New Orleans 2011 vacation: part five

The Inn on Bourbon Ramada Plaza Hotel

Our last morning in New Orleans began with more coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde, and another walk to Riverwalk Marketplace, where we visited the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.

I'm glad the Power Pass got us in for free, since it wasn't worth the $10 it would have cost to get in. But we learned about local cuisine and I appreciated the section on the development of the cocktail.

We made a brief stop at The Historic New Orleans Collection, but elected not to go through it all. Instead, we went to the Presbytere, a museum at the north end of Jackson Square featuring two exhibits.

The first was "Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond," which told the story of the devastating hurricane and its accompanying flooding from a number of different perspectives. The personal recollections were a lot more moving than the more scientific information, but together they made for a powerful combination.

The other Presbytere exhibit showed the history, costumes and traditions of Mardi Gras, New Orleans' most famous festival that draws thousands to the streets for its lavish parades each February.

We went for our last Po Boy and then went to the other Beerfest location on Bourbon Street. They had a two for one special, but the friendly bartender went two better than that and brought me four beers that I'd never had before: Voodoo Bengal, a 7.5 per cent alcohol pale ale with a hint of ginger; Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan, which is made with whole roasted pecans; Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout, which is brewed with sweet potatoes; and NOLA Brewing Hopitoulas, which had a nice citrus and pine bouquet.

We returned to our hotel, picked up our bags and caught the shuttle to the airport. We had a stopover at Washington Dulles International Airport, where we had time for a burger and a pint of Hefeweizen at the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company restaurant, before returning to Buffalo.

It was back to the Econo Lodge, where we stayed before we left, and then a trip down Main Street to the heart of Buffalo the next morning. We stopped at a river that had a small waterfall and then drove around downtown for a while before crossing the Peace Bridge back to Ontario. I took the scenic route along Lake Erie and the Grand River, and detoured through the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve. 
 
I hadn't been to the reserve since working as a reporter for the Brantford Expositor in 1989, and almost every store we passed was selling discounted cigarettes -- and sometimes nothing else. While there are still some run-down-looking houses, many others are newer or in better condition than back then, which was good to see.

Brantford's downtown is still in rough shape, however. After a drive around the city, it was homeward bound to Stratford and the end of the trip.

New Orleans 2011 vacation: part four

There was a brief but violent downpour on Wednesday morning, the only time it rained any noticeable volume during our time in New Orleans, but luckily we were in a coffee shop fuelling up when it started and ended.

The house of Archie Manning, the former NFL quarterback and father of fellow quarterbacks Peyton and Eli.

Things had cleared up by the time we got on a Gray Line bus to take us to the Garden District, where we began a two-and-a-half-hour walking tour of what was formerly the "American" part of the city in the 1800s. The houses were different, but just as impressive, and embraced more Greek Revival and Italianate stylistic flourishes than the French Quarter. We passed the former and/or current homes of Anne Rice, Trent Reznor, Archie Manning, Nicolas Cage, John Goodman and others, as well as the house where Jefferson Davis died in 1889. We also explored the Lafayette Cemetery and learned about New Orleans burial practices in the above ground cities of the dead.

Lafayette Cemetery

The guide and the rest of the people on the tour took the Gray Line bus back to our starting point, while mom and I ordered a tasty Po Boy at a nice little restaurant on Magazine Street before catching a city bus to the end of the line at the Audobon Zoo.

It's billed as one of the top five zoos in the United States, and we were definitely impressed by everything it had to offer. We spent the afternoon walking around the different themed areas of the complex, including the Asian domain, the aviary, the South America pampas, the Louisiana swamp, the African savanna, the sea lions and the reptile house. There was an extensive variety of animals, and they seemed to have room to move around in their environments.

Audobon Zoo alligators

Audobon Zoo white tigers

We took the bus back to Canal Street, stopped at Quarter House (the five-star suite resort I spent a week in during my previous stay in New Orleans in 1998) on Chartres Street, and then went to the nearby Jimanji, a cozy little bar with an extensive beer selection. I had a refreshing Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss Hefeweizen and Brooklyn Brewery's Post Road Pumpkin Ale, which was slightly spicy, a bit hoppy and redolent with cloves.

For our final dinner in New Orleans, we stayed on Chartres in a building from the 1700s that now houses Pierre Maspero's Food and Spirits -- which I found out later has the same ownership as La Bayou, where we dined earlier in the week. The blackened redfish I had the night before was so good that I ordered it again, and was just as pleased. And the Abita Christmas Ale that I had with it kept me festive for later in the evening.

I decided to check out Frenchman Street again, and dropped into a few clubs to see what was happening. I stayed at Apple to see Andre Bouvier and his band play a solid mix of blues, rock and Cajun music. Checkpoint Charlie's (a bar and laundromat combination) was full of local punks and old drinkers and an act from Charleston, S.C. called Megan Jean and The KFB, which played roots music with occasional rockabilly and old jazz influences.

A $5.25 Hurricane got me back to Tropical Isle, where I finished its trifecta of strong cocktails by having a Horny Gator and a Tropical Itch. They also came in novelty glasses like the earlier Hand Grenade, and all three are now sitting in my kitchen window acting as a beacon.

New Orleans 2011 vacation: part three

Cafe du Monde

A trip to New Orleans isn't complete without coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde, so we began our Tuesday with chicory-infused java and fried dough covered in icing sugar across the street from Jackson Square.

We finished the coffees while strolling through the Riverwalk Marketplace, an impressive mall where we stopped in a store to sample some fruit wines, while waiting for the nearby Audobon Aquarium of the Americas to open at 10 a.m.

Audobon Aquarium of the Americas

The aquarium is well-designed and separated into distinct areas that allows you to explore the aquatic habitats of the Caribbean, Amazon, Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. There were creatures big and small -- from sharks to seahorses -- along with stingrays we could pet in a shallow pool, sea otters, penguins and many others. There was at least one school group visiting and a lot of the exhibits are informative and hands-on, so both children and adults can appreciate them.

Audobon Insectarium

Our Power Pass also got us into the affiliated Audobon Insectarium, so we walked north up Canal Street to the former U.S. Custom House to get up close and learn more about creepy crawly and flying things. A lot of them were surprisingly beautiful and not annoying at all when they're behind glass. Butterflies flew freely in an area replicating an Asian garden, but the highlight was a short animated film in the immersion theatre that offers a multi-sensory experience. We drew the line at eating insects, though I sampled some crickets in Thailand seven years ago and thought they were pretty bland.

Jackson Square

French Quarter

French Quarter

We'd already explored much of the French Quarter on our own, but took advantage of our Power Passes to get some more insights from a guide on a two-hour walking tour of the area. We learned about people I wasn't previously familiar with who played a major part in New Orleans' development, Creole culture and more, including the role of religion at the Ursuline Convent -- the oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley. The architecture in the French Quarter is beautiful, but hearing the stories behind some of the 18th and 19th century buildings added to the experience.

We still had an hour before the Cabildo closed, so it was next on the agenda. The site of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase transfer in 1803 now houses exhibits on New Orleans history. It's informative, if a bit dry, but a pleasant surprise was the "Unsung Heroes: The Secret History of Louisiana Rock 'n' Roll" exhibit curated by the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation. There were familiar and unfamiliar names and songs, but I was enthralled and it should definitely be sought out by all music lovers visiting the city.

We'd worked up a thirst, so we dropped into Turtle Bay on Bourbon Street. The beer selection wasn't nearly as good as the Decatur Street location, but I managed to find a Covington Bayou Bock that I hadn't tried before.

It was time for dinner, so we tried Cajun Cabin on Bourbon and began with alligator bites. I've always liked gator, but mom was reluctant when I ordered them. She soon came around, however. The blackened redfish ($19.95) was delicious and a pint of LA31 Biere Pale from Bayou Teche Brewing was a nice accompaniment.

My favourite music venue on Bourbon is Tropical Isle Bayou Club & Music Bar, which features solid Cajun bands each night. It also sells the Hand Grenade, a melon-tasting concoction which it claims is the strongest drink in New Orleans. It comes in a large novelty plastic cup shaped like a hand grenade at the base, and refills are a dollar cheaper, so I took advantage of that deal. When bands weren't playing, I walked through the French Quarter people-watching and sipping Hand Grenades until the bars started shutting down.

New Orleans 2011 vacation: part two

Musee Conti Historical Wax Museum

 Monday morning began with more strolling through New Orleans' French Quarter up to Musee Conti Historical Wax Museum, which presented more than 300 years of the city's history and tidbits of information I was previously unaware of. A "haunted dungeon" with wax figures of Dracula, Frankenstein and other fictional monsters was inexplicably added at the end. The figures were generally well-crafted, it was a good learning experience, and it made for a well-spent hour. 

Louis Armstrong Park

We walked north out of the French Quarter to Congo Square and were going to go through Louis Armstrong Park, but it was closed for some type of renovations. We visited the Saint Louis Cathedral and walked around Jackson Square before grabbing a Po Boy (a New Orleans submarine sandwich) for lunch and waiting for our three-hour Hurricane Katrina bus tour to begin.

Saint Louis Cathedral

Aside from driving in and out of New Orleans, I'd never ventured beyond the French Quarter, Garden District and area around the Superdome before, so this tour allowed me to see more of the city. We learned about the levee system as we drove by them, and were also informed about the disappearing coastal wetlands in the area.

We visited a number of neighbourhoods affected by flooding from Katrina -- including Lakeview, Gentilly, New Orleans East and the Ninth Ward -- and saw both where progress has been made in rebuilding and places that haven't changed much since disaster struck in the summer of August 2005. The tour also included a brief stop at a nice park with a sculpture garden that I would have liked to have spent more time at.

After the tour, we walked along Decatur Street and stopped at Turtle Bay for a couple of happy hour pints from the 25 the bar had on tap. Mom likes fruit beers, so I went with a raspberry-based Abita Purple Haze and a Covingtons Strawberry and was quite pleased with both of them.

We walked to the end of Decatur and up Frenchman Street, which is filled with clubs and is apparently where the locals go to hear music. But it was too early for anything to be happening, so we walked back to the French Quarter.

I recalled the famous Hurricane served at Pat O'Brien's (I was with former Who bassist John Entwistle the last time I was there in 1998) was pretty fruity, so I thought mom would enjoy one. But the four ounces of rum in it was too much for her, so I ended up drinking both of ours -- which I had no problem with.

Pat O'Brien's

We went for dinner at La Bayou, a Cajun Creole restaurant where I enjoyed the "Taste of New Orleans" combo of jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and chicken and andouille sausage gumbo for $17.95 and mom had a half rack of barbecue ribs for a dollar less. I washed mine down with a pint of Abita Pecan, which didn't have a strong pecan taste.

We returned to the hotel and then I went to Beerfest to watch Monday Night Football and try an Abita Andygator (slightly sweet and the eight per cent alcohol content wasn't noticeable) and an Abita Jockamo (a complex but pleasant 6.5-per cent beer made from pine needles, brown sugar, tropical fruit rind and black tea leaves).

I wandered up and down Bourbon Street and was enticed into one of its many strip clubs with the promise of beautiful women, a five-dollar cover and three-dollar drinks. The ladies were definitely hot, and one of them repeatedly came over to try and get me to take her into a private room. She turned out to be the dirtiest girl of them all, judging by her stage act, so perhaps I should have taken her up on her offer. I made three rum and Cokes last quite a while before it was time to head back to the hotel at last call.

New Orleans 2011 vacation: part one

My friend Kirk and I took a road trip in 1998 that took in the legendary Highway 61 and included overnight stays in Cincinnati, Nashville, Memphis, Lafayette and a week in New Orleans. We had a lot of fun, but not all of the New Orleans memories are particularly vivid since we were partying pretty hard most of the time.

But my mom expressed an interest in seeing the Big Easy this year, so I figured a five-day stay would give her all she needed while allowing me to see new things and hopefully revive remembrances of things I did and saw 13 years earlier.

We had a 6:10 a.m. flight from Buffalo, a stopover in Charlotte and were in New Orleans by 10:30 a.m. The $326 (including taxes) return trip flight was about half the price we would have paid had we flown out of Toronto.

We caught a $78 return trip airport shuttle bus to our hotel, The Inn on Bourbon Ramada Plaza Hotel, and dropped off our bags before walking to the Superdome (with a traveller in hand, of course). The Saints game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was sold out and scalper prices were too rich for us, so we watched most of the first half outside the stadium in a large public square where hundreds of others had gathered to view the game on a large video screen.

Mom's not a big football fan, so we walked back toward the French Quarter and down to the shore of the Mississippi River where we visited a ticket booth and picked up a five-day Power Pass (which we got for the price of a three-day pass by buying it online through Expedia when I booked my flights and hotel) that gave us entry into 28 attractions and tours around the city for $125 each. The cost was well worth it, considering how much we took advantage of the Power Pass.

The Steamboat Natchez was right beside us and was about to embark on a 2:30 p.m. jazz cruise, so we listened to a woman play a calliope on top of the boat before we went aboard. We listened to the jazz band inside for a bit until the paddle wheeler's whistle blew and it pulled out from the Toulouse Street Wharf, at which time we found a good vantage point on deck and listened to the narration of what we were seeing as we made our way along.

The history, facts and figures offered are important, as there really isn't a lot of great scenery on the two-hour cruise. But the Natchez is the city's only authentic steamboat, and visitors are allowed into the engine room to see how things work. The cruise costs $25 on its own, or $36 with lunch. A couple of beers were enough of a lunch for me.

We docked, returned to our hotel and got settled in. The Inn on Bourbon Ramada Plaza Hotel is in the heart of the French Quarter at the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse, and stands on the site of the French Opera House, which was built in 1859. There were renovations taking place in the lobby restaurant, but we were quite pleased with everything else about the hotel, which we got at a good price in the neighbourhood of $100 a night. It was clean and modern, it featured a nice courtyard with a swimming pool, the employees were friendly and efficient, there was free wireless Internet and -- important for people who may like to go to bed early like my mom -- it was quiet. Our room overlooked the hustle and bustle and booziness of Bourbon Street, but we could hear very little of it. I have no problem recommending this hotel.

The Shops at Jax Brewery

I always try to hit as many brew pubs as I can in a city, so we had our first night dinner at the Crescent City Brewhouse. I had a sampler tray of its five beers and wasn't particularly impressed with any of them. Most entrees were above $20 and were well-presented and okay-tasting, but not exceptional. Mom had the New York strip, while I went for the grilled tuna Orleans, which was Ahi tuna topped with sauteed jumbo shrimp, Chinese long beans, beech mushrooms and tempura fried sweet potato crisp.

We returned to the hotel and I had the best intentions of going out again. But it had been a long work week and I was functioning on two hours of sleep, so I laid down on my bed and didn't leave it again until the next morning.