French Quarter Stroll
“I was so glad to see evening history tours offered, as I was unavailable for tours during the day. We booked a 5PM walking tour of the French Quarter and arrived early at Cafe Beignet. There is a sign to the right of the street entrance that serves as the meeting place for tours. Shortly after our tour guide arrived we were ecstatic to hear that everybody else had either rescheduled or cancelled, so our group of two had a private tour! I can’t say enough good things about Frank, our tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable about the area on many topics, ranging from history to architecture, literature to music, traditions/culture to Mardi Gras, and so on. He took our questions in stride and took us inside so many places to get a good look at the FQ’s history (St. Louis Hotel, historic townhome, site of the old Opera House, Pat O’Brien’s (to see the double staircases off the carriage entrance), etc.). He even offered up answers to questions we hadn’t thought to ask. We learned so much about the French Quarter during this tour! Not once did we see him rushing us or checking his watch – he was content to give us as much information and history as we could take! Frank also recommended several movies and books that tied in nicely with FQ history. At the end of the tour he recommended the best place to eat (The Gumbo Shop) based off what we were looking for, and it ended up being the best restaurant we went to all week! When the tour ended he made sure we knew where we were going, and gave us great directions to make sure we didn’t end up getting lost.
Hands down this was the BEST tour we took during our stay (and quite possibly the best historical tour I’ve taken of all the cities I’ve visited), and if you can request Frank you won’t regret it!”
– pirateatheart07, North Carolina
