New Orleans, Louisiana

Ahh the Big Easy! A place filled with restaurants galore, history on every corner, HOT AND HUMID WEATHER, and drinks like you’ve never seen drinks before. It had always been a place I wanted to see, some reasons have been listed, but mainly I heard it is a great city to people watch and that was definitely the case. Lots of very unique people you may end up coming across while down in NOLA. Naturally, I watched Disney’s Princess and the Frog to prepare myself (did not come across any talking frogs or alligators that play Jazz during my visit). New Orleans is often found on lists of great cities to travel solo or even for solo female travelers to visit, and while I can see why that is, I was glad I was able to visit with one of my sisters and experience that with her. It was a packed 4 days that was the perfect amount of time, but I dare say I could’ve even gone an additional day or two just cause there is so much to see.

I don’t often find myself using a cities public transportation (big walker and uber girl) but you can’t go to New Orleans and not ride on the Street Car at least once. With 3-4 different train lines, it makes it super easy to get to certain destinations especially on the months you don’t want to walk even a block, looking at you June – August. The fare for the street car is $1.50/person/ride and just a heads up but the attendants do not give change. So would recommend either having exact change or downloading the RTA GoMobile 2.0 app as it makes it super easy to buy and manage your different passes. Take the Street Car up to Tulane Campus or go see one of the many different cemetery tours. New Orleans Street Car is probably up there in my favorite modes of transportation I’ve ever been on.

So I’ve talked about the Street Cars themselves, now I need to tell you about what you can see when you take the St. Charles line. If you take the St. Charles line heading west, you will slowly start to pass some ginormous, incredible houses in the area known as the Garden District. Many movies have been filmed in this area (Benjamin Button, 12 Years a Slave, Interview with the Vampire, Etc) and it shows how much work has been needed to keep them looking as historical as possible especially during hurricane season. If you are interested in learning more about these homes, lots of walking tours happen throughout this neighborhood. Just pass the Garden district, get off at Louisiana St and walk south to Magazine St. Magazine St was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. It’s this multiple block road filled with restaurants, cute boutiques, and galleries that are all in these old New Orleans homes. I loved it! To end the St. Charles line trip is Tulane University. One of the most beautiful college campuses I have ever seen. With a park almost the size of Central Park bordering it, I found myself questioning why did I not go to Tulane. Then I remembered I definitely did not have the grades to go there and I would melt from the heat (an occurring realization I had, clearly).

I’ve decided I’m going to do a different post all about the food in New Orleans as there is just too much to say about it. I will say one of the cool facts I learned about the food scene is that New Orleans has more restaurants per capita then any other US city (yes, yes even NYC). On average, there are probably at least 3 restaurants on every block in this city. Crazy! My sister and I were actually not huge bar goers this trip, but we did make sure to check out the Sazerac House right in the French Quarter. Even if you do not drink alcohol, Sazerac House was such a cool museum to walk through, plus the tour is complimentary so makes for a great place to pass a few hours from outside. It’s one of, if not the first, companies to create a mixed drink, The Sazerac (if you don’t like Whiskey do not drink the sample they give you. That is my only warning). It’s a very interactive museum which I often find more enjoyable and find it keeps the guests a lot more entertained.

Swamp Tour. Anyone else picture Shrek anytime they hear the word swamp or is that just me? Nope, just me? Alright then… Well you can’t go to NOLA without doing something in one of the many swamps or bayous located all around. It’s a great place to see and learn about the wildlife as well as learn what it’s like when they do have a major category hurricane come through. There are some tours I believe that can pick you up right in the French Quarter but a lot of them require you to find your own transportation either through rental car or a ride share app so just bear that in mind when you are signing up for one. Our swamp tour was about 40 minutes southwest of the quarter. With a comical tour guide as our host, he led us through different canals on our boat and talked about the history of the area, showing how hurricane Katrina and Ida changed everything, and even taught us how to speak french to leer alligators to the boat. That seemed legit until I saw him throwing marshmallows in the water. Apparently they love marshmallows. Even if you only have a few days in New Orleans, I think the Swamp tour is a must.

The French Quarter is probably one of the most interesting looking cities I’ve ever been to. When you have had settlers from France, Spain, Germany, Caribbean and different African countries, you start to get different architecture and styling from all of them. When walking through the French Quarter, no two buildings next to each other look quite the same. No cookie cutter buildings in this town. The French Quarter is like a history lovers dream. You can’t walk one block without seeing either a plague on a building talking about the history that happened or somewhere along the sidewalk explaining the history of the street. Could spend hours just walking around reading everything.

To end this post let me start by saying that if you don’t want anything to do with Bourbon St, it is easily avoidable. There are ways to walk around it and don’t feel pressured to visit if that is not your vibe. New Orleans is a fascinating city and I am so glad I was able to check it out. While it is not a place that I am dying to go back to right away, I do see why so many people keep coming back. There is something for everyone there. It was a great sister trip, and I can’t wait to see where we go next.

Until Next Time, The Library Abroad