Things to Do in New Orleans: A 24 Hour Sojourn

A brief slot of twenty four hours is surely not enough for exploring any city, especially New Orleans. A city not only vibrant in its colourful masks and beads but also in history, culture and cuisine. But we could only allot it one day in our long cross-country road trip. And here is how we made the best of your time in this city.

I know most of us would like to start the day with some beignets and chicory coffee at Cafe Du Monde. But we simply didn't want to waste two precious hours of our short time standing in a rush hour queue. So we saved it for later in the day (Cafe Du Monde is open 24x7), and started our tour just across the street at Jackson Square. The adjacent St. Louis Cathedral and The Cabildo provide an engaging overview of the colonial governance in the city.

Our next stop was the French Market. As we walked down Decatur Street, we passed by century old restaurants and grocery stores, an artist busy drawing caricatures, and many colourful boutique shops.

On reaching French Market the first sensation that hits you is, an aroma. The aroma of New Orleans food. You can get almost every flavour of Orleans food under this single roof of French Market. You can not go wrong while choosing from the cajun and creole gumbos and jambalaya. Or the po' boys and famous gulf shrimps. If you are adventurous enough you could try some alligator delicacies too. A stand selling traditional french crepes or another selling classic snowballs would immediately grab attention.

 All of this reminded us it was lunch time already and we tried to choose wisely form the menus.

You really don't want to exert yourself immediately after a delicious and phenomenal meal. So we decided to take a horse-carriage ride of the French Quarters.

Our cowboy coachman in his jovial demeanor introduced us to the history of the neighbourhood and explained the colonial architecture of the buildings. The ride was fun and also saved us some time.

As the evening was setting in, the French Quarters looked like a far away and dreamy town decorated in holiday lights.

The trance broke as we entered the flamboyance of Bourbon Street. It is a different world, vibrant with people, pubs and performers. But the best part is perhaps the jazz, playing live in almost all the pubs you pass by. To get into the mood we too grabbed the popular hand-grenade and sipped from the fluorescent green glasses.

An exciting day was about to end and the mind needed a tranquil fresh breeze to soak up the experiences of past hours. And the moon-walk along the banks of Mississippi was the perfect setting for it. We sat on a bench and watched the steam boats clad in mist.
But how could our sojourn end without having the world famous beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde.

You know life is good when you sit with friends around a coffee table waiting for a new journey to begin tomorrow.