Louisiana
Signature City New Orleans
Program No. 2856RJ
Get to know the real New Orleans through full days of excursions to historic landmarks, artists’ haunts and jazz venues. Plus, sample cuisine at the New Orleans School of Cooking!
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Oct 13 - Oct 18, 2024
Oct 20 - Oct 25, 2024
Nov 3 - Nov 8, 2024
Nov 10 - Nov 15, 2024
Jan 5 - Jan 10, 2025
Jan 26 - Jan 31, 2025
Feb 16 - Feb 21, 2025
Mar 16 - Mar 21, 2025
Apr 6 - Apr 11, 2025
Apr 20 - Apr 25, 2025
May 4 - May 9, 2025
May 11 - May 16, 2025
Oct 5 - Oct 10, 2025
Nov 2 - Nov 7, 2025
DATES & PRICES
Standard | Single Ldg |
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Standard |
Rooms, cabins or berths designated as single occupancy accommodations. |
Oct 13 - Oct 18, 2024
Oct 20 - Oct 25, 2024
Nov 3 - Nov 8, 2024
Nov 10 - Nov 15, 2024
Jan 5 - Jan 10, 2025
Jan 26 - Jan 31, 2025
Feb 16 - Feb 21, 2025
Mar 16 - Mar 21, 2025
Apr 6 - Apr 11, 2025
Apr 20 - Apr 25, 2025
May 4 - May 9, 2025
May 11 - May 16, 2025
Oct 5 - Oct 10, 2025
Oct 12 - Oct 17, 2025
Nov 2 - Nov 7, 2025
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6 days
5 nights
12 meals
4B 1BR 3L 4D
1
Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
New Orleans, LA
2
Intro. to New Orleans, City Field Trip, Sculpture Garden
New Orleans, LA
3
New Orleans Architecture, Garden District Tour, Vue Orleans
New Orleans, LA
4
World War II Museum, Music Lecture, Free Time
New Orleans, LA
5
Literature lecture, Sazerac House, Free Time, Cooking School
New Orleans, LA
6
Jazz Brunch, Program Concludes
New Orleans, LA
At a Glance
With over 300 years of colorful culture under its belt, New Orleans revels in its giddy blend of European refinement and carefree effervescence, a place where virtue and vice are celebrated in equal measure. On this introduction to New Orleans, we’ve planned a full schedule of activities, so you can experience the intoxicating charms of “the Crescent City” that have long fascinated artists, writers, musicians and scholars. Experience live New Orleans jazz, and take field trips inside and outside the French Quarter and Garden District. Get perspectives on architectural and literary landmarks, and enjoy unique culinary adventures as well as the National World War II Museum.
Activity Level
On Your Feet
Moderate walking and standing.
What You'll Learn
- See Lake Pontchartrain, Bayou St. John, the famed above-ground cemeteries and St. Charles Avenue, including a walk in the Garden District to take in its historic architecture.
- Delve into the local literary history as you study Tennessee Williams, John Kennedy Toole, William Faulkner and more impressive writers with an expert.
- Experience the New Orleans School of Cooking.
General Notes
You may enjoy a slower-paced program, "New Orleans at a Slower Pace: A City of History, Culture and Celebration" (#1475), or a more active, Small Group program with more free time "Jazz, Jambalaya and Joie de Vivre in New Orleans" (#21665).
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Nellie Watson
Nellie Watson’s love of architecture was born at an early age, growing up in the unique environment of New Orleans’ old neighborhoods. Studying architecture and design in college, her career began at two architecture firms before establishing her own company — Watson & Withrow, Inc. After working the Louisiana World Exposition in 1984, she founded Watson Models, working on major development projects around the world. Nellie gives workshops on the art of model making and enjoys sharing her love for the local culture and architecture.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Nellie Watson
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Nellie Watson’s love of architecture was born at an early age, growing up in the unique environment of New Orleans’ old neighborhoods. Studying architecture and design in college, her career began at two architecture firms before establishing her own company — Watson & Withrow, Inc. After working the Louisiana World Exposition in 1984, she founded Watson Models, working on major development projects around the world. Nellie gives workshops on the art of model making and enjoys sharing her love for the local culture and architecture.
Angela Carll
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Angela Mequet Carll is a native New Orleanian who was a writer for “The Times-Picayune” for 30 years. She holds a master’s degree in English with an emphasis on Southern Literature and is the author of “Where Writers Wrote,” a book about writers in New Orleans. She has taught at Tulane University, is a graduate of ITMI, and a licensed New Orleans exploration leader. Angela has been a group leader for Road Scholar since 2016 and brings a wide variety of experiences to her groups.
Milton J. Carr
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Milton Carr was born in Tremé, a cultural center of New Orleans. After studying in San Diego, Milton returned home to New Orleans where he worked for Domino Sugars. During his 33 years at Domino, he became interested in sugar cane’s connections to slavery and the economic history of the city. Milton has been a licensed New Orleans guide since 2001, and is a one-of-a-kind expert on the city's unique music, history, culture and heritage.
Wolf Kassmeier
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Wolf has enjoyed acting as a group leader since 2000, sharing time with guests in New Orleans, throughout Louisiana, and over-the-road ranging from National Parks in the West to Chicago. For approximately five years he served onboard Amtrak trains as a regional expert. A native Nebraskan, Wolf lived in New Orleans for thirty years.
Robin Rocque
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Robin Rocque's favorite city to share with guests is her hometown of New Orleans. Its diversely unique culture and musical background provides a lovely backdrop during its introduction. Robin has happily led groups in many cities and several countries. Robin has been a licensed New Orleans tour guide since 2004, and a certified international tour manager since 2011. She is an alumna of Vassar College, and recently served as a board member of a nonprofit organization that provides community support in and around New Orleans.
Dave Roberts
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Dave Roberts was born in New Orleans and baptized in the same church as Louis Armstrong. He received his B.B.A. from Loyola University (New Orleans) and his M.B.A. from the University of New Orleans. For many years he worked at Loyola University as the director of student finance. Dave started working as a New Orleans group leader in 1997. His expeditions are a blend of history, architecture, food, music, writers, movies, and current events.
Doreen Ketchens
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Doreen Ketchens is a musician whose primary interest lies in spreading the culture and traditional music of New Orleans all over the world through performances and education. As the leader of the jazz band Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans, she has been called "Queen Clarinet," "The Female Louis Armstrong," and “Lady Louie” by critics who have heard her perform. Doreen's Jazz New Orleans has represented New Orleans around the world, performing in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, South America, Russia and the U.S.
Nellie Watson
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Nellie Watson, a native New Orleanian, has always had a deep passion for the local environment. She has enjoyed sharing stories with Road Scholar for over 20 years, and is also a provider for aerial flightseeing tours of the endangered wetlands. With a background in architecture and a B.F.A. in environmental design, she began her career at two large international architectural firms, had her own residential design firm, and is currently is a professional model maker for major film productions like Marvel and Disney.
Mary Lynn Scheinuk
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Mary Lynn Scheinuk has lived in New Orleans her entire life, graduating from Mount Carmel Academy and the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. She worked for 35 years in advertising sales for the Times-Picayune newspaper. During that period, she was part of the retail and commercial development of New Orleans landmarks. In addition to leading groups, Mary Lynn works numerous group events and fundraisers, and assists the American Queen Steamboat Company and Viking in hospitality and registration for Mississippi river cruises.
Clare Pierson
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Clare Pierson has taught literature and creative writing to all levels of students and teachers. She has been managing editor of the Tennessee Williams Journal, a periodical dedicated to works of and about America's premier playwright. She served on the editorial staff and wrote a regular column for The Double Dealer Redux, a quarterly dedicated to writers and their writings. She continues to serve on the executive committee of the Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival.
Suggested Reading List
(7 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Signature City New Orleans
Program Number: 2856
Why New Orleans Matters
In the aftermath of Katrina and the disaster that followed, promises were made, forgotten, and renewed. Now what will become of New Orleans in the years ahead? What do this proud, battered city and its people mean to America and the world?
Award-winning author and longtime New Orleans resident Tom Piazza illuminates the storied culture and uncertain future of this great and neglected American metropolis by evoking the sensuous rapture of the city that gave us jazz music and Creole cooking; examining its deep undercurrents of corruption, racism, and injustice; and explaining how its people endure and transcend those conditions. And, perhaps most important, he asks us all to consider the spirit of this place and all the things it has shared with the world: its grace and beauty, resilience and soul.
Life On The Mississippi
An invaluable companion to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain's inimitable portrait of 'the great Father of Waters'. Part memoir, part travelogue, it expresses the full range of Twain's literary personality, and remains the most vivid, boisterous and provocative account of the cultural and societal history of the Mississippi Valley, from 'the golden age' of steamboating to the violence wrought by the Civil War.
Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel written by American novelist John Kennedy Toole, published by Louisiana State University Press in 1980, eleven years after the author's suicide. The book, published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a revealing foreword) and Toole's mother Thelma Toole, quickly became a cult classic, and later a mainstream success. Toole posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. It is now considered a canonical work of modern Southern literature, in the USA. The title derives from the epigraph by Jonathan Swift: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." The story is set in New Orleans in the early 1960s. The central character is Ignatius J. Reilly, an educated but slothful 30-year-old man still living with his mother in the city's Uptown neighborhood, who, due to an incident early in the book, must set out to get a job. In his quest for employment he has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters.
All The King's Men
All the King's Men traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie Stark, a fictional character loosely based on Governor Huey ""Kingfish"" Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his political career as an idealistic man of the people but soon becomes corrupted by success and caught between dreams of service and an insatiable lust for power.
A Streetcar Named Desire
This classic drama follows Blanche DuBois and the issues that arise when she moves to New Orleans to live with her sister and her husband.
Rising Tide
An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.
Creole New Orleans Race and Americanization
This collection of six original essays explores the peculiar ethnic composition and history of New Orleans, which the authors persuasively argue is unique among American cities. The focus of Creole New Orleans is on the development of a colonial Franco-African culture in the city, the ways that culture was influenced by the arrival of later immigrants, and the processes that led to the eventual dominance of the Anglo-American community.