Greater New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau 1520 Sugar Bowl Drive New Orleans, LA 70112 (504) 566-5003 (504) 566-5046 (fax) Population 496938 Time Zone Central Latitude/Longitude 29.95° /-90.07° Today's Forecast HIGH: 62 LOW: 53

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Attractions

The relatively small French Quarter is still the Crescent City's heart and main tourist draw. Every block is generously endowed with balconies dripping lacy ironwork and crumbling stucco, hidden gardens and enchanting courtyards, restaurants, bars, and an abundance of street theater. At the heart of the Quarter is Jackson Square, with its equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans. Along one side of Jackson Square is St. Louis Cathedral, one of the oldest in the United States, flanked by the Cabildo, once the seat of the Spanish government, and the Presbytere, which is now a museum of New Orleans history and culture.

Facing each other across the square are the two huge red-brick Pontalba buildings, their wide galleries adorned with graceful iron railings. The 1850 House, a section of one of the Pontalba buildings, is restored and decorated with authentic furniture made by the city's prominent cabinetmakers, Seignouret and Mallard. Nearby is the French Market, with colorful stands, shops, and coffee houses. Stop for a cup of chicory-laced cafe au lait and delectable doughnut-like beignets at Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street, a true New Orleans tradition. Also on Decatur, at the end of Esplanade Avenue, stands the massive Old U.S. Mint, which at its peak produced $5 million in coins a month.

Bourbon Street buzzes with the non-stop nightlife for which the city is famous. The birthplace of jazz, New Orleans is also a center of Louisiana's spirited, home-grown Cajun and zydeco music, and you might also hear rhythm & blues, gospel, or rock & roll simply by walking down the street. On Royal Street, the Historic New Orleans Collection offers a complex of interconnected, 18th-century buildings that have been beautifully preserved and now house a museum, gift shops, and research center. Also on Royal, the oddly attractive Cornstalk Fence draws many visitors to the stately Cornstalk Hotel. Nearby are the exquisitely restored Hermann-Grima House, which dates from 1831, and the Gallier House, furnished in the wealthy New Orleans style of the last half of the 19th century.

The Jackson Brewery complex of shops, entertainment and restaurants occupies a restored 1891 brewery overlooking the river near Jackson Square. Further upstream, at the foot of Canal Street, are companies offering paddlewheeler rides, the Jeanne d'Arc Statue, the Spanish Plaza, and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas where thousands of marine life species live in massive tanks and nature films play on the massive screen of the Entergy IMAX Theater. Next door is the huge Riverwalk festival marketplace featuring more than 100 specialty shops and quick-serve eateries with local delicacies.

Nearby are the Confederate Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the National D-Day Museum. A short ride on the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar through the Garden District will take you to the 400-acre Audubon Park and Zoo, an urban retreat with lush vegetation, waterfalls, and more than 1300 animals.

If you can tear yourself away from the French Quarter, be sure to see City Park and its 1,500 acres of recreational facilities and cultural attractions which include the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, and the delightful Children's Storyland.

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