New Orleans City Park

Entering New Orleans for the first time, the combination of unique elements are astounding. The city feels small and condensed like a Vegas equivalent, but the feeling of history in the cobblestone is undeniable. The food, while delectable, is… fried. Hushpuppies (fried), beignets (fried), fried oysters (extra fried). Tourists swarm the city with fanny packs, accompanying bachelorettes and alcoholic beverages. The first rule to seeing the true city: blend in. Do what the locals do. If people are casually dressed in dive-bars on Friday night, don’t put on a cocktail dress and stumble down Bourbon Street. Or do, if that’s the New Orleans experience you want. The unpolished view of those who live and work is always the end game for me.

After an evening of drinking and carting my embarrassing, intoxicated friend home, I snuck out early to get some much needed quiet time. Our Airbnb host highly recommended City Park with its aged, weeping trees looming up at the entrance. Ready with a nod in true southern style for each local out for their morning run or so I had been advised. “Everyone around here knows each other. The true sign of a stranger is someone who rudely breezes by”. So I smiled. Little bridges and lakes divide up the park with a disneyland allure framing unmissable gems like New Orleans Museum of Art complete with sculpture garden. You can even pick up the trolley on the outskirts and turn a meandering morning into a full day excursion.

I trailed the locals to Morning Call, an outpost in City Park serving café au lait 24 hours. A far cry from the abhorrently famous Cafe Du Monde where the bustling, table groping crowds line up daily and where you can barely catch a waiters’ eye to get your order in before they’ve moved on with a tray of hot, fried dough. Sunday morning I pulled up a chair outside Morning Call with a bag of powdered sugar-dunked beignets and styrofoam coffee cup while my (ahem) senior waitress stood by my table chatting incessantly. Did I mention southern hospitality?

City Park is not the first landmark to come up when discussing New Orleans at a dinner party. The French Quarter, Mardi Gras, Jazz Musicians, these are more common associations with an average trip to NOLA. Far from the drunken spectacle that is Bourbon Street and a few short miles down historic Esplanade lies City Park. This gorgeous haven stretches 1300 acres and can be a salvation on a short-lived Louisiana adventure.