Big Easy Christmas

By Gillian Kennedy

I have wanted to visit New Orleans for a very long time, ever since a friend did a two centre holiday to New Orleans and New York and said she much preferred the Big Easy to the Big Apple. As I love New York I just had to find out for myself.

My first attempt (during our 12 month globetrotting trip) was stymied by Hurricane Katrina making landfall two weeks before we were due to arrive. Several years later I was looking for ideas on where to spend Christmas. I discovered that, as a popular conference venue, hotels and restaurants in New Orleans make special efforts to attract visitors over the Christmas period, when there is no convention business. Being married to a Scotsman, avoiding peak flight and hotel prices over the holiday period was definitely an attractive option!

I booked our flights from Dublin (where we live) with Delta. I was a bit concerned when a friend said that Delta stands for “Doesn’t Ever Leave the Airport” but actually our flights went incredibly smoothly. Flying to the US from Dublin has the added bonus of passing through US customs and immigration at Dublin airport, which is much quicker and a lot less hassle than doing it on arrival in the States. After landing at Atlanta we got to the gate for our New Orleans flight within half an hour, without having to pass through any additional security.

We had booked a lovely B&B called Royal Street Courtyard in the Marigny, close to Frenchmen Street. As we were receiving a warm welcome and detailed guidance on where to go and what to do from our host Philip, we got the first hint of what a wonderful place NOLA (New Orleans Louisiana) is - a brass band passed by, complete of course with the obligatory second line. We had only just arrived and already we were experiencing what has been described as “the quintessential New Orleans art form – a jazz funeral without a body”. Of course we had to go out onto the verandah to watch the second line walking & twirling behind the band (first line) before getting back to the business in hand.

We freshened up and headed out to explore, wandering around a night market on Frenchmen before having a wonderful meal at a place recommended by Philip – Adolfo’s above the Apple Barrel. Here we had the best meal we’d had all year with the Scotsman opting for grouper with ocean sauce while I treated myself to rack of lamb.  Adolfo’s doesn’t take bookings, but it was no hardship to have a drink in the Apple Barrel while waiting for our table. After dinner we headed to the Spotted Cat for some live music before yawning got the better of me and we had an early night.

I had researched in advance what there was to do in NOLA over Christmas, as I was a bit concerned we would run out of things to do, or places would be shut over the holiday period. I needn’t have worried – we stayed for a week and didn’t get to see everything we wanted to see. That gives us a great excuse to go back some time and catch what we missed – places like the Audubon zoo, aquarium, insectarium, the Cabildo (the Louisiana state museum), the Civil War museum, or activities such as taking a trip on a paddle steamer, doing a swamp tour or a Katrina tour. 

The day after we arrived, we were spoiled for choice for Christmassy activities. Having checked out the French market and treated ourselves to coffee and beignets at the Café du Monde, we then went on a tour of private homes in the French quarter. These are open to the public just once a year, to raise money for the “Patio Planters of the Vieux Carré”, which aims to preserve and beautify the French Quarter. It was very special to see around people’s homes, all decked out in their Christmas finery. Here we got our first taste of how friendly people are in New Orleans. I went round the corner in one home to find the Scotsman ensconced on the sofa, chatting to the home owners. I was quickly invited to join them and after a lovely chat, not only were we invited back any time during our stay but we were instructed to say hi to the chatelaine of a plantation house we were visiting on Christmas Eve, as she was a friend of theirs.

This is something we found throughout our stay – whether visitors or locals, people would hear our Irish and Scottish accents and strike up conversations with us. This is not something we’ve come across in any other big city and it made our stay extra special. After the walking tour we went to the cathedral for a concert and again, hearing our accents, people near us turned around in their seats and started chatting to us. We enjoyed a lovely Christmas concert, including hearing the city’s mayor singing O Holy Night. There followed a period of confusion as we were supposed to go carolling in Jackson Square, immediately outside the cathedral. After a while we worked out that the carolling had been brought indoors due to heavy rain so crowds of people were trying to leave the concert and more crowds were trying to get in. Once we worked out what was going on we headed back to our seats and enjoyed joining in with the carol singing.

I had planned to visit the two museums on either side of the cathedral (the Cabildo and the Presbytère) on Christmas Eve. They should have been open as it wasn’t an official holiday in Louisiana but unfortunately they were closed. So we found other ways to occupy ourselves, including watching some excellent street performances, until it was time to join our pre-booked tour to the San Francisco plantation house. We usually avoid coach/large group tours, but we took this one to experience the Christmas Eve bonfires on the levees, said to light the way for Saint Nicholas.

The plantation house itself was a bit of a disappointment, being so close to oil refineries and the like! However, by hanging back until the end, we ended up getting a tour in a group of eight. As requested, we said hello to the chatelaine of the house, from her friends whom we’d met the day before, and were warmly greeted with a hug as a result. After our tour we scoffed down our Christmas meal and then it was to the buses, which received a police escort to the levees. Here we were greeted by the spectacular sight of bonfire after bonfire all along the levees, set really rather close together. Some of the locals seemed to have a death wish – using kerosene to light some of the bonfires and in one case sliding down the side of the levee at great speed and almost into the path of an oncoming car. There was a great festive spirit about and almost every house facing the levees seemed to be having some kind of house party. If we’d had alcohol with us we’d have been quite tempted to blag our way into one of the them. It was certainly a memorable way to spend Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day itself we started in a more chilled out fashion with bubbles in bubbles – treating ourselves to a bottle of prosecco while relaxing in the hot tub in the courtyard at the back of our guesthouse. We then meandered through the French quarter, to find a surprising number of people out and about, including a lovely Canadian couple we’d met on the tour the day before (we kept bumping into people from our group of 8 time after time over the next few days). We had a lovely lunch at the very colonial feeling Bombay Club, getting into conversation with a nice Aussie couple at the adjacent table. Then we repaired to Pat O’Brien’s (where else?) to sample both a Hurricane and a Cyclone - very nice they were, too. 

We then switched from bubbles to baubles and headed out by tram to see the spectacular light displays of “Celebration in the Oaks” in City Park. This is a holiday lights festival with more than 165,000 visitors annually. The 25 acres of the park are bedecked with all kinds of light displays, many with special themes such as nursery rhymes or bugs and butterflies. Our firm favourite though was an animated and audio version of the Cajun Night before Christmas, complete with Santa on his sleigh being pulled not by reindeer but by alligators. This was a wonderfully festive way to spend Christmas night.

In addition to Christmassy activities we had plenty to see and do in our week in NOLA. We spent a full day at the National World War II museum and still didn’t manage to see everything we wanted to see. I did, however, have the honour of shaking hands with a 95 year old D Day veteran, who had the misfortune of being parachuted into the wrong location but lived to tell the tale.   You may wonder why an American national museum is located in New Orleans at all, when most national museums are in Washington DC. Well, the answer is simple – the D Day landing craft (also known as Higgins boats or LCVPs) were designed by Andrew Higgins of Higgins Industries and built in New Orleans. General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying:

“Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.”

The museum was originally called the D-Day museum and focused initially on the amphibious invasion of Normandy. It was designated the National World War II museum in 2003. When you arrive the atrium contains not only several aircraft suspended from the ceiling and a Higgins boat to inspect but also a Union Pacific Train Car. After paying for your tickets you board the train and are on your way to war!

We found the museum fascinating, with excellent displays on subjects such as Planning for D Day, the D Day beaches, the Home Front and various “D Day Invasions” in the Pacific (as they were described). I really enjoyed listening to some of the audio accounts of people who had lived through the war – from all sides of the conflict. There is a 4D film called Beyond All Boundaries, narrated by Tom Hanks (who else?), which looks at American involvement in the war. The only disappointment was a slightly underwhelming submarine experience, inspired by the last patrol of the USS Tang. 

We found many other things to enjoy in our week in New Orleans. Highlights included a walking tour in the Garden District and another in one of the cemeteries (there are plenty of tours to choose from), the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, an IMAX film about Hurricane Katrina and the Katrina and Mardi Gras exhibitions in the Presbytère museum. We found the information on Katrina very moving and learned a lot about the appalling way many residents were treated who did not have the wherewithal to evacuate. This included information on the notorious Danziger Bridge shooting which was very much in the news when we were there. One woman became quite distressed as she went around the Presbytère exhibition, as she had lived through Katrina and was calling out things like “they treated us like animals”. Very sobering to think how quickly things can descend into chaos.

While there is lots to see and do in New Orleans, some of the best fun is to be had just by wandering around and sampling the wonderful food, drink and music the city has to offer. 

We’ve tried and can recommend the following:

• Food – coffee and beignets in Café du Monde or Café Beignet (we preferred the former, although it is a real tourist trap it has great atmosphere), dinner at Adolfos, gelato or cakes at Sucre, po’boys and muffalettas, gumbo and creole jambalaya, gator bits and (on the posher end of the scale) Reveillon dinners, available at reduced prices in many of the more upmarket restaurants during the holiday season. Reveillon dinners were apparently inspired by the Creole tradition of having a big family meal in the early hours of Christmas morning, after returning from midnight mass. This was revived in the 1990s and moved to paying locations and a more conventional time of day.
• Drink – Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street (allegedly the oldest operating bar in the country), Hurricanes and Cyclones in Pat O’Brien’s (check out the duelling piano show if you can) and the Old New Orleans rum distillery, where the high water mark from Katrina flooding is visible
• Music – in particular we liked what we heard at the Apple Barrel, the Spotted Cat, and Café Negril, which was absolutely hopping with a great bluesy band on Christmas Eve. The buskers outside the cathedral were worth a listen and we got to see a great second line for a wedding at the Hotel Monteleone. We loved the music and vibe of Frenchmen, whereas Bourbon Street at night is like Dublin’s Temple Bar x10, with a less enjoyable atmosphere. Most places on Frenchmen don’t make a cover charge, they just pass a bucket round periodically so you can put a few dollars in. Most places (but not the Spotted Cat) allow you to have “to go” cups, so you can take your drink from bar to bar and just move between music venues as and when the mood takes you.
• Wandering around – the beautiful French quarter of course, but also the elegant Garden District, around Frenchmen and into Faubourg Marigny where we stayed, plus Louis Armstrong park and of course the cemeteries. However do take advice on where is safe to walk. Only a few blocks from our guesthouse was considered dangerous and Philip carefully marked up our map to show us where was safe and unsafe. For example he insisted we take the free shuttle to the rum museum at 2815 Frenchmen in the 9th ward, a distance we would normally have walked.

Summing up: I’m so glad I finally got to New Orleans – and Christmas was the perfect time to visit. Not only were there lots of festive extras to enjoy and the weather was mild with just one wet day but you’re not being ripped off by seasonal price increases, due to the gap left by convention business. Yes, it does have a reputation for being dangerous, but that’s probably true of a lot of big US cities – just follow local advice on where is safe to go. We just loved the vibe of the place and the warm welcome we got from everyone we met. I’ll definitely return some day – maybe next time for Mardi Gras!

First published in VISA 128 (August 2016)