On Our Radar: Let the Good Times Roll!

We love when the mere acts of shopping and eating out help a community. We remember on the first Sex and the City episode post-9/11 how Carrie said it was her patriotic duty to shop downtown. That’s how we felt on our recent trip to New Orleans—we practically wanted to give our money away. As it was, the prices are SO cheap down there, it seemed to us like they were practically giving things away to us—a night at the luxe Windsor Court is only a little more than $200 and this is an Orient Express Hotel we’re talking about; our bill for margaritas and gauc was only $13 (it was happy hour), so for the first time in our lives, we left a 100% tip, and there are plenty of bargains to be found in the boutiques along Magazine Street. At the adorable Ah-Ha boutique, we got a cute, over-sized metallic clutch for only $38, which combined two of our favorite things in one must-have piece.

The bars on Bourbon Street are a little less crowded than they were pre-Katrina and you can walk into Emeril’s NOLA without a reservation, but New Orleans is still a party town. And to echo Carrie’s sentiment—it’s practically your patriotic duty to go.