First time in New Orleans and my impression is; except for the food I’m not sure I would make this a place I want to go back too.
Upon ariving we checked into our hotel. The first two days were “Work from the hotel room”.
At night we went out and expirienced the town. While Walking down Bourbon street I didn’t realize I was even on Bourbon Street.
Bourbon Street was dirty, with many persons sleeping on the street, behaving eratically and a lot of yelling. So much music, much of it music that does not interest me. I can deal with drunks and I can deal with people having a good time. But people walking along as if they are not in their right mind walking up to people as if they were going to asault you or just having conversations with people that are not there is challenging at time. We walked up and down the street and then walked over to some restaurants.
We took a cab out west to the Touro area of New Orleans landing at SHAYA. Twww.shayarestaurant.com) The combination of Israeli and Southern foods initially did not interest me, but my partner. However, the food was delicious.
The following day we took a history lesson on slavery. We booked a tour on Grayline Tours to The Whitney Plantation. The bus ride to the plantation included some history of New Orleans mixed with some humor from a long time New Orleans resident.
Upon arrival at the Plantation we were equipped with an audio device and given guidance on how to start the tour. This was a self guided tour with Audio. Each location along the tour corresponded with an Audio code that you enter into your device. You can then listen to an explaination of that location. Overall, the tour was informative and gave a perspective of slavery as though you were expiriencing it.
There are three plantations near one another. I would recommend taking a plantation tour, and expiriencing the history of slavery. Actally walking the grounds and expireincing what the enslaved people expirienced was heartbreaking.
Once back in downtown, we sleected our next gastronomic expirience.
August, located at 301 Tchoupitoulas St New Orleans, is a fine dining expirience. As we entered without a reservation, we waited in the bar for 15 minutes while waiting for a table. We ordered a drink which I would order again. If I could remember what the name was. But was listed on the House drinks menu.
We decided we would order multiple dishes and both expireince the dishes together.
We were offered a crab mousse as a first appetizer and then placed our order.
Another Gasronomic gluttony. I’m not a fish/crustateon person, so I cannot talk personally about the oysters. But my partner says they were good. I would recommend this place.
A hotel change was in order for the next three days as my conference was far from the orgional hotel. We moved to the Eliza Jane, The UnboundCollection by Hyatt. The entrance brought us back to the early years with a bar and night time live music. The brick layed walls made the expirience as though i went back in time.
The hotel room was roomy and comforting.
A day to myself, I decided to spend on a river boat tour. Paddlewheeler Creole Queen (www.creolequeen.com).
A three hour tour down the Mississippi River and back with a buffet lunch. Although the meal was not gourmet, it was definitely decent. I went back for seconds.
A few days in NO for work and back home to go. The new New Orleans airport terminal is nice. I think its a bit small in some areas but it is functional.
There is one Priority Pass Lounge “The Club MSY”. When I first checked in to the lounge there was about a 30-minute wait. I placed my name and phone number and then walked the terminal a bit. 30 minutes later i was notifed it was my time.
The Lounge, I felt was small. It was very busy, and to my knowledge, there were no International flights leaving hours before and after my flight time. The food you ordered via a QR code and they deliver it to your seating area. Drinks you order at the bar.
Overall, I wouldn’t purposfully go back to New Orleans unless I was going for the food.
JetBoyErik 
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