eat. I think of NOLA as being all about food because it's so good. There is the zoo, lots of museums, the riverboat rides... there is a lot to do. I'd check out the websites.

 

[Gigi22]

I must add that my DH inadvertently walked into what we call a 'travesty' bar in the French Quarter one day. I had to go in and fish him out. It was slowly dawning on him that the lovely ladies surrounding him were in fact men, poor darling.

I wouldn't say that the French Quarter in NOLA is much more sex-oriented than similar areas in, for example, Key West or even some areas in downtown Montreal. We did find that liquor was omni-present, with daiquiri shops open in the morning in shopping plazas.

 

[Gigi22]

Double post--my bad!

 

[matt98378]

We were actually just in NOLA on Friday. We went to the aquarium and were very impressed. The zoo and insectarium are supposed to be good as well, but we didn't get a chance to go to that. They have tickets online that can get you into all those attractions plus the IMAX I believe for about $35 per person.

We also drove past the WW2 museum which looked a lot cooler than I thought it would be -- we hope to do this next time we are there. They have a soda shop next door.

There are also lots of tour to go on -- city tours, haunted tours, swamp tours, Katrina tours, etc. Here is a website that has more: http://www.graylineneworleans.com/

I do agree with the PP's about the crime. You must be VERY careful -- if anyone comes up to you, do not talk to them and keep on moving. It gets worse after dark. There is TONS of alcohol there, especially on Bourbon St. People can walk around with open containers -- the only rule is that it has to be in a plastic cup. As previously mentioned, there are lots of strip clubs on Bourbon St. as well with girls just hanging out at the door trying to call you in. We went there for our first time in October and while walking in the French Quarter (but NOT on Bourbon St.) we saw: (1) a topless girl just walking around w/ a guy; (2) a 60 year old man who thought he was a super hero; and (3) a scary tap dancing clown.

It is a truly unique and interesting city. If possible, it might be better to try to stay in the Garden District, though -- much less alcohol and more family oriented atmosphere than the French Quarter. Just be careful, always be aware of your surroundings, and don't go driving around -- stay in the touristy areas.

HTH!

 

[North of Mouse]

I am from 35mi. of NOLA and I can say I would NEVER venture on Bourbon St at night. During the day it is fine and nothing out of the ordinary if you stay on the street. The nicest thing about the city IMO is the French Quarter. The River Walk is great on a pretty day, and a don't miss is beignets at Cafe du Monde. The River Walk Mall is great and the Food Court is the place to eat if you want to try some great cajun dishes, especially Mike Andersens. You can sit inside and watch the boats on Miss. River or eat right outside right on the water. It is a very interesting experience. Ride the St.Charles street car through the Garden District. The French Market (covered, open air) is nice, but has never fully recovered to pre-Katrina. Even we don't go much beyond these perimeters anymore. One more thing, my dh and db went to the WW2 museum and they said it was huge and awesome. You can also take a riverboat excursion on the Miss. I go home once a year now and always go down for a day and play tourist, but I would NEVER live there. It's a very interesting place to visit, period. There are more things to do in the French Market area, but those are our highlights. Enjoy

 

[Sunny37]

The WWII museum is great, your 14 year old would probably like it. We live a couple hours from New Orleans and visit frequently...some of our favorite restaurants are Cafe Masperos, Johnny's Poboys, The Camelia Grill (great breakfast!), Deanie's seafood, and K-Paul's (for lunch).

 

[Doodlebug939]

I lived in New Orleans for six years. There are some wonderful things to do there. My children have been in the French Quarter during the day. At night it is definately adults only with lots of crazy (fun) people and a huge amount of alchohol.

Will you be there during Mardi Gras. If so the parades are free entertainment and as long as you move away from the French Quarter for the parade itself then your family will enjoy it. I think we always went on Saint Charles.

Our family enjoyed the Aquarium and Zoo, and I would consider a swamp tour if it is warm enough. My family flipped for this. We even used the photo for our christmas card. The one we went on was http://www.jeanlafitteswamptour.com/
It was a pontoon boat and we got to hold a gator and really take in the beauty that New Orleans offers. I believe you would have to have a car but you could check if they have a shuttle. A drive out of the city and there is Oak Alley Plantation which is beautiful.

My son loved the WWII museum it is worth a couple of hours. My favorite resturaunt was Mothers Resturaunt. We loved their food and it is a little joint that offers good food that I thought was inexpensive. A lot of famous people have their photos on the wall. http://mothersrestaurant.net/

If you are looking for bad in New Orleans trust me it is there. If you are looking for fun entertainment it is there too. Just be sensible like you would in any city and enjoy this beautiful culturaly rich town.

 

[SaraJayne]

I want to say this very gently and I'm afraid it won't come across that way, but I think you should know...

Even if it were free, I would never stay in the French Quarter with a minor or someone who is trying to stay sober. There is just too much temptation for someone who struggles with alcohol addiction, especially on Bourbon Street. The street is lined with bars (doors open) and take-out daquiri/hurricane stands. Ninety percent of the people you walk past will have a drink in their hand.

As for your son, you should know that sex is blatant everywhere in the French Quarter. You may see strippers hanging out the doors of the clubs on Bourbon, signs that are provocative, and sex toys are in ALL of the gift shops. Females may expose their breasts in public (this does not just happen during Mardi Gras). All of this may or may not be a problem for you, but I think you should be aware.

There are some low-cost and fun things to do in New Orleans that don't revolve around alcohol and sex, but I would not recommend staying in the French Quarter with your circumstances. By the way, I love the French Quarter and have been many times. I even got engage there and honeymooned there. However, I would politely decline the offer if I were in your shoes.

ETA: The French Quarter has always had a fairly high level of crime, but since Katrina, you really do need to be super careful. None of you should walk the Quarter alone after dusk. You also need to stay within a certain few blocks after dark; basically, the center two or three blocks of the Quarter (Orleans and Toulouse) from Bourbon down to the river front.

This is pretty much what I was going to say.

If my husband was a recovering alcoholic and I was planning on taking a young teen, I'd choose elsewhere for a vacation.

 

[luvsJack]

I love NOLA and there is plenty to do that doesn't include drinking or bars. We take dd and a friend down every so often and we just tour the French Quarter. The buggy rides are lots of fun, and the drivers will show you places and tell you things that are very interesting.

All throughout the quarter there are street performers that are fun to watch. There is one group that we always stop and watch. Lots of gymnastic type tricks, dancing and comedy, I wish I knew their name but I don't remember. But if you are on Decatur, you will hear them announcing their show, right across from Jackson Square and in front of Cafe Dumond (sp?)

Love looking at all the paintings around Jackson Square some truly amazing artists, and many times there are musicians around and about.

The aquarium is amazing and so is the zoo and you can take a river boat ride between the two.

We venture into a lot of shops, just look at the name and whats in the window before going in, if you see something you don't want your 14 year old to see, don't go in.

Ghost tours, voo-doo tours, cemetery tours are all fun and interesting too.

And of course the food. All great.

With your hubbie, I would just agree to stay off Bourbon Street (except of course when you are in your condo) and make sure he knows how much drinking will be around him. At night the whole street is just one big party so just staying out of the bars isn't a solution.


ETA: I have NEVER seen a stripper hanging out of anything anywhere in the French Quarter, but maybe I have just been lucky. We did see some of the drag queens outside their club but they were fully clothed and were just talking to people, making jokes, etc to invite folks into the club. With that said, I wouldn't want my teen touring bourbon street at night.

 

[lunalibre]

There's lots to do in NOLA that doesn't involve drinking and bars. The aquarium is a lot of fun, and while we've never had time to do it, I've heard nothing but wonderful things about the WWII museum.

I would also go check out the Garden District. The old homes there are GORGEOUS. Frommer's has a walking tour you can print out for free. You can ride the St. Charles streetcar there from the Quarter. Once you're done exploring the Garden District, you can take the same streetcar down to the park (Old City Park, I think). Take a walk through there down to the zoo. The zoo is also supposed to be nice, but we've never made it. Magazine St runs right in front of the zoo. You can stroll down Magazine St. and shop your way back to the Quarter. When you get tired, hop the Magazine St. bus back to the Quarter.

I would think a teenage boy would love to go on a swamp tour - ride in an airboat, see alligators, etc. I also bet some of the ghost and cemetary tours would be a hit. We've used Bloody Mary's tours. She knows a ton about NOLA and its history, and her tours seemed a lot more personal than other options. PM me if you want to know more. Oh, you can also take bike tours. That could be fun for your son too.

For DH and me, a trip to NOLA is about two things: FOOD and MUSIC. IMHO, there's no excuse for eating bad food in NOLA. Do some homework, stash a list of restaurants, and have some options lined up no matter where you're going to be for the day. Oh - someone here mentioned Coop's for jambalaya, and while it's *amazing*, minors are not allowed in the restaurant due to the presence of video gambling machines.

One great option for y'all for music is Preservation Hall. Yes, it's traditional jazz, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it really is worth a stop. They do not serve any alcohol and there's no smoking, so you'll see kids as young as 4 or 5 in there. Harry Connick Jr. attended performances there as a kid, and starting performing there himself as a teenager. It's close to Bourbon St., but it's not *on* Bourbon St. DH and I have always felt perfectly safe in that part of the Quarter even until midnight (which was as late as we managed to stay awake, given that we're now Old Fogies).

I would recommend checking out Tripadvisor's New Orleans forum. The folks there are very friendly and knowledgeable, and they clued us in to a bunch of places to go we wouldn't have known about otherwise.

Now, all of that said, I don't know how hard it would be to visit NOLA with a recovering alcoholic. I would have no problems bringing my DS15 and DD12 for a visit, but...there's a LOT of alcohol around. Of course, there's trouble anywhere and everywhere if you're looking for it. And, having spent my entire life in heavily-Baptist Texas where entire swaths of the state are completely alcohol-free (can't buy it anywhere for miles and miles), it sure struck me as pretty in-your-face. I thought you ought to know so you can be prepared.

Feel free to PM me with any questions. I've only taken a couple of trips there, but we love NOLA and can't wait to go back. I've amassed quite a list of tips from my research.

Oh! Yet another thing I'll mention - NOLA is very much a "cash" town. It was shocking to us how many places were cash-only - expensive restaurants, tours, etc. Make sure you know where an ATM is or else bring a lot of cash with you. We usually charge everything because we can download all the budget information straight into Quicken, so we were kinda unprepared on our first visit. We brought twice as much cash as we thought we'd need and it was barely enough.

 

[Swan4Me]

Dont care how 'free it is-IF...and this is a BIG IF
IF the condo is actually smack in the Quarter-ON Bourbon street it will be beyond noisey all nite long-no way I'd stay there

This is the only city in America where open containers of alcohol roam the streets at all hours and it is too much for a recovering Alcoholic-lots hold giant plastic cups of alcohol. It really cant be imagined till you are there.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

This is the only city in America where open containers of alcohol roam the streets at all hours and it is too much for a recovering Alcoholic-lots hold giant plastic cups of alcohol. It really cant be imagined till you are there.

There are other places where people can walk around with alcoholic drinks. Las Vegas, Beale Street, Key West, Epcot (lol).

 

[NotUrsula]

OP, please give us two extra bits of info: what are your dates, and what block of Bourbon is the condo located in (you don't need to give us the actual address, just round to the nearest hundred)?

The reason that I ask is that Bourbon isn't all commercial. If your condo is NE of St. Philip Street it won't be difficult at all to avoid walking past bars, because that part of Bourbon is residential. Presumably if you are with your husband at all times when you are in town, you can keep him out of dedicated drinking establishments. Get your music fix at Preservation Hall -- they have no kitchen and they don't serve anything, not so much as a cup of water. (They also have no restrooms and essentially no chairs, fwiw. However, kids are allowed in.)

The dates matter in terms of your proximity to Mardi Gras.

The safety issues are all true, but I walk in the Quarter after dark and have not been accosted. The trick is to keep your valuables where they are not visible, keep your mind on what you are doing and don't dawdle, and stick to only the busiest streets at night on foot. Take a cab back to your condo if it is in a residential area. Obviously, I'm not talking really late at night, but for instance, a month ago I walked with my husband and children at around 8 pm up from Decatur to St. Charles on Iberville, then up Canal to Baronne, and absolutely no one bothered us.

PS: For the record, many kids who attend Cathedral Academy routinely walk to school, and it is located half a block off of Bourbon on Dumaine. The Quarter isn't a completely hostile environment for children.

 

[North of Mouse]

NotUrsula, just because you walked around the FQ at night and were ok does not make it a recommended practice. Being from the surrounding area (and especially since Katrina) I would not walk anywhere after dark, even on the River Walk. There has been problems (even in daylight) that doesn't always make news except locally and we know to watch our moves even in the safe areas and we always leave before dark. Too much precaution? Maybe, but being from there, better safe than sorry! It's a beautiful and unique area and we love it.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

OP here!

While I truly, sincerely appreciate the posters who expressed concern over my husband's sobriety, I'm not at all concerned about him falling off the wagon. I only said that because I thought normally drinking is a big part of the NO experience, and we won't be doing it. He stopped drinking on his own, cold turkey, and has never had a relapse. He's a Marine and has fortitude most of us (including myself!) only dream about.

The condo is owned by my former BIL, who is an investor in the Bacchus float. I haven't spoken with my nephew again to get particulars about the location but I'll report back when I do!

We live in the Atlanta area and will either be driving, flying, or Amtrak - whichever is cheaper. Although, I'm leaning toward the train if it's a close second. Anybody have advice or opinions/experiences?

As far as my son seeing something he shouldn't - while I consider us to be generally wholesome, we're not prudes. I'll prepare him for the possibility of nudity, but we won't seek it out. I appreciate the warning!

To those who asked - we won't be there during Mardi Gras. I believe that's later this month? We'll be there the middle of March.

We would definitely enjoy the WWII museum because we're history buffs and my husband's dad is a WWII vet (another Marine ) and the swamp tour. I'd like to have my cards read, and see the cemetaries and perhaps some of the old mansions. Question - are there gardens to see/tour in the garden district?

Can someone compare the TN aquarium and the GA aquarium with the NO one? We've been to the TN & GA ones multiple times and love aquariums.

We adore blues, but a little jazz goes a long way with us . . . and we love good food. Not fancy food, GOOD food.

Keep the advice coming, it's been very helpful!