What can you do on rainy days in New Orleans? There are tons of things to do. We could have sat in a restaurant or bar and whiled away the hours, but we could do that at home, right? Steve and I were determined to have fun in New Orleans despite the rain.
Just one of the many sights to see in New Orleans
We accepted that we would get rained on – a lot. The rain was certainly challenging at times for us old folks and did slow us down a bit. It did, however, not stop our adventures.
I made the required timed reservations as needed, armed ourselves with tourist ponchos, umbrellas and ventured out in the storms to see what we could see.
A MEMORY from a past visit to the Big Easy
We’ve been to New Orleans several times over the years and enjoyed many of the typical tourist activities; I even lived there for a brief time, long, long ago. Both of us wanted to see something new, at least new to us, and that was our plan.
The Historic New Orleans Collection
533 Royal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
I discovered this place with a Google search and thought it sounded like a fun thing to check out. The Historic New Orleans Collection is a non-profit museum and research center whose mission is to preserve the city and area’s unique history.
It has been in existence since 1966 and was founded by General and Mrs. L. Kemper Williams to provide their collections to the public and make them available for research.
The Historic New Orleans Collection consists of three separate buildings within walking distance in the French Quarter. These exhibits in each of these properties are a tremendous resource that illustrates New Orleans’ unique and multicultural history.
The museums are free, and delightful volunteers are available everywhere and full of fascinating information about displayed items.
Hermann-Grima House
820 St. Louis Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Hermann-Grima has been restored to illustrate the courtly lifestyle of prosperous Creole families. This historic house is a 19th-Century Federal-style mansion and slave quarters right in the French Quarter.
The house is furnished with many original pieces that had belonged to the Hermann and Grima families, including an original book collection of Felix Grima.
Hermann-Grima House is also one of very few today that has a functioning open-hearth kitchen. Historic cooking demonstrations were held here in the past and will resume soon. The kitchen is in a separate building because of possible fire danger to the main house.
A wine room, wash or laundry room, and ironing room are also on the main floor of the courtyard building that houses the kitchen. The staircase leads upstairs to the small and very modest slave quarters.
I was surprised to see this house has an intact horse stable! It is adjacent to the museum gift shop.
This house, a National Historic Landmark, was built in 1831 for Samuel Hermann and his family. The Grima family purchased the home lived in it from 1844 to 1921. This is the reason for the name Hermann-Grima House.
Our terrific guide told us several wonderfully exciting stories from the lives of Samuel Hermann, his wife, and their children. Mr. Hermann lost all of his wealth in the 1837 English cotton market crash, making it necessary to sell the home to the Grimas in 1844.
It is not surprising that scenes from movies were filmed here. A scene from season three of American Horror Story (Coven) was filmed here.
The charity gala scene from the 1999 movie Double Jeopardy, starring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones, was filmed in the Hermann-Grima House’s courtyard.
Look at that matching wallpaper!
Additionally, the author Anne Rice modeled the Lermontant home in the novel Feast of All Saints after the Hermann Grima House
Gallier House
This house, constructed in 1861 by James Gallier, Jr., was one of the houses we had hoped to tour. Unfortunately, it was temporarily closed. I hope to visit here next time we travel to New Orleans.
The Gallier House is a 19th-century historic house museum on Royal Street.
Longue Vue House and Gardens
7 Bamboo Road
New Orleans, LA 70124
What an unexpected adventure this turned out to be! We had a challenging time getting here because of a no-show Uber driver. Pretty annoying, but we switched to Lyft and were picked up very quickly. Longue Vue was very much worth the hassle, though!
This historic estate was home to Edith Rosenwald Stern and Edgar Bloom Stern and is listed on the National Historic Register. Today the stunningly beautiful three-story residence has 20 rooms, all with their original furnishings.
This current residence, the second house to be built here, is open for public tours and is host to community events.
The first house, constructed in 1924, was moved to a new location to make way for a new home built by architects William and Geoffrey Platt from 1939 to 1942.
Ellen Biddle Shipman, the landscape architect for the eight garden acres, placed a different garden on each of its four sides! Olivia told us the gardens had partly been inspired by the Generalife in Granada, Spain.
I pulled up a photo from our visit there a few years ago. Do you see the similarity?
We had great luck to be the only two people (out in the rain) touring the house at that hour and had the spectacular guide, Olivia DeMyers. Olivia knew so many details about the home and told us many stories about the Sterns’ many philanthropic activities.
The Sterns Jewish faith tenet of philanthropy (tzedakah) guided them in a lifelong commitment to giving. Edith Stern opened the gardens to the general public in 1968; she began converting the home into a museum ten years later.
The National WWII Museum
945 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
Steve and I had visited this museum before, but my goodness, it is just amazing.
There are five interconnected buildings: The Louisiana Memorial Pavilion, Solomon Victory Theater, Campaigns of Courage: European and Pacific Theaters, Hall of Democracy, and US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center.
I was pretty overwhelmed by all of the exhibits, artifacts, and multimedia experiences.
A 4D movie, Beyond All Boundaries, narrated by Tom Hanks, is presented in a full-size theater for an additional charge. This movie goes through WWII from beginning to end. We recommend taking the extra time and few dollars to experience this film.
I discovered that this ginormous museum honoring WWII is in Louisiana because New Orleans is the home of the Higgins boat.
The Higgins landing craft, designed and constructed in southeastern Louisiana, was used for every significant amphibious attack in World War II. I had no idea!
Dimensions in Testimony: Liberator Alan Moskin
February 4, 2021, to September 11, 2021
The Joe W. and Dorothy D. Brown Foundation Special Exhibit Gallery
This is the most incredible exhibit I saw at the museum. This interactive exhibit displays veteran Alan Moskin comfortably sitting in a chair. We stood in front of Alan Moskin, who appears to be live on screen, and can ask him questions about his experiences in WWII.
He responds and answers the questions! The answers are, of course, prerecorded, it is not live, but it certainly appears to be.
Gift shop
This museum has a first-rate gift shop with all things war-related for sale. A restaurant and soda shop are also on the property.
Where did we eat?
Acme Oyster House
This has always been a favorite of ours, and we have a meal here almost every time we visit New Orleans. This time around, we shared a dozen chargrilled oysters. I’d never had oysters chargrilled before, but I am now a fan. We’re very excited that an Acme Oyster House has just opened in Houston! That’s a little closer than New Orleans for us.
NOLA Poboys
908 Bourbon St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
A small, cozy sandwich shop where you order at the counter, dine-in, or take away. Great poboys, of course.
Curio Restaurant
301 Royal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
We found this restaurant while meandering around the French Quarter. The food here was great, served promptly, and by a pleasant and entertaining waiter.
Napoleon House
500 Chartres St.
New Orleans, LA
We had a good meal here, and The Napoleon House was a perfect place to hide from the rain.
Deja Vue Bar & Diner
400 Dauphine Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
This is genuinely Deja Vue for us. We’ve returned here many times for a quick breakfast in the mornings over the last few years. Good solid food and a comfortable place to hang out. Deja Vu usually is open 24 hours a day.
An interesting thing about this place is that Ellen Degeneres got her start here when Clyde’s Comedy Corner was in this building.
Daisy Dukes French Quarter
121 Chartres St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
Again, a good-tasting and filling breakfast restaurant at great prices and open 24-hours a day.
Time to go home already?
The rain had let up for our last day in New Orleans, but it was waiting for us at the airport when we left that day. What a bumpy ride! On the bright side, the plane was only half full, and the flight home is not even an hour long. It was an excellent trip to New Orleans for us.
We scouted out a few RV parks, and next time, we’ll travel by RV instead of air. Right now, we’re planning a trip to Las Vegas – by air again, though.
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