Big and Easy things to do in New Orleans

by kevin on January 15, 2016 with No Comments

I would say Bourbon street is a mixture of Austin Texas, Amsterdam, and your favorite college-town main-street, though possibly a bit warmer and with more drunks. That being said, if you are looking for a good place to party, this is definitely the street for you. Me and Eric were here on a Tuesday night, expecting it to be kinda dull, but even on a Tuesday there were a bunch of people out and about. Expect prices to be averagely expensive like they seem to be everywhere these days, but you can find a few deals here and there if you look.

This was my first time renting a moped anywhere, and let me say it was an amazing way to see a city! I put near 70 miles on that thing in one day. Drove down Bourbon in the daytime, drove through the 9th ward, drove to the levies, saw some tanker ships, here, there, everywhere. There's a local rental shop (also rents motorcycles) and it's really expensive unless you have a coupon (I did) or sign up for a cheap month membership thing. I got stopped once for not having a helmet (apparently that's a law here) but the copper was cool and gave me a fist-bump and let me on my way (this was at like 2am on Bourbon Street).

The battlefield of 'The Battle of New Orleans' - This grassy field is where the final battle of the war of 1812 took place. You can easily imagine British soldiers coming at you from the other side of the field as the built up trenches and canons are still in place. If you're lucky enough to be in New Orleans during one of the days where they have a battle re-enactment here, I would definitely show up to watch.

The Chalmette Battlefield, the Malus-Beauregard House and the National Cemetery are all in the same park area.

There's a bunch of history related to this old house sitting in the middle of a field that I don't completely understand but apparently it served as many things including the headquarters for General Andrew Jackson during the war of 1812.
You can also go behind the house and watch giant tanker ships roll in and out of the shipping canal, and marvel at how the Mississippi River/Ocean water is higher than the entire battlefield/most of New Orleans (and separated by a little two foot high brick wall)...

The National cemetery is a great place to walk through and think about life. Come here alone on a sunny weekday afternoon with some music on your phone and a sandwich for best effect. There are some giant beautiful oak trees you can sit under while you ponder. Just be careful you don't lay on a fire-ant hill like I did 🙁

From Wikipedia: The National cemetery is the final resting place of over 15,300 veterans and casualties of American military campaigns from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. There are only four graves of War of 1812 soldiers, one of whom was at the Battle of New Orleans.