Green spaces: City Park, with its majestic moss-draped live oaks, is 50% larger than New York's Central Park. It's here that you'll find the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, and City Park mounts an extravagant array of Christmas lights among the oaks during the holidays. Audubon Park, near Tulane and Loyola Universities, is home to the outstanding Audubon Zoo. At Woldenberg Park in the French Quarter, you'll get a swell closeup view of the Mississippi River.
Festivals: My favorites are French Quarter Festival, Gumbo Festival(although technically in Bridge City), and the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience. Of course, the grandaddy of them all is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which should be on every sane person's bucket list. There are also smaller neighborhood festivals dotted throughout the calendar year.
Rock n Bowl: Why not bowl a few frames to the beat of some terrific live music? Mid-City Lanes has you covered, from zydeco to swing.
For a truly indulgent experience, think about visiting New Orleans in mid-December. The city puts on a dining show like no other during Réveillon. You'll want to skip lunch so you can handle a four-course dinner every night at the finest restaurants (like The Pelican Club and Arnaud's). In New Orleans, we definitely live to eat!