New Orleans is the first point of contact for many international visitors, North of New Orleans, travelers delight in visits to restored plantations along the Mississippi. The area is called "Plantation Country" and its headquarters is the state capital, Baton Rouge. North Louisiana reflects the Old South and a Scots-Irish heritage, alongside pockets of French, Spanish, Indian and other ethnic groups. National forests, state parks and numerous wildlife management areas abound here, as well as wonderful museums, restaurants, historic sites and attractions. South Louisiana is home to the descendants of 17th-century French settlers who came here after being expelled from Eastern Canada by the British. This is Bayou country, where Cajun pirogues (Indian-style canoes) navigate alligator-filled swamps, and crawfish - the local seafood delicacy - is celebrated in a mammoth Crawfish Festival each May in Breaux Bridge. Equally famous is the festival International, which attracts performers from French-speaking nations worldwide.

New Orleans, Louisiana.

New Orleans is the diamond set at the end of the Mississippi River as it spills into the Gulf of Mexico. It stands unique in America as the only city that strongly preserved its old world Spanish, French and African heritage.

I have been to New Orleans five times the first time was in 1978, where I stayed at The La Salle Hotel on Canal St.

New Orleans is known as the Big Easy. The name came from a bar that was located in the Central Business District, in the American Sector of the city. The oldest and most famous part of New Orleans is the Vieux Carré, the French Quarter, what isn't really a square but rectangular in shape. In a way the name is misleading too. In 1788, a fire destroyed the French Quarter, 856 buildings burned down. The fire took place during the Spanish occupation. The majority of the buildings were rebuild in a more Spanish than French style. When you look at a map of the French Quarter, and you see the rectangular shape, to give you an idea of its size, it will take about one minute to walk from one block to the next. As you can see, everything is within walking distance and that's what makes New Orleans also a great place to visit.

That is one of the reasons why I returned back to visit another four times, 1980 where I stayed at The Quality Inn on Tulane Avenue, this was a bit of a mistake as we where still a bit green then, and did not relies how far out this hotel was from the action.

Learning from this on our next visiting 1986 we stayed at The Best Western Landmark on North Rampart street just opposite The Louis Armstrong Park although this was a nice hotel I believe if you decide to walk from this hotel a couple of blocks over to Bourbon St the little side streets and back ally's are a bit dark for my liking and could pose problems for unsuspecting tourist's as a potential mugging area.

The Saint Louis Hotel.

By a stroke of luck in 1992 we called in at The Louisiana Tourist Info Center, and where offered a hotel at 730 Rue Bienville called The Saint Louis, it was an excellent price and also in a great location and this hotel was beautiful the rooms, the decor and beautiful court yard made this a very pleasant stay and we made sure we got booked into this hotel again in 2000.

New Orleans is not only the home of great food and great music, exotic nightlife, voodoo practices, and, most importantly, a unique blend of cultures that created the Creole and Cajun people. The Cajun culture descended from the French settlers called "Acadian's" who originally colonized Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Canada. Expelled by the British in the 18th century, they fled south, ending up in colonies throughout Louisiana, particularly in the crown colony of New Orleans. Together both cultures create New Orleans' distinctive atmosphere. The accent here is exclusive to the area and sounds nothing like a typical Southern accent. New Orleans itself is pronounced "N'awlins.

Preservation Hall.

New Orleans also boasts its own unique type of music, New Orleans jazz. I am not a jazz connoisseur but you get carried along with the music and party atmosphere that is all around you in The French Quarter, and I have visited Preservation Hall at 726 St. Peter St. Scores of people descend on this place nightly to hear traditional New Orleans jazz. A daytime stop affords a glimpse, through the big, ornate iron gate, of a lush tropical courtyard in back. Erle Stanley Gardner, the author who brought us Perry Mason, lived in an apartment above the Hall. This is a World famous jazz club, and is a no frills place where you stand in an old room watching some very good jazz musicians performing, back in 1980 I had the honor to see an old lady piano player called Sweet Emma and later learned that there had been a song wrote about her, and she was a very famous musician in the jazz circles.

Because New Orleans is on the Gulf of Mexico, the weather remains relatively warm all year. Snow and ice rarely travel that far south, but the middle of spring and fall are known for their rainy seasons. Summers can be extremely hot and humid even though the city benefits from coastal breezes. Hurricanes present the only important weather hazard in New Orleans. The Gulf Coast is in hurricane season from June until September. The city hasn't been hit head-on by a hurricane for many years, but any tropical storm visiting Eastern Texas or Mississippi can cause torrential rain and possible flooding in New Orleans.

This is one of the few cities in America (if not the only one) where you do not feel as if you are in America, New Orleans does that to people, this is a city that is fully, totally alive, a city where every business entirely closes for Mardi Gras; eat, drink, listen to music, dance, and walk. That's it. And you can do just that for days without getting bored. That's the kind of town New Orleans is. There is a downside to all this fun. New Orleans has always been the city of permissive attitudes, it was the first U.S. city where prostitution was sort of legal. Today, loose liquor laws mean a party atmosphere, but also mean obnoxious drunks and disgusting displays in the streets. (Let's just say that some of the city's smells aren't all that pleasant.) Crime has been high; for a couple of years--1995 and 1996 in particular--this was the most dangerous city in America, but those who love New Orleans remain amused by its flaws--they're part of what makes the town real.

The French Quarter.

The French Quarter is a world of narrow streets and historic houses, walking around these very narrow streets you will come across dozens of pubs, clubs and restaurants along with the mingled aromas of garlic and onions where profusion's of tropical flowers peek from hidden courtyards that are within every street. New Orleans is a very user-friendly city--that is, except for the unusual directions and the nearly impossible-to-pronounce street names, that only you find within the French quarter but also around the city.

Bourbon Street is, by far, the most famous and popular tourist attraction in New Orleans. Bourbon Street is like no other street in the world. On Bourbon St you will find everything from five star hotels to strip joints. Bourbon Street is open twenty four hours a day. All day and all night there are people partying up and down the street.

As if the streets themselves weren't colorful enough, there are the street names from Felicity to the jaw-breaker Tchoupitoulas (chop-i-too-las). How did they get these fanciful monikers? many of the streets in the French Quarter--Burgundy, Dauphine, Toulouse, and Dumaine--honor French royalty or nobility.

Try saying some of those names after you have been out for a couple of beers at Pat O'Briens followed by a couple of there famous Hurricanes, this is situated at 718 St. Peter St, and is one of the famous New Orleans nightspots. The courtyard is open to visitors and is well worth a look--if you can see it past the crowds consuming the famous Hurricane drink a very strong cocktail they serve up, I believe now that these cocktails are mass produced for the tourist trade, or try one of the many pubs or clubs you will find in this area. You can also buy a Hurricane from any of these pubs or at street corner kiosks. I have had some good nights out on the town in New Orleans over the years.

Eating in New Orleans is as exciting as the city itself, New Orleans has the best food in the United States. (There are natives who will gladly fight you if you say otherwise.) This is the city where the great chefs of the world come to eat--if they don't work here already, there is restaurants to cater for every ones eating habit's from French provincial, Spanish, Italian, West Indian, African, and Native American cuisines, it covers the whole span from down-home Southern cooking to the most creative and artistic gourmet dishes. New Orleans is one of the few cities in America that can justify a visit solely for cooking and cuisine.

A 1997 study of U.S. eating habits proclaimed New Orleans the fattest city in the country (a fact the locals will cheerfully volunteer to you--they are terribly proud of it), "It ain't the fish, it's the battah that makes you fat," explains a local. The Gumbo Shop is the cheap and convenient way to get solid, if not particularly memorable, classic Creole food. The Gumbo Shop is one block off Jackson Square and its menu reads like a textbook list of traditional local food: red beans and rice, shrimp Creole, crawfish étouffée. The seafood gumbo with okra is a meal in itself, and do try the jambalaya. Try some of the local restaurants for unique dining or head of to The Hard Rock Cafe for a good crowd every day with good priced beers and the H.R.C's. international menu, and good Rock music, myself and my friend Scona spent a couple of hours there one afternoon having a couple of beers, and got on chatting to a couple from Liverpool, a very nice couple. When we returned there on the same night for dinner we where treated to a free cabaret, by the same couple from Liverpool they could hardly stand up they must of been there from opening time, they where dropping there drinks and also falling on the floor themselves. A Good laugh. One of the places we always try to eat at in the French Quarter is The Steak Pit The steaks and all other food is well priced and nice, I love there French Onion Soup, only problem is I eat to much of it when I go there.

When in New Orleans you must try a riverboat cruise as we did on the steamboat Natchez, and have a great afternoon steaming up the Mississippi listening to jazz having a couple of beers looking at the sights and the distinctive New Orleans skyline.

In 1978 myself and Peter Charlton where due to go on this steamboat Natchez, but we had to much to drink the night before, so we decided to have a walk around and we came upon a sports shop by chance, outside of this shop standing on an orange box was The Greatest Muhammad Ali, he was talking to the crowd and answering questions he must of been there for about one and half hours, I got some good photo's and enjoyed listening to him and his razor sharp wit, he was promoting the Ali-Spinks fight. I am glad I missed that cruise as this was a once in a lifetime experience for me seeing Ali live. In 1986 myself, Scona and Bernie did the steamboat Natchez tour and enjoyed it.
There is also other Steamboat Tours you can get in New Orleans, And some good guided tours of the city from Big Easy Tours.