After the holidays, I always feel a little let down. Winter is frequently cold and gloomy in the New York area where my family lives, and I've found that the quickest, easiest remedy to the winter blahs is to take a short vacation. Cities always provide the stimulation and diversion needed to lift the spirits.
There are practical reasons to visit a city in wintertime, as well. There are fewer crowds when it's cold, and hotels frequently offer attractive weekend rates. Museums, theaters, shops and restaurants are all indoors, anyway. Public, indoor athletic facilities are springing up like mushrooms, and you'll really make your kids happy if you choose a hotel with a pool. The bottom line is that cities are exciting and fun, no matter what time of year it is. So, put on your party hat and head to New Orleans, Louisiana where city life pulses year-round.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
If it's Mardi Gras time in New Orleans, families will most likely want to avoid the French Quarter after dark, since the revelry can turn wild. But elsewhere, your kids will have a great time, especially amassing Mardi Gras beads that are flung into the crowd from passing floats in the parades. (Tip: Watch from St. Charles or Napoleon avenue if you're with kids.)When my family visited a couple of years ago, the celebration was still months away. So we did the next best thing and rode the Canal Street ferry to Algiers, a town on the other shore of the Mississippi River. A waiting shuttle drove us to Mardi Gras World, home of the giant warehouses, or carnival dens, where many of the festival floats and costumes are stored and spiffed up during the rest of the year. There was a tour, but first we got to raid the costume trunks and strut around in the most over-the-top carnival frippery you can imagine. Every headdress seemed to be at least 4 feet high, the stand-up collars weighed a ton, and the gowns were just the right length for a typical member of the NBA. There were sequins, satin, velvet, feathers--both ostrich and marabou. It was great. We prowled among the floats and the larger-than-life effigies of Bacchus, Frankenstein, Elvis and many others.
We got a darker glimpse of New Orleans at the Musee Conti Wax Museum in the French Quarter. Arriving for a Ghost Tour, our "Ghostman Guide" materialized out of the gloom, smiled and introduced himself to my daughter, Victoria, as a member of an old family of New Orleans vampires. She loved it. He then escorted us past tableaux of such infamous local legends as pirate Jean Lafitte and "voodoo queen" Marie Laveau, and filled us in on all the juicy details as we went.
The Louisiana Children's Museum, housed in a renovated brick warehouse building, was about 20 minutes by foot from our French Quarter hotel. Victoria thought it was only for little kids, so she was relieved to discover The Lab, for kids eight to 12, where she went for a spin on the gyrochair and checked out Ricochet, the mathematical air-hockey teaching game. A few of our memorable encounters at the Aquarium of the Americas included staring at a rare white alligator, watching baby stingrays in their own nursery and spotting some tiny flashlight fish, so named because of their phosphorescent eyes.
Another favorite adventure was the Louisiana Swamp Tour out in Cajun country (we traveled by van to and from our hotel). Our captain seemed to know every alligator in the bayou, and when he called out to them (in French, of course), they all came swimming up alongside our flat-bottomed craft to beg for raw chicken. This captain, by the way, had been the one to find the Aquarium of the Americas' white alligator shortly after it hatched. Before docking, he produced a more standard baby alligator, which we all passed around. He'd purposely kept it cold, so it was very sluggish and not aggressive.
NEW ORLEANS CONTACTS
New Orleans Metropolitan Convention Visitors Bureau1520 Sugar Bowl Drive
New Orleans, LA 70112
504-566-5011/800-672-6124
Mardi Gras World
233 Newton Street
New Orleans, LA 70114
504-362-8211
Musee Conti Wax Museum
917 Conti Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
504-525-2605
Louisiana Swamp Tours
Route 1, Box 406
Marrero, LA 70072
504-689-3599
Louisiana Children's Museum
420 Julia Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-523-1357
Aquarium of the Americas
1 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70178
504-581-4629
NEW ORLEANS HOTELS
It's not impossible to find a last-minute room in the city for Mardi Gras, though you might need to do some delving.
W French Quarter
This charming and intimate French Quarter hotel encircles a courtyard and has a pool. Children stay for free. Weekend rates are $189 to $400 per night; inquire about packages. Call 504-581-1200 or 800-448-4927.
Royal Sonesta
Also in the French Quarter, this hotel is built on a larger scale than the Hotel de la Poste. Kids like the outdoor pool. Children 17 and under stay free with parents. Regular rates are $299 to $419 per night. Call 504-586-0300 or 800-SONESTA.
NEW ORLEANS FUN FACTS
New Orleans is the only major American city that lies below sea level. For this reason, it is also the only American city to bury its dead above ground.Carnival was first celebrated in New Orleans in 1740, but the first parade float did not appear until 1837.
New Orleans is the only American city where French was the predominant language for more than a century.
New Orleans used to have a longer, more extensive canal system than that of Venice, Italy. In 1914, a new pumping and drainage system rendered canals obsolete.
Travel writer Joy Anderson has been city-struck since her early childhood in New York City.
Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated June 2005.
