There's a lot more to
NEW ORLEANS
the ''Big Easy,'' the ''city that care forgot'' than its tourist image as a nonstop party town. At once sordid and sublime, it careers along under an infuriating doublethink. While having enormous amounts of fun, you're liable to be repeatedly struck by the divisions between rich and poor (and, more explicitly, between white and black). Even so, the city's vitality and joie de vivre are real, buffeted but not beaten by the vagaries of commercialism and poverty. The melange of cultures and races that built the city still gives it its heart; not ''easy,'' exactly, but quite unlike anywhere else in the States or the world.
Arrival And Information : Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
, eighteen miles northwest on I-10, has an information booth (8am-9pm) in its baggage claim area. Flat-rate
taxi
fares into town are $24 for up to two people, $10 each for three or more, and
shuttles
(tel 504/592-0555) will take you to your hotel (every 10min; tickets available 24hr in the baggage claim area or from the bus driver; $10 to downtown hotels). There's also a
public bus
from the airport to Tulane Avenue in the CBD (daily 6am-6.30pm; every 15-25min; $1.50), but it holds carry-on luggage only.
Greyhound
buses arrive next to
Amtrak
at the Union Passenger Terminal, 1001 Loyola Ave, near the Superdome. This area, in the no-man's-land beneath the elevated Pontchartrain Expressway, is dangerous at night; take a
cab
to your lodgings. United Cabs is by far the best firm (tel 504/522-9771). More New Orleans information...
FRENCH QUARTER-1BLK TO BOURBON / NEW ORLEANS Nestled in the grandeur of the Vieux Carre on Rue Iberville, a street that once was a cobblestone road for French and Spanish inhabitants, stands a preserved and polished boutique hotel - a personal
2 BLOCKS FROM FRENCH QUARTER / NEW ORLEANS The Windsor Court hotel in the central business district is only two blocks from the French Quarter and deliciously decadent Bourbon Street and across the street from Harrah's Casino.
CANAL STREET/FRENCH QUARTER / NEW ORLEANS Known as "the Crown Jewel of the Crescent City," the Ritz-Carlton on the edge of the French Quarter stands just a block from the deliciously decadent Bourbon Street.
Call toll free..
US and Canada: 1-800-780-5733
Europe: 00-800-11-20-11-40
Use discount code: 89865
