Kids Korner

Visit New Orleans, LA! Great Music Riverboat Rides Carriages and Castles Music... Food... Football... Voodoo... the chance to practice your French or your trumpet, ride on a paddleboat, or head out on a big cruise ship. Welcome to New Orleans, the city that is anxious to welcome back visitors and guarantees everyone will have a blast. The hard part is deciding what to do first!

Did You Know?

• The tourist and historic areas of New Orleans are back in business and ready to welcome you as the city continues to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Check out www.neworleanscvb.com.

• New Orleans has many nicknames including Saint City, The City That Care Forgot, Crescent City, and probably its most famous, The Big Easy. Now for a little history on two of the city’s more popular nicknames. There once was a New Orleans dance hall named The Big Easy but eventually, the nickname came to refer to the city and its gentle pace of life. The Mississippi River flows in the shape of a crescent around the city so that’s why many refer to New Orleans as the Crescent City.

• New Orleans buries its dead above ground because of the high water table. Visit a cemetery to see the elaborate monuments. New Orleans is also famous for its Jazz funerals, which are known for their elaborate music. Take a tour with Historic New Orleans Tours (www.tourneworleans.com).

• Creole refers to a tomato, a kind of food, an architectural style and to people who are a combination of French, Spanish, West Indian, and African ancestry. Cajuns, on the other hand, are descendants of French-speaking people who originally came from a region of Nova Scotia called “Arcadia” more than 250 years ago.

• People in New Orleans twirl umbrellas to music for all occasions -- from funerals (signaling that the person’s soul is now in heaven) to weddings and sporting events. Got your umbrella handy?

• There is no west, east, north or south in New Orleans. People head uptown, downtown, lakeside, riverside and, they say, anywhere there’s music.

• New Orleans was founded by the French (check out all the French street names), taken over by the Spanish, regained by the French, and then sold to the United States in 1803 in the famous Louisiana Purchase.

• In the old days, the French-speaking Cajuns would celebrate and bring their kids with them wrapped in blankets. The kids would sleep while the grown ups partied. So if you hear someone say “Fais-do-do” (“fay-doe-doe”) they’re saying, “Put the kids to sleep and come party!”

• Jazz started in New Orleans -- some say by a barber named Buddy Bolden back in 1891. Jazz mixes African and Creole music with European styles. Today New Orleans is still a great place to hear all kinds of music and Jazz. Check out www.nola.com and its link to the online edition of the Times-Picayune to find out what musicians are playing when you visit.

• New Orleans is a terrific place to eat ! You can find anything from gumbo, a soup made with local seafood) to sugary beignets (hot square donuts). Visit the French Market, at the foot of the French Square, for good eats and great souvenirs. The French Market has been a part of New Orleans for more than 200 years! Visit www.frenchmarket.org.
• There are five dozen parades in the 12 days that precede Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras is always held 47 days before Easter and can occur any Tuesday from Feb. 3 thru March 9. Hold out your hands and get ready to catch breads that are thrown from the colorful floats! And, about the colors -- purple means justice, green is faith and gold is power. Visit Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World to see floats being made. You can try on costumes too! Visit www.mardigrasworld.com.
• You and your family can help the New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina when you visit the magical city. Volunteer Louisiana is an official organization that matches volunteers with projects. Check out www.volunteerlouisiana.gov.
• New Orleans has the oldest urban African American neighborhood in the country. Check out the Faubourg Treme neighborhood, right outside the French Quarter, and stop for breakfast at Two Sisters Kitchen. Check out www.soulofneworleans.com -- the site for the New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network.
• Around the holidays bonfires are lighted along the Mississippi River. Early settlers first lit them to help Papa Noel, the Cajun Santa Claus, find his way.

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In New Orleans . . .

Meet Chase (age 7) who lives New Orleans, Louisiana. Chase is the son of New Orleans Customer Service Agent, Laurance. He says: New Orleans is a great place to live because everybody is really nice and there are lots of fun things to do. Don’t miss: Aquarium of the Americas Children’s Museum Audubon Zoo “Celebration in the Oaks” in City Park is a must see for Christmas! Don’t go home without: Riding the streetcar down St. Charles Avenue The best places to eat: Café du Monde (for beignets and chocolate milk) Crescent City Brewhouse (for burgers and fries) The best places to visit outside New Orleans: Blue Bayou Water Park in Baton Rouge, LA Global Wildlife Reserve in Folsom, LA Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, LA

Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .

Tourism is one of New Orleans’ most important industries -- employing 85,000 people -- and was one of the first industries to come back after Hurricane Katrina. All family attractions are now up and running, with the exception of Six Flags Park in New Orleans East. You can take a cruise from New Orleans on Carnival (www.carnival.com) or on Norwegian Cruise Line (www.ncl.com)

When you visit New Orleans, remember that you are helping all those who live there and are still struggling to rebuild their lives and businesses after Hurricane Katrina. The vast majority of downtown hotels have reopened. Check out www.louisianatravel.com, www.cityofno.com, and www.neworleanscvb.com for Papa Noel and other deals. Consider a bed and breakfast in the historic area and leave the car parked! Walking is the best way to see this city. Fodor’s has a post-Katrina New Orleans 2007 book (www.fodors.com) and Frommer’s has a new portable New Orleans guide (www.frommers.com).

Here are some more kid-friendly attractions:

• The Audubon Zoo. You can meet the Komodo dragon and the white tiger brothers. And the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas with sea creatures from around the world (ever see a wild Alligator?) Visit www.auduboninstitute.org.

• Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Complete with a Chinese dragon ship made from more than 1,000 pounds of jade and a London Tower Bridge model -- made of 264,000 matchsticks. Visit www.ripleysneworleans.com.

• Riverwalk Marketplace for shopping and music (www.riverwalkmarketplace.com).

• The New Orleans Hornets basketball team (www.nba.com/hornets/), the New Orleans Saints www.neworleanssaints.com, the New Orleans Voodoo (Arena Football League www.govoodoo.com), and the Zephyrs AAA baseball (www.zephyrsbaseball.com ).

• The Louisiana Children’s Museum, complete with a tiny port of New Orleans (www.lcm.org)

• National World War II Museum which brings that era alive for kids as well as parents. Visit www.ddaymuseum.org.

• Plantation Homes outside the city like Laura: A Creole Plantation (www.lauraplantation.com).

• New Orleans Museum of Art, showcasing Carnival! -- Modern-day carnival celebrations from around the world. Visit www.noma.org.

• Riverboat cruises on an authentic paddle wheeler. Check the New Orleans Steamboat Company (www.steamboatnatchez.com).

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™