New Orleans Performance Tour – 4 Days

After breakfast you’ll visit Cafe Du Monde. The Original Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand was established in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market and is a traditional coffee shop. Its menu consists of dark roasted Coffee and Chicory, Beignets, White and Chocolate Milk, and fresh squeezed Orange Juice. The coffee is served Black or Au Lait. Au Lait means that it is mixed half and half with hot milk. Beignets are square French -style doughnuts, lavishly covered with powdered sugar. In 1988 Iced Coffee was introduced to the cafe. Soft drinks also made their debut that year.

Next, you’ll take a guided walking tour in the French Quarter. You’ll see Bourbon Street, Royal Street, the St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, The French Market, and more. You’ll also have a chance to stop at the visitor’s center at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.

After lunch, you’ll visit the French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carre, which is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans (La Nouvelle-Orléans in French) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré (“Old Square” in French) as it was known then. While the area is still referred to as the Vieux Carré by some, it is more commonly known as the French Quarter today, or simply “The Quarter.” Although called the “French” Quarter, most of the present day buildings were built under Spanish rule and show Spanish colonial tastes. The district as a whole is a National Historic Landmark, and contains numerous individual historic buildings. It was affected relatively lightly by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as compared to other areas of the city and the greater region.

This morning you will give a public performance!

After lunch, on this private and guided walking tour, you will explore the world’s richest musical city, starting with a rare inside look at the legendary Preservation Hall. Visit the site of the Old French Opera House and stroll through the Tango Belt and May Bailey’s before arriving at the Treme section. Enter historic St. Louis Cemetery #1 to see the New Orleans Musicians Tomb, and then head to the remains of Storyville (including Quinn Early’s Saloon where “Pretty Baby” was written). From Storyville, check out the Basin Street Station and then venture into Louis Armstrong Park, the location of Congo Square, historic site of African slave gatherings. Congo Square is considered the wellspring of all New Orleans music and consequently so much of the world’s most popular song. It is also the site of the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (1970) and the Municipal Auditorium. Then enter the building that housed the legendary J&M Studios which created the “new Orleans Sound”. Finally, you will visit the Golden Feather Mardi Gras Indian Gallery and check out the world’s greatest street musicians who carry the Jazz flame to this day.

This morning you will enjoy a private jazz concert at the historic Preservation Hall. Situated in the heart of the French Quarter on St. Peter Street, the Preservation Hall venue presents intimate, acoustic New Orleans Jazz concerts over 360 nights a year featuring ensembles from a current collective of 50+ local master practitioners. On any given night, audiences bear joyful witness to the evolution of this venerable and living tradition.

You’ll board your bus, or head to the airport, and begin the return trip home.