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"    Last weekend, I traveled to New Orleans for the first time in about four years. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m a 500-year native,&amp;quot; the driver who picked me up from the airport said, meaning his family had been in town for 300 years on his mother&amp;#039;s side and 200 on his father&amp;#039;s. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s why we&amp;#039;re still here.&amp;quot; That conversation set the tone for my two-day visit. Everyone I talked to professed a deep love for their city (and roots that go way back), even as New Orleans still copes with serious challenges. I stayed at the Omni Royal Orleans, a posh hotel right in the French Quarter that was cozy and convenient\u2014no matter where I went, the hotel never seemed to be more than three blocks away. A bit of advice: When you visit the Crescent City, plan your meals in advance. You&amp;#039;ll want to make reservations for the popular spots, and there&amp;#039;s so much good stuff to eat that you need to strategize to fit it all in. At the Rib Room, the glamorously old-school meat-and-potatoes restaurant in the Omni, I sampled local favorite turtle soup. At Creole restaurant Arnaud&amp;#039;s, I sat in the glittering main dining room and picked at their sampler of baked Louisiana oysters (topped with things like eggplant and andouille sausage or spinach and bacon).     For breakfast on Sunday, I went to the famous-for-six-decades Brennan&amp;#039;s restaurant for gumbo, Eggs Hussarde (their creation: basically, Eggs Benedict with an additional red wine sauce), strawberry-topped crepes and just one bite of their signature dish, Bananas Foster (bananas flamed tableside with rum and served with ice cream). I needed a nap afterwards, but luckily, my hotel was just a block away. For dinner at Muriel&amp;#039;s, another French Quarter dazzler, I had spice-topped Wood Grilled Redfish Creosa with a tomato-cucumber relish and grilled asparagus. In between meals, I strolled through the city and was especially charmed by the galleries and antique stores on Royal Street. (My favorite: the Great Artists&amp;#039; Collective showcase of local talent.) On Sunday afternoon, I walked over to the museum district (a little bit of a hike, but I could certainly use the exercise with all those rich meals), home to the Civil War Museum, National World War II Museum and Ogden Museum of Southern Art. After perusing the Ogden&amp;#039;s striking photos of Mississippi shot by writer Eudora Welty in the 1930s, I recharged with tea at the Windsor Court Hotel. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland as I ate my savories and sweets, accompanied by a fresh pot of tea\u2014all served on colorful china.    But is it safe? I know that&amp;#039;s the question on everyone&amp;#039;s mind. I always felt comfortable and wouldn&amp;#039;t discourage you from visiting with your family, as long as you observe the normal big-city precautions (know where you&amp;#039;re going; keep your purse held tight to your body; don&amp;#039;t wander down deserted streets). More than two years after Hurricane Katrina, most of the tourist attractions have been restored, though there&amp;#039;s still a lingering sense of a city changed. The city felt emptier than on previous visits: There were still groups carousing on Bourbon Street and the restaurant tables were mostly populated, but it was obvious not everyone\u2014both tourist and local\u2014had come back.     But there was a sense of renewal, too. One life-long resident told me about her first days back after Katrina\u2014people went out to restaurants with limited menus and ate off paper plates, just to be out and seeing friends. It sounded not unlike the shell-shocked sense of community that developed in New York City right after September 11. On my last night, I went to a benefit for the Daniel Price Memorial Fund for Aspiring Artists at the House of Blues. As I listened to the bands (dance-inducing acts like the Rebirth Brass Band and Kermit Ruffins) and watched the crowd (including many high-school friends of Daniel, whose family started a scholarship fund for young creatives after he was murdered in San Francisco), it was clear that the spirit of the city\u2014and the great music it inspires\u2014is intact.\u2014Jennifer Conrad What are your favorite places in New Orleans? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41480/new-orleans-6117/>