How To - Kate Sommer

One of my favorite places to be is New Orleans. I've probably been there around 20 times in my lifetime. And considering I'm going to New Orleans in the next couple days I decided to teach you all How To Visit New Orleans.

1) Food. Don't knock it 'til you try it. One of my favorite foods to get in New Orleans is a Po-Boy (Poor Boy), but the best place to get them from is actually a gas station. The gas station Danny and Clyde's might look like a total dive but it has some of the best Po-Boys in the city and it's constantly packed with people. Personally, we always have to get Pop-eyes fried chicken - but that might be because they took all the Pop-eyes away from Lexington. Also, you HAVE to get Beignets. They're basically a french doughnut with powdered sugar - but they're delicious and if you have the opportunity to have them you need to.

2) Tourist locations. City Park - A park in Midtown New Orleans with a playground, a sculpture garden, and art museum, and even an amusement park. If you happen to during Christmas time it's a ton of fun because they have a large month long event called "Celebration of the Oaks". Magazine Street -Blocks and blocks of stores. Any store you could think of is on this street. Music stores, art stores, clothing stores, restaurants, bakery's, thrift stores. French Quarter - What you think of when you hear New Orleans. It has a majority of the street performers/artists/musicians and the original Cafe du Monde (known for their beignets).

3) Mardi Gras. If you're given the opportunity to visit New Orleans during Mardi Gras, do it. Here's a tip, if you're there for the parades, the best ones are actually the ones the weekend before Mardi Gras. The Saturday and Sunday before the super Krewes, Endymion and Bacchus, have their parades. In these parades one float is actually 3 floats put together. Tons of people turn out for these parades and they're lots of fun. Both Krewes usually get famous people to be the Grand Marshalls/Kings of the Parade. For example last year Bacchus has Hugh Laurie and this year they got John C Reilly. Also last year Endymion had Norman Reedus and Ian Somerhalder and this year they have Jason Aldean. If you're looking for a parade that's a bit more low key but still good quality, I recommend Hermes. It passes right by Magazine street and after spending some time shopping you could down to a great parade.