All Aboard, New Orleans!
September 1st, 2008 by stacey greenbergWhen my husband and I decided to take the train to New Orleans for a family vacation this summer, I worried about how we’d get around once we landed. But thanks to great public transportation, bike rentals, and our own two feet, it was a breeze. My 4- and 6-year-old sons especially loved using these new modes of transportation.
The kids are so excited about riding the train, they don’t even care where we’re going. Their enthusiasm is contagious enough to make our 5 a.m. wake-up call almost bearable. We board Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, and depart from the Central Train Station on South Main at 6:30 a.m. There’s a healthy crowd on this mid-July morning — young folks and old, traveling solo or with family. As we settle in, I notice the cars are clean and the staff friendly, the seats are even surprisingly comfortable. Outlets under the windows power up our electronics, which come in handy during this nine-hour trek.
Once on board, the kids immediately empty their backpacks of snacks, coloring books, magic tricks, and card games. They eagerly look out the window as we begin moving, at least for the first 10 minutes or so. The following eight hours are spent running up and down the aisles, climbing over the chairs, and going up and down the stairs. More than once, I find myself fantasizing about having them strapped into car seats while I read a magazine as my husband zips down I-55.
(Thankfully, our return trip, which leaves New Orleans at 1:30 p.m., is much better. The kids work off some of their extra energy in the morning and a newly acquired portable DVD player makes the ride home much more mellow. They spend more time sitting and coloring or looking out the window. My husband even spots an alligator.)
New Orleans’ busy downtown is best explored by foot or bike. Several places rent mountain, hybrid, cruiser, and recumbent bikes ($25/day). Or consider bringing your own bike on the train. My husband and I opt for a couple of adult “tricycles” with baskets big enough for the boys to ride in. (My 6-year-old is very steady on a bike, but I wasn’t ready to let my rambunctious 4-year-old loose in a new city.)
One morning we ride to Jackson Square and have coffee & beignets at Cafe Du Monde while listening to a sidewalk guitarist. Then we ride through the French Quarter to soak up the sights, buying a muffaletta at Central Grocery, and a Po-Boy at the Verti Mart. The kids love all the voodoo and Mardi Gras accoutrements — I love looking more like a local than a tourist.
Another day we visit several museums around Jackson Square. The Presbytere (a.k.a. The Mardi Gras Museum) offers an interesting description of Mardi Gras traditions across Louisiana. For a peek inside middle-class family life during the most prosperous period of New Orleans’ history, we also tour The 1850 House. Both are a hit with the kids, but pale in comparison to the performance artist on the square, who’s painted silver and pretends to be a robot.
The highlight of downtown for the kids is the riverfront. They have a blast at the Aquarium of the Americas. In addition to a world of fish, they ogle adorable penguins, amazing seadragons (a glitzy seahorse), and multicolored frogs. There’s even a kids’ area with a mini-playground, climbing structures, and “petting” pools inhabited by small sharks and stingrays.
As we pedal around on our bikes, we notice several people on Segways. Four-hour tours ($65 per person, ages 12 and up) include a 30-minute practice session. Both our budget and our kids are a bit small for this tour, but the people who zip past us on their personal transporters seem to be enjoying themselves.
Another downtown option is the riverboat cruise ($20/per adult and $10/child, ages 6-12). Better, you can ride the ferry to nearby Algiers — for free.
Boarding the ferry can be confusing though, due to separate entrances for cars, bikes, and pedestrians, but once we figure it out, the kids are stoked. Instead of sitting in a chair in the air-conditioned room on top, we venture below deck, where the cars are parked. From here, we’re closer to the water and can take in the breeze. The 45-minute round-trip offers a great way to cool off.
Other water options include the Swamp Tour via airboats, or kayak rentals. Both are neat ways to explore Bayou St. John, a natural historic waterway that runs through the city.
If you’ve visited New Orleans, then you know how beloved the streetcar system is. Luckily, Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium of the Americas, the IMAX theatre, and the newly opened Insectarium on Canal Street, are all accessible by streetcar. (Purchase bundled tickets at a discount.)
But for a change of pace, we board the Magazine Street bus to the zoo, then take a leisurely stroll through Audubon Park before returning downtown aboard the St. Charles streetcar line; both are widely used and dependable modes of transportation.
We spend over five hours at the zoo and easily would have stayed longer had it not been closing time. Despite top-notch exhibits and big-ticket animals like the white tiger, the most popular attraction is Monkey Hill. What’s so great about Monkey Hill? Well, it has nothing to do with monkeys. It’s just a sweet little place to get wet and frolic while you climb over boulders and under waterfalls. It’s a real kid magnet.
Other zoo highlights included the Louisiana Swamp exhibit with an albino alligator, Chucacabre monster, and Swamp Cafe featuring Cajun specialties like gumbo and ettouffe, yum. Despite all the animals we view, though, there’s one creature more breathtaking than all the rest: the peacock. It amazes us with its glorious 15 feet of feathers and impressive tree climbing skills.
Ready to head back to the St. Charles streetcar, we walk back through Audubon Park, which takes about an hour. (Shorter, of course, if you don’t stop to examine the ducks and turtles and squirrels and lizards and playground – you know boys.) But as we rumble up Charles Street at the end of the day, I realize it’s a fitting finale to our car-free vacation.
Tags: car-free vacations, New Orleans