New Orleans: Life Away From Bourbon Street

The “Accidental Tourist” Explores “The Big Easy”

Living in the Houston area for over a decade, I’ve managed to avoid traveling to New Orleans for a bunch of reasons. With a reputation as a partying town, it’s not high on my list of cities to spend my free time. Having said that, this trip was to celebrate a birthday. Orbiting the earth once a year is a pretty big deal, so the old rules get tossed out the window. The only thing was to spend as little time on Bourbon Street as possible. NOLA has so many other things to offer, so I spent the bulk of this adventure exploring those areas.

Road Trip

At some point, you’d think someone would enact the novel idea of train service between Houston and New Orleans. Imagine, parking your car and letting someone else drive between the two gulf coast cities that have been linked for decades. You could enjoy wifi, food, cocktails and even sleep. It would be especially good for the return trip when most partygoers are hung over and shouldn’t really be on I-10 westbound anyway. The last time I checked though, Amtrak hadn’t called so that plan is still on the drawing board, my personal drawing board to be exact. We left Houston around 9ish, hoping to arrive in New Orleans before 4pm. Dinner reservations were at 6. Who wants to be late for dinner? The short version, after first being stuck in Houston construction traffic and hours later watching two funnel clouds form on Lake Pontchartrain we pulled in New Orleans shortly before 4.

Easy Exploring

I made dinner reservations for all three nights in New Orleans. A lot of research went into the selections, as the food choices here are extremely diverse. Spectacular food is everywhere, so why settle for ordinary, First was Red Fish Grill. Probably the most tourist laden of my choices but the mixture of top shelf dining to my left, and the table for 10 (looking for bud light and paper plates) made this visit worth every second. Shortly after our departure, we began to wander around the quarter. Sunday evenings are for the most part quiet. The previous few days had been rainy here, which also helped thin the crowds. We walked past French themed dining, live music on the streets, and of course, Lafayette Square. It had been a long day driving, and we eventually retired to our hotel, The Saint, and their lobby quiet bar.

On the first full day, Cafe du Monde had to be the starting point. While very much a “tourist” destination, the beignets and coffee are very good and the prices are reasonable. Finding a table was easy enough, only after realizing we’d cut in line to sit down. Oh well. After a sugar and caffeine filled breakfast, we were off to explore.

A Streetcar Through History

On this day we celebrated a birthday. Again, life around the sun is no easy feat. The St. Charles Streetcar would be our chariot on this day in history. First though, getting tickets and figuring out where to get on and eventually get off! After a short tour (interrupted by rain showers, we rode the entire length of this historic route. In case you didn’t know. The St. Charles Street Car line is the oldest continuous street car in the world, dating back to 1835. I’ll have more on this slice of history later. On this day, it was a quick ride and then back to the French Quarter where we walked the side streets, practiced photography, picked up a charm for her bracelet and then headed back to hotel to prepare for dinner. One of the coolest things we saw was a chilling alley, leading to the House of Blues. On this evening, a restaurant called G.W. Fins. The food was nothing short of amazing. The service was top notch and this operation paid attention to the details. Sitting down for dinner, when she was handed a menu, personalized with her name on it, and a birthday message. As I’m not a foodie photographer, I didn’t pull out my bulky camera to take photos and perhaps ruin the moment, so you’ll have to trust me on this part of the trip as I have zero photographic support. On the way back to the hotel, we did find a cool local bar, with the oddest hours I’ve ever seen. They had live music early in the afternoon, happy hour until 6 and then closing around 9. Each time we were there, the place was full and I was amazed the closed so early.

The Last (full) Day

On the last full day in New Orleans, we explored a host of places, some known, others away from traditional tourist destinations. The first stop was the Audubon Park. Until this visit, I had no idea the of the Audubon presence in New Orleans. From the park to the zoo, and of course the pristine neighborhood, the family mark is all over this community. We again, took the trolley car to the Tulane University stop, got off the trolley and began to explore Audubon Park. There, people were out walking, running and exploring. I noticed a few photographers doing portrait work there. The backdrops were incredible and I’m sure the clients were happy with the photographic work here. We then walked back over to the trolley line to take a few photos of this historic trains. Here, there’s a lot of down time, as the trolley were running about 10 minutes apart. Satisfied with our work, we waved down a train to head to our next destination, the World War II museum.

The National World War II Museum

No matter what I say, words will never do justice for this amazing collection of American history. For me, the word “powerful” comes to mind. My heart gets light when I visit this place. First, I am a military history buff. Also at the New Zion Baptist Church cemetery in Lightfoot, Virginia, there are a few men with the name Jones, who served during “this war to end all wars.” This trip marked my third visit. Each time, the experience has been different as this center to commemorate history is constantly evolving, never becoming stagnant. Spearheaded by World War II Historian, and Louisiana native Stephen Ambrose (who wrote numerous books on the era, and became a household name following the release of the HBO series “Band of Brothers.”), the museum opened on June 6th, 2000, the 56th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day invasion. TripAdvisor rates the National World War II museum as #4 in the United States, and #11 in the world as museums to visit.

All That Jazz

After an amazing dinner at Superior Seafood, in the New Orleans Garden District, we headed back to the French Quarter for our final night. While busy exploring, we wanted to make sure to experience some New Orleans jazz before leaving town. Walking around a bit, we finally asked two valets for a nearby hotel. They directed us to a jazz destination called “Fritzels Jazz.” Wow, what a cool place and the live music was amazing. While we didn’t close the place down, we did hang around for several sets. The piano and trumpet players were especially impressive.

Another unforgettable adventure in the books. There were so many places I wanted to explore like Treme, but simply ran out of time. From one “Accidental Tourist” to another, thanks for reading. As always, don’t forget to tell someone you love them. You might make their day.

This trip is dedicated with love to all who call the Gulf Coast home. Each hurricane season they hold a collective breath for their safety, life, family and property.

~ Glenn, “The Accidental Tourist”