Bourbon Street, New Orleans

The much famed and over-hyped (if you're from a big city, that is) Bourbon Street is the central tourist nightlife attraction. At night, Bourbon's bars blast music, drunken students and other hard core party types pack the streets, drinks in hand, weaving sloppily from one bar to another. Numerous balconies are packed with bead throwing revelers, enticing, usually successfully, those below to bare breasts or other body parts in exchange for some tacky plastic adornment.

Bourbon Street is one of the most famous streets in the world, mostly known for its wild party atmosphere and the craziness that is Mardis Gras. During this raucous celebration (just before Lent), anything goes, but Bourbon Street never really sleeps. I was there in November and on the weekend, you'll still see plenty of bead tossing and nudity! Bourbon Street is filled with bars, restaurants and great music venues and even if you're not the partying type, it's worth checking out during the day. This photo is telling in two ways. First, it shows you how close the French Quarter is to downtown (the Central Business District). Secondly, it shows you that the street is wet. In the morning the streets are washed down to clean up the mess from the previous night. Normal U.S. drinking laws don't apply to the Quarter, so bars can serve alcohol at all hours and people can take their drinks out on the street. This can lead to a lot of drunken partygoers, spilled beer and other drunken accidents that require cleaning.

The French Quarter and Bourbon Street
There is no closing law for bars here!!! During the day the Quarter offers B&B's, antique shops and great restaurants. At night the strip joints and music clubs come alive with all night revelers.

The French Quarter is famous for getting a little wild. There are so many people all over the place drinking in the streets, hanging out on balconies, and of course in all the bars. You will see people wearing beads everywhere no matter what time of year you visit. The traditional way to earn beads is for women to flash their breasts, but there are ways around it!

This place is just awesome! You can walk into most bars or clubs without a cover and there is live music just about everywhere. There are so many great places to go, it's hard to mention just one. There are also strip clubs and this is where girls are persuaded to take their tops off on the balconies above. Seeing as we went just a few days before the Mardi Gras celebration kicked off, it was pretty wild and we had a blast. Rhythm's was a great place, along with the Cat's Meow, and just about any place there really. I recommend checking everything out. The people were also very nice down there and it just made the whole experience even better.

When visiting the city, you must stroll up and down Bourbon Street.
There are so many shops and restaurants. Bourbon Street will give you the best impression of New Orleans. If you go during Mardi Gras like I did, the city goes crazy. If that seems like too much, then I don't recommend going a few weeks before or after Mardi Gras.

Pay attention to the street performers especially---you can hear some wonderful jazz in this town just on a street corner!
Try Baby Ruth's for some good times!

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This is the center of New Orleans nightlife. the street is packed with bars, strip clubs and restaurants. This is one of those places everyone should see at least once in their life.