A taste of the Big Easy

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FROM ATLANTA TO ... NEW ORLEANS

A taste of the Big Easy

Published on: 07/22/08

Here are some attractions to get your sightseeing started.

Ted Jackson/NNS

(ENLARGE)

The Audubon Insectarium was the first tourist attraction to open in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

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Photos: Travel / Southeast Galleries
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AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
1418 Gov. Nicholls St.
504-566-1136

The museum is housed in Treme Villa, considered one of the finest examples of a Creole villa in the city. It has five restored buildings to visit.

AUDUBON AQUARIUM OF THE AMERICAS & ENTERGY IMAX THEATER
1 Canal St.
1-800-774-7394
www.auduboninstitute.org

Visitors find 15,000 sea creatures, representing nearly 600 species.

AUDUBON INSECTARIUM
423 Canal St., Custom House
1-800-774-7394
www.auduboninstitute.org

Opened last month, the museum has 35,000 live residents and 15,000 mounted specimens, including spiders, centipedes, crawfish, ants and mosquitoes.

AUDUBON PARK
6500 Magazine St.
504-861-2537
www.auduboninstitute.org

The park, which opened in 1898, is known for its oak trees, lagoons, and expansive green space. It's minutes from downtown on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line, across from Tulane and Loyola Universities.

AUDUBON ZOO
6500 Magazine St.
1-800-774-7394
www.auduboninstitute.org
The zoo is 58 acres of animals in their natural habitats, including elephants Jean and Panya, the Komodo dragon, and the white tiger brothers from California, named King Rex and King Zulu.

BOTANICAL GARDENS
Victory Avenue, City Park
504-483-9386
www.neworleanscitypark.com

Known for its collection of mature oaks, the gardens are being replanted after being seriously damaged by Katrina.

CABILDO
701 Chartres St., Jackson Square
1-800-568-6968
lsm.crt.state.la.us
Built from 1795 to 1799, it's the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer in 1803. It also served as the seat of the Spanish colonial government.

EDGAR DEGAS HOUSE
2306 Esplanade Ave.
1-800-755-6730
www.degashouse.com
Near City Park, the restored house is where French impressionist master Edgar Degas lived from 1872 to 1873. Degas created 22 paintings of his New Orleans family here, and it is where he began exploring impressionism.

HARRAH'S CASINO
8 Canal St.
1-800-427-7247
www.HarrahsNewOrleans.com

Two-thousand slots and nearly 100 table games in a casino next to the 26-story Harrah's hotel, across from the Mississippi River, and near the Riverwalk Marketplace.

JACKSON SQUARE
751 Decatur St.
Between the Jax Brewery Shopping Mall and the French Market, and in front of St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square is named for its bronze statue of Andrew Jackson.

NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
945 Magazine St.
504-527-6012
www.ddaymuseum.org
It opened in June 2000 as the National D-Day Museum, featuring the Higgins landing craft that were designed and built in New Orleans and used in all the amphibious landings of World War II. Now it covers the prewar era through the end of the war against Japan.

NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
1 Collins Diboll Circle, City Park
504-488-2631
www.noma.org
The museum houses a $200 million collection in 46 galleries: European painting and sculpture from the 16th through 20th centuries; American painting and sculpture from the 18th and 19th centuries; European and American prints and drawings; Asian, African, Oceanic, pre-Columbian, and American Indian art; photography; and European and American decorative arts.

PHARMACY MUSEUM
514 Chartres St.
504-565-8027
www.pharmacymuseum.org

Housed in the 1823 apothecary of America's first licensed pharmacist, the museum contains a collection of 19th-century pharmacy and medical artifacts, including an exhibition on epidemics in New Orleans.

PRESBYTERE
751 Chartres St., Jackson Square
1-800-568-6968
http://lsm.crt.state.la.us

Built starting in 1791 as a home for Capuchin monks, next to St. Louis Cathedral.

ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL
Chartres Street
504-525-9585
www.stlouiscathedral.org
The oldest continuously active Roman Catholic cathedral in the country. It was originally built in 1727 and rebuilt after a fire in 1788. The present church was dedicated in the 1850s.

STEAMBOAT NATCHEZ
1 Toulouse St.
1-800-233-2628
www.steamboatnatchez.com

Classic Mississippi riverboat sails three times daily, at 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Traditional New Orleans jazz is featured, and the evening cruise includes dinner (reservations required).

THE SUPERDOME
Sugar Bowl Drive
1-800-756-7074
www.superdome.com

HURRICANE KATRINA TOUR
Gray Line Tours
1-800-535-7786
www.graylineneworleans.com

Tickets: Adults, $35; children, $28.

GETTING THERE
Southwest, United and US Airways fly nonstop to New Orleans from Philadelphia International Airport. The lowest recent round-trip fare was about $401.

MORE INFORMATION
For restaurants and hotels, see the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. Web site, www.neworleansonline.com, or call 504-524-4784.

(SOURCE: www.neworleansonline.com)

&mash; Bill Reed

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