New Orleans City Park

"Almost all of New Orleans life is contained within this park—museums, golf courses, cafes and high-end restaurants, a stadium, waterways, and all that green space. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the accompanying sculpture garden are definite highlights, as is the Couterie Forest with its eight distinct ecosystems (and the city’s highest point, Laborde Mountain). Children will love the Carousel Gardens Amusement Park with its retro fairground rides—as well as the Louisiana Children's Museum—while adults can work up an appetite walking the great lawns before for dinner at the highly respected Ralph’s on the Park." - Paul Oswell

"The Green Easy New Orleans' green spaces run the gamut from City Park, which spans 1,300 acres and is the 6th largest urban park in the United States, to the city block-sized Jackson Square, a French Quarter gathering point for artists, musicians, and street performers. The former has walking trails, botanical gardens, and an open-air sculpture garden, plus tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course, and a mini-golf course, but most come to see the world's oldest grove of mature live oaks. Uptown's Audubon Park is frequented by walkers, joggers, and cyclists who make their way around the park's 1.8 mile loop—and it's also home to the Audubon Zoo."

"Numerous playgrounds, an amusement park, a hand-carved wooden carousel, paddle boat rentals, and a botanical garden are just a few of the offerings at this historic, 1,300-acre park. There are also tennis courts, running trails, and a stand of oak trees that date back 800 years. While the park was devastated by Katrina (it was almost completely submerged under water for weeks), locals banded together to resurrect it to its former glory and then some. "

"But I am hosting Freedia’s Garden Cookout every Friday night at New Orleans City Park. We sell a limited number of tickets each week and cook in front of a live studio audience." - Madeleine Davies

"150-year old beignet outlet Morning Call lost the location it’s occupied since 2012 to Cafe du Monde and closed its only other remaining location last April." - Alison Baitz