Planning a trip to New Orleans

[Littlefingers In The Air]

Does anyone in this community live in the area, or if not, can tell me a good deal of information about the area. I'd be staying at the India House Hostel, which would cost me only $20 a night for the three to four days I'd be staying. I plan to take the Megabus down to Atlanta and transfer to another bus from there. The bus from Cleveland to Atlanta both ways is going to cost me a grand total of $2, same with the bus from Atlanta to New Orleans. Has anyone been used the megabus enough to tell me about it?

[sologdin]

coming for jazz fest?

[Littlefingers In The Air]

coming for jazz fest?

yes sir. That and wrestlemania

Eta: I'd actually be there for about two weeks

[sologdin]

you'll be right on the canal streetcar line. you can pick up the loyola streetcar to take you to a block off the superdome for WWF, though that line is kinda a joke, covering an easily walkable eight blocks from FQ.

lemme know what you need to know. there's a few other new orleanians on here, too.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

you'll be right on the canal streetcar line. you can pick up the loyola streetcar to take you to a block off the superdome for WWF, though that line is kinda a joke, covering an easily walkable eight blocks from FQ.

lemme know what you need to know. there's a few other new orleanians on here, too.

thanks in advance for your help. The megabus apparently stops on Bienville Avenue, in between North Front Street and North Peter Street. How far is that from Superdome and how far is it from South Lopez Street?

How exactly does the street car work? I see I can get a 3 day pass for a street car for $9 but I'm completely unfamiliar with the concept.

What are some good places to eat? I'd prefer to eat at a nice seafood restaurant at least once while I'm there. I hear Deanies Seafood is a good place. Is that close to anywhere I'd be?

What else is there to do in the city? I want to really enjoy myself.

[sologdin]

north front & bienville is in the FQ, basically on the river. i'd advise not walking to lopez from there. the canal line will take you to the hostel. superdome is reasonably close to FQ, but not to your lodging. streetcar is like a bus, but on light rail!

food is something else entirely. the city is for eating. if you've got two weeks, no reason not to try a bunch of places. the city otherwise is a mix of music, heavy drinking, bourbon street strip clubs, and men made of murder. there's plenty of Old Shit. go to napoleon house. go to the art museum, go to the WW2 museum, the confederacy museum. take the st. charles line down and back. walk through the garden district and ogle antebellum mansions. drink on magazine street and look at their antiqueries. check out cathedrals. jazz fest is seven days, but it is a day event. but whatever you do, for heaven's sake don't go to jefferson parish.

i've not eaten at deanies. so no idea. but it's in the upriver end of FQ. (we don't give directions here by compass points, btw.)

[Littlefingers In The Air]

The WW2 museum sounds especially interesting, I'm a huge fan of history. How's the wine in NOLA? I'm not much of a liquor or beer guy, but I do love wine. And from the point I would be dropped off, where would I catch the street car? Are there designated stops that are easily identifiable?

[BLU-RAY]

New Orleans actually has a fairly moving Holocaust museum - that sorr of thing is kind of a downer, but IIRC it wasn't bad. There was also an air and space museum that was kinda underwhelming. All of this is old recollection, though.

Enjoy the food. Holy hell.

[BLU-RAY]

Maybe I'm thinking of the WW2 museum and turning it into both a Holocaust and Aviation museum? Yeesh.

[sologdin]

it was once the D-Day museum, because of the higgins boats were built here, but was recently converted into WW2. i can't recall how much holocaust coverage it has.

it's like aspen, where the wine flows like beer. but no idea, really; i buy the $4 stuff at whole foods.

from your bus station, it's two blocks upriver to canal on peters. you'll see a casino across the boulevard (don't say "boulevard," though; say "neutral ground"). catch the 'car on the neutral ground. there's little stoppy points that are marked out.

and how is it that megabus can send you for $2? is the cargo hold full of crackrock?

[Littlefingers In The Air]

it was once the D-Day museum, because of the higgins boats were built here, but was recently converted into WW2. i can't recall how much holocaust coverage it has.

it's like aspen, where the wine flows like beer. but no idea, really; i buy the $4 stuff at whole foods.

from your bus station, it's two blocks upriver to canal on peters. you'll see a casino across the boulevard (don't say "boulevard," though; say "neutral ground"). catch the 'car on the neutral ground. there's little stoppy points that are marked out.

and how is it that megabus can send you for $2? is the cargo hold full of crackrock?

okay, thank you. And from my research on why the megabus is so cheap, it apparently has to do with the fact that you can only book your tickets online or over the phone and they don't have a physical building, so there's no staff other than the bus drivers and the receptionists over the phone, and probably a few maintenance men I'd imagine. They start their cheapest fares out at $1 and the prices go up the more seats are booked, so the farther out you can book, the cheaper it is.

Accommodations include wifi and restrooms, from what I've read.

[BLU-RAY]

it was once the D-Day museum, because of the higgins boats were built here, but was recently converted into WW2. i can't recall how much holocaust coverage it has.

it's like aspen, where the wine flows like beer. but no idea, really; i buy the $4 stuff at whole foods.

from your bus station, it's two blocks upriver to canal on peters. you'll see a casino across the boulevard (don't say "boulevard," though; say "neutral ground"). catch the 'car on the neutral ground. there's little stoppy points that are marked out.

and how is it that megabus can send you for $2? is the cargo hold full of crackrock?

From what I recall there is a fair bit of Holocaust coverage - not as extensive by any means as the DC Holocaust museum, but still informative and disturbing and touching.

And no, that's the Chinatown bus that had a cargo hold full of coke (at least, that's what we used to joke). Megabus fares go up increasingly as you get closer to the actual date, I think; so that $2 ticket for next April will cost a damn sight more if he buys it next March. Megabus and Bolt Bus are both solid operations, I was quite pleased with my DC-NYC experience. Didn't die or anything, and there was WiFi.

[Lily Valley]

Hey Littlefinger! I'm glad you're coming to our beautiful city. Is there any chance you can bring a bicycle with you? Biking is the easiest way to get around here. There are several places that will rent you a bicycle for your stay too.

I googled your hostel. It's a pretty long walk from where megabus drops you off. Streetcars run fairly regularly, but the buslines can be a little erratic. I think your 3-day streetcar pass would be good for the bus as well. http://www.norta.com/ If you are here for 2 weeks and think you might use the bus and streetcar system a lot, you can get a monthly pass.

There are quite a few wine places in town. We don't have local vineyards, but most of the local bottle shops have tastings. Bacchanal is in my old neighborhood, they have a different selection every week, good food and live music. The courtyard is really nice and it's a small local business. http://www.bacchanalwine.com/

Jazzfest will have a good selection of food vendors, no wine to speak of. There's a wine shop very close to the jazzfest fairgrounds called Swirl.

I second the Napoleon House as a "don't miss" restaurant. The entire french quarter is great for walking, eating, people watching and shopping. There's a lot more there than Bourbon Street.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if you need anything at all. I'll do some more thinking about places to recommend.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

Hey Littlefinger! I'm glad you're coming to our beautiful city. Is there any chance you can bring a bicycle with you? Biking is the easiest way to get around here. There are several places that will rent you a bicycle for your stay too.

I googled your hostel. It's a pretty long walk from where megabus drops you off. Streetcars run fairly regularly, but the buslines can be a little erratic. I think your 3-day streetcar pass would be good for the bus as well. http://www.norta.com/ If you are here for 2 weeks and think you might use the bus and streetcar system a lot, you can get a monthly pass.

There are quite a few wine places in town. We don't have local vineyards, but most of the local bottle shops have tastings. Bacchanal is in my old neighborhood, they have a different selection every week, good food and live music. The courtyard is really nice and it's a small local business. http://www.bacchanalwine.com/

Jazzfest will have a good selection of food vendors, no wine to speak of. There's a wine shop very close to the jazzfest fairgrounds called Swirl.

I second the Napoleon House as a "don't miss" restaurant. The entire french quarter is great for walking, eating, people watching and shopping. There's a lot more there than Bourbon Street.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if you need anything at all. I'll do some more thinking about places to recommend.

I'm not sure if I'd be allowed to take a bike. I'm looking at the accommodations megabus provides as well as their double decker charters, and they don't have bike racks on the front or back of the bus.

I may end up getting the monthly pass. At worst, I wouldn't finish using it before I leave and I could just give it away to a local who'd need it. So that could be a win for everyone.

I'll check out the bacchanal wine website.

What kind of shopping is there to do in the French Quarters? My girlfriend is going and I just know she'll want to blow a few hundred bucks. :lol: Thank you in advance for your help. It really is appreciated.

[Lily Valley]

I'm not sure if I'd be allowed to take a bike. I'm looking at the accommodations megabus provides as well as their double decker charters, and they don't have bike racks on the front or back of the bus.

I may end up getting the monthly pass. At worst, I wouldn't finish using it before I leave and I could just give it away to a local who'd need it. So that could be a win for everyone.

I'll check out the bacchanal wine website.

What kind of shopping is there to do in the French Quarters? My girlfriend is going and I just know she'll want to blow a few hundred bucks. :lol: Thank you in advance for your help. It really is appreciated.

OOOOH! Glad you are bringing her. New Orleans is so romantic. The french quarter is great for shopping. Royal street has art galleries and really nice antique malls. I go and browse at least once a month. Most of the places are way out of my price range, but the owners of all of the establishments are very friendly, willing to answer questions and get lots of people coming through just to look. The few times I have been tempted beyond reason by something, they have done layaway for me.

There's a great antique coin and weapon shop that is fascinating to go look at on Royal as well. The Gallery of Fine Photography is a must see. They have photos by Helmut Newton, Ansel Adams and Elliot Erwitt. It's incredible.

There are an obnoxious number of t-shirt and crap shops, but in between are some lovely boutiques. Chartres street has several nice clothing and shoe stores. I especially recommend Trashy Diva. They have a line of beautiful dresses in a wide range of prices. I have 2 dresses from that store that I bought 10 years ago. They are still fashionable and they look new.

Decatur has quite a few clothing stores as well in a lower price range than the shops on Chartres. They also have a GREAT toy and gag store called Fun Rockin'. Fun Rockin' can also make t-shirts for you as souvenirs. Pack a couple of plain shirts or hoodies and for $20 they will customize them for you. They have a huge book of options they can put on the shirt. There is also a couple of candy shops on Decatur street. People watching from there is great too.

Let her know that the range in prices is huge. If you walk into a store and everything is $1000.00 the shop right next to it might have lots of items under $20.

Magazine street is another good place to shop. The same is true of prices along that stretch.

[sologdin]

swirl is kinda nifty. they shut down ponce de leon every once in a while so the winesniffers can loiter in the street.

FQ has a ludicrous calligraphy shoppe ($1000 pens wtf), serious mardi gras mask sellers, and so on. anything one could not want.

[lady narcissa]

I'm just going to borrow this thread rather than starting my own. I'll be in New Orleans for a book related convention in mid May but I've never been to New Orleans before and will be making lots of time to see and do thing in the city and EAT! Lots of eating to be done! But I'd love some recommendations of places to eat and sight seeing.

Sight seeing - what I like - history and architecture. I like taking guided walking tours that focus on these topics. Anyone have any experience with any specific walking tour companies so I don't have to resort to reading endless Trip Advisor reviews? I'd especially like to find a good one to visit a cemetery or two. I also like visiting historic house museums. For sure want to spend lots of time wandering around looking at historic buildings and hopefully getting to see the inside of some of them.

Food - sadly can't eat shellfish. Am very excited for beignets! I took notes while watching Top Chef New Orleans this fall so I already have a list of some restaurants to visit. But anyone have any favorites?

[Trebla]

You CANNOT go to New Orleans and not eat Jambalaya! I had it in a restaurant (can't remember the name) but the best I had was from little stand on Bourbon street.

[Lily Valley]

Adolpho's is my favorite for seafood. It is delicious, tiny and very reasonably priced. ($100.00 feeds 2 with appetizers and wine). It's on Frenchmen Street above The Apple Barrel. Many of their sauces have shellfish, but my current favorite is a fish done with the lemon-butter caper sauce. They're cash only and do NOT take reservations. I'd go early-ish on a Mon or Tues if you don't want to wait. I usually go give my name and go watch some live music while I'm waiting.

I haven't heard anything bad about any of the cemetery tours, but can't make any tour recommendations.

By the way, if you want to meet up for a coffee or a drink, PM me.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

I forgot this thread was a thing