To see the city, my mom and I took a city bus tour and a walking tour of the Garden District. We also took the ferry over to Algiers Point. To get to my appointment with my Jin Shin Jyutsu teacher, we took the street car, which I love. Street car in San Francisco, tram in Hong Kong.

New Orleans Hop-on Hop-Off Tour

The Hop-on Hop-off bus tour is how we started our visit in New Orleans. It’s an easy way to get an overview of a city. The tour took us through the major sights, including Jackson Square, French Market, Basin Street Station (where we had a bathroom break), Canal Street, and Garden District.

We passed places such as Café du Monde, the entrance to Louis Armstrong Park, St Louis Cemetery, the riverfront, the Central Business District, and Louisiana Superdome.

Mardi Gras was February 17 this year and when we were there the last week of January, decorations were already here and there. Our tour bus had a cheerful gold, purple, and green ribbon on the side.

Café du Monde | French Market | Jackson Square | Basin Street Station | Joy Theatre | Louis Armstrong Park | St Louis Cemetery | Harrah’s Casino | Louisiana Superdome | Garden District

Walking the French Quarter

We stayed at Hotel Le Marais, on Conti Street, between Royal and Bourbon. What a great location – so easy to walk around the French Quarter, and just take in the sights. The old and distinctive colours and architecture. The shops and shop museums. The big trees and their canopies. And the music.

Named after a French ruling House, Bourbon Street stretches twelve blocks, taking you from Esplanade Avenue to Canal Street. Many of us know this street because of Mardi Gras. People tossing beads from the beautiful balconies. It’s neon signs, bars, strip clubs, restaurants serving Cajun Creole, entertainment. And music. Old school jazz. Jazz Manouche – Gypsy Jazz. Also here, Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo at 628 Bourbon Street.

A major tourist destination now, its history is steeped in vice. Before the turn of the nineteenth century, it was a residential area for the wealthy. That was before the Storyville red light district set up on Basin Street. Storyville was a dedicated area where prostitution was legalized by way of an 1897 ordinance created by Alderman Sidney Story.

Pontalba Buildings on St Peter Street off Jackson Square. Elaborate ironwork of New Orleans.

New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, 514 Chartres Street. You can sign up for a tour. Pere Antoine Restaurant, 741 Royal Street at the corner of Royal and St Ann, serving Cajun and Creole dishes. (closed January 2025). Pere Antoine (Antonio de Sedella) is apparently connected to the hauntings of St Louis Cathedral.

Beautiful buildings with lush hanging plants. This photo of the wait staff taking a break in her long white apron against the ochre exteriors is one of my favourites from the trip.

Le Petite Theatre.  Le Petit Théâtre Du Vieux Carré is New Orlean’s historic playhouse. Opened in 1916, it movd to its current home on St Peter Street about six years after.

Walking past Place d’Armes Hotel and Hotel Monteleone.

More Haunted Stories

Place d’Armes Hotel at 625 St Ann Street is housed in restored 18th and 19th century buildings. We walked through to the courtyard. A beautiful oasis, the courtyard garden with its cobblestone ground contains native tropical plants and a saltwater water pool.

What this historic site may be more famous for is its ghosts. Place D’Armes Hotel is known as one of the most haunted places in what is known as the most haunted cities in the US. The building was originally the first school, dating back to 1725, when Louisiana was a French colony. A fire at the school claimed many lives, including the headmistress, teachers, and students said to haunt the grounds. It’s easy enough to book a tour, if you’re into that sort of thing. Let’s say I google all my hotels.

And if you do, you’ll find Hotel Monteleone at 214 Royal Street. In 1880 Antonio Monteleone left his native Sicily for New Orleans. An entrepreneurial spirit, Antonio had sold his shoe factory and bought a cobbler shop in his new home. In 1886, he purchased a 64-room hotel then known as Commercial Hotel and thus began the building of what would become Hotel Monteleone. He first added thirty rooms in the early 1900s and then 300 more when the exterior had Beaux-Arts flair added.

This grand hotel had guests such as Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and native New Orleanian Truman Capote. Not surprised Anne Rice stayed here as well. Since 1998, Hotel Monteleone is also a literary landmark, named by Friends of Library Association.

Hotel Monteleone is notably popular with other-earthly beings, according to paranormal investigators who spent the night. Apparently, the ghosts are friendly, many of them children who seem to like the fourteenth floor. Hotel Monteleone’s website shares more – “Generations of hotel guests and staff have regularly experienced haunted events at Hotel Monteleone. From doors that open with a will of their own and elevators that go to the wrong floor to shadows of children playing and curious couples that appear at the end of hallways, our hotel is known for being one of the premier haunted places in New Orleans. “

A New Orleans classic, Vieux Carré, was born at Hotel Monteleone’s Carousel Bar, a carousel-themed bar that rotates every fifteen minutes. This concoction was created by Walter Bergeron in the 1930s. The Carousel Bar recipe calls for 3/4 ounce each of Sazerac Rye Whiskey, Pierre Fernando 1840 Cognac, and Berto Red Vermouth, 1/2 ounce of Benedictine liqueur, and one or two dashes of Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters, with lemon peel. Combine in a glass of ice. Stir well. Enjoy.

Algiers Point

Algiers Point lies across the Mississippi River and is reached by ferry. Here’s a suggested walking tour from the Algiers Historical Society.

Algiers Point

Garden District

2627 Coliseum is Sandra Bullock’s New Orleans home since 2009 and appears in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Showing this house, built in 1876, was one of the walking tour’s selling points/highlights. The Garden District is the home of the wealthy and home to once-plantation owners. The houses here date back to before the Civil War. While the architecture is beautiful, from purely an architectural point of view, antebellum or pre-civil-war is also when slavery was legal in the country. It isn’t a time period to romanticize.

Audubon Park

My mom and I trekked out to Crescent City Farmers Market in the Uptown neighourhood. After browsing the stalls and sharing a pizza, we headed to Audubon Park, where there was a stone labyrinth I wanted to visit.

Audubon Park

Degas House

The Degas House is both a museum and a Bed & Breakfast. Edgar Degas (1834–1917) is known for his Impressionist paintings and many know him for those of ballerinas. His mother, Célestine Musson De Gas, was from New Orleans and he stayed at his relatives’ home for about five months from October 1872. He came to visit his family, including his brothers René and Achille. During this short period, Degas produced a number of paintings, including A Cotton Office in New Orleans. Depicting his uncle’s brokerage firm, the painting shows a few relatives. Other paintings include portraits of Estelle Musson, René’s wife. Degas’ blindness was a point of empathy he had for Estelle, who had an eye disease.

Degas House

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