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Travel Spotlight: New Orleans

Recently, my family and I traveled to New Orleans. I have written before about the importance for children to gain cultural knowledge while traveling. We plan our trips carefully around events, landmarks and sightseeing adventures that will fill our children with a sense of awe and wonder. New Orleans did not disappoint!

A typical day involved eating a yummy breakfast at Café Du Monde then walking through the French Quarter to N. Rampant and strolling through Louis Armstrong Park. This park is formerly known as Congo Park. Congo Park opened when Code Noir was instituted. Code Noir was a set of regulations and rules for slaves and slave owners. One of the articles in the document dictates that slaves had Sundays off from work. Because of this, Congo Park became a hub for musicians and artists to express themselves.

Where did we find the best treats? We found that Sucre was a must stop everyday in the humidity. The ice cream was unique with a variety of flavors you don’t see everywhere and the texture of the ice cream was more icy then creamy which was more refreshing on the heat! We all highly recommend visiting this sweet shop.

Where did we stay while in New Orleans? For our family, the Royal Sonesta gave us exactly the mixture of the Bourbon Street vibe, jazz music directly across the street every day, but still felt like an escape with nice restaurants, clean rooms, and a beautiful pool. It was centrally located and walking distance to everything except for the plantations and swamp tour. The service was fantastic and the rooms are perfect for a family with four children. Bourbon street is lively, especially at night so something to consider if you have light sleepers. My kids were exhausted by the end of each day so it wasn’t a problem but we did a lot of walking so the music outside didn’t impact their sleep. Mornings were very quiet.

Other things we did on our trip included visiting an Italian sculpture whose work is displayed in front of the Mississippi across from Decatur Street as well as going on a swamp tour! Our guide was great but we researched others and if our children were all a little older we may have kayaked instead of an airboat.

Stay tuned for our next travel spotlight!