Start early with the divine beignets at the Café du Monde, it's a cliché but oh so delicious! Café au lait and the fluffy dough and sugar bites are the way to fill you up for a few hours.
The Original Café opened in 1862 and is serving all the time except on Christmas Day and on the day the occasional hurricane passes too close to the city.
The recipe has not changed for decades, and the terrace tables are always packed, but you can pick up a to-go order and walk around Jackson Square listening to jazz musicians or watching street performers waking you up to the New Orleans street beat.
You are right in the French Quarter and simply walking the streets in the early morning will give you a sense of what the night must have been. The jazz clubs will be closed, but if you only have the day to spend in the city, you will need to come back someday and have a night out.
From there, walk to the Aquarium of the Americas alongside the Mississippi River, a grand place for all things fish and ocean. The view of the Mississippi River here is at its best, as most other accesses are blocked by the levees.
A short stroll on Canal Street will take you to a streetcar stop - hop on, it's a delightful trip! Stay in the streetcar all along Saint Charles Avenue to enjoy the graceful architecture of the massive mansions.
And now, it's likely mid-day, so hop off at the intersection of Saint Charles and Carrolton and have lunch at the Camellia Grill, a New Orleans institution, unchanged since the 1920s, with burgers to die for and omelets the size of footballs. You sit at counters stools and servers wearing white coats and bow ties yell your order to the open kitchen chefs right in front of you.
Taking the streetcar back the way you came, you can stop at Audubon Park and walk among majestic trees and meandering waters to enter the simple garden zoo, also run by the Audubon Nature Institute, like the aquarium.
From there, take a bus on Magazine Street and stop where all the little shops, art galleries, second hand boutiques and antique stores are concentrated, for the rest of the afternoon amazed.
If you have time for dinner, a taxi will take you to Jacques-Imo's on Oak Street for the perfect Cajun food experience. Serving "Real Nawlins Food", such as fried green tomatoes, eggplant with oyster dressing and wild mushroom sauce, or shrimp and alligator sausage cheesecake, and "Carpet Bagger" steak with oysters, caramelized red onions, bleu cheese, in Tasso hollandaise. This should finish your day in pompous scale.
We had to stop our (long) day in NOLA there, but it was a fun-tastic experience for all of us, adults and children alike.
The city of New Orleans was named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned in France as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723. Established by French colonists strongly influenced by European culture, distinct for its mostly French and Spanish creole architecture.
I am from Paris, France, and never recognized New Orleans as a typical French city, as its very specific buildings and balconies are nowhere to be seen in France. But the creole influence is definitely what makes New Orleans what it is, lovely.
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