Marc’s tour presentation on TripAdvisor’s site does not do justice to the true quality of the experience. A true behind the scene tour of New Orleans, this is not your normal touristic highlights tour. A private tour, customized to your preferences, it goes in places where no other busses or vans tour go, and you might not dare go by yourself. Not because they are dangerous, far from that, as people of New Orleans are very friendly, just simple fear of unknown. Marc is a great story teller and you can immediately realize he truly loves his city. Through his very informative commentary, we learned a lot about New Orleans’ history, its ethic and architectural mix, jazz music, impacts of Katrina and most of all, the efforts of the people of New Orleans to re-develop and beautify all of the city’s neighborhoods. We got a chance to experience firsthand the revival of the hard hit neighborhoods, got an amazing breakfast in a hidden bakery in Bywater (that is known by locals only) and enjoyed the variety and beauty of New Orleans’ architecture. In a few short hours, we passed through all of the city’s neighborhoods, including a couple of suburbs. We stopped in two of the city’s main parks. We saw 900 years old oak trees, where the branches were so huge, they were hugging the ground.
Also stopped by a library that was nested in an old mansion who was donated to the city by the parents of a young man who was killed in the war. And we were stopping wherever else we found something of interest. Every now and then, we passed certain buildings with amazing architecture, but hidden by the road trees, and Marc dutifully turned the car around to give us a better view/angle of the place. And to top it all off, the tour ended at the Napoleon’s House bar in French Quarter where we enjoyed the best Muffulleta and a very refreshing Pimm’s Cup cocktail. All in all, an amazing experience. We highly recommend it. You won’t be disappointed.