New Orleans

Eating

• Mother's:  old school cafeteria style restaurant.  We ate fried catfish po'boys
• The Columns :  not a must do, but was a super cool old mansion with food and live music.  Had a traditional Sazerac drink
• Elizabeth's: in the Bywater for brunch
• Horns: for a nice outdoor brunch
• Coop's Place:  fried goodness
• Napoleon House:  super cool and very old bar and restaurant.  Got to chat with lovely old New Orleans folk.
• Dat Dog:  near Frenchman street for drunk hot dogs
• Stanley:  great brunch near Jackson Square
• Eat the pickled okra and green beans!
• Fried oysters anywhere - line at Acme Oyster House was too long so we went across the street

Drinking:

• Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop:  OG bar, purple drink
• Pat O'Briens:  fun piano bar and amazing courtyard, right next to Preservation Hall
• Erin Rose:  get the frozen Irish cofee
• Friendly Bar:  super dive in The Bywater, had a great time

Activities:

• Voodoo Musuem: fun to see shrines and voodoo stuff
• Frenchman street: happening street with a lot of bars and live music
• Preservation Hall Jazz: highlight of the city, a teeny  jazz hall with great music and atmosphere
• Ignatius J. Reilly Statue: for those Confederacy of Dunces fans!
• Cemeteries:  go see at least one, old tombs and voodoo legacy
• Blue Nile:  blues and jazz club, some of the best musicians play here
• Parades:  we got to walk in the Krewe de Boo Halloween parade - if you can't get in one, just go watch it, so fun! 
• Swamp kayak:  we did a morning kayak tour in the swamp.  I think we could have gotten a better area (seemed too close to the road), but it was very cool nonetheless!  Get to the swamp one way or the other
• The Moonwalk:  walk along the Mississippi River
• Shopping:  Funky Monkey vintage  (Magazine St has a ton of shops)

Other:

• We stayed in The Bywater, which is a Bushwick type neighborhood.   It was a great place to stay (at this AirBnB)  with little cafes and dive bars around.  We were told not to walk around at night though - took Ubers instead.