Visiting the old and new of New Orleans

But things are getting better. Especially for visitors. The convention center is back.  Twenty eight bus lines are running, and cruise ships are now returning to the port.

And the good news is that when you go, many of the hidden treasures of New Orleans remain. Places like The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden.

At the New Orleans Museum of Art is a five-acre garden and is one of the premier sculpture gardens in the United States.  The garden has 50 sculptures by major twentieth-century European, American, Israeli and Japanese artists. Some of the featured artists are Henry Moore, Jacques Lipchitz, Barbara Hepworth, George Rickey, Louis Bourgeois, and George Segal. The garden is beautifully landscaped mature trees, lagoons, meandering footpaths, a garden pool, and pedestrian bridges. Call 504-658-4100.

The highly-popular Camellia Grill has reopened in the Riverbend area. People missed this restaurant so much they began leaving sticky notes with messages and posted them all over the building's exterior. It got to the point that the front was almost entirely covered with the notes. The chef special omelet and the orange freeze are house specialties. The restaurant also serves a variety of pies, such as pecan, chocolate pecan, apple, and cream pies. (504) 309-2679

Café Du Monde isn’t a hidden treasure. You can’t miss it. It’s a classic place for coffee and doughnuts. The Original Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand was established in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market. The Cafe is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It closes only on Christmas Day (800) 772-2927, http://www.cafedumonde.com/

I spent three hours inside The National World War II Museum and I highly recommend a visit — it’s a 16,000-square-foot gallery of state-of-the-art, interactive exhibits oral histories from veterans worldwide, artifacts, documents, photographs, hands-on activities and never-before-seen film footage. The exhibits highlight the weeks and days leading up to the D-Days of World War II. It costs $14 per adult and $6 for children. (504) 527-6012, http://www.nationalww2museum.org

The Louisiana Tour Company offers a 2-hour Swamp Tour, and it ventures into the Barataria Swamps and wetlands, which once was home to the infamous pirate Jean Lafitte. Here he also buried his treasure. You will see the Cajuns of the Bayou living in the swamps, a 2000 year-old Indian Burial Mound, a Cajun cemetery and Fishing village, wildlife, such as birds, snakes, turtles, fur animals, and alligators. It costs $24 per adult and $15 per child.

Perhaps most important, New Orleans now offers travelers a way to celebrate the past and contribute to the future. Many visitors are combining vacation trips to the Big Easy with volunteering in the rebuilding effort in neighborhoods like New Orleans East, Lakeview, Gentilly, Upper and Lower Ninth Ward and St. bernards Parrish.

In fact, more than a million people have visited New Orleans to volunteer with the recovery. As a generous outgrowth of Katrina, voluntourism has given a brighter, hopeful outlook. With some coordination, you can help paint and restore a school so the children can return to their neighborhood school.

If you want to help the recovery, you can choose from a variety of programs, such as Habitat for Humanity (Musician's Village), Beacon of Hope, Hands on New Orleans, Common Ground, Kaboom!, Catholic Charities, City Park, and many more.

And remember, if you go to the central grocery for that muffalletta sandwich, wear something you want to throw away!

Peter Greenberg is TODAY’s travel editor. His column appears weekly on TODAYshow.com. Visit his Web site at PeterGreenberg.com. 

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