Hey everyone, happy Friday! In an attempt to hold up to the promise that I made to myself to be more present on the blog this year, this week I am quickly popping in to share our trip that week took to New Orleans last week.
This was a trip that was actually called off more than once for different reasons. Each time we would cancel, I kept hearing the phrase “life is short, take the trip” in the back of my mind. At the very last minute we decided to listen! So last Friday we packed ourselves up, dropped the boys off to have some Grammy/Grandma time and headed to the airport.
We flew in pretty late with just enough time to grab a quick slice of pizza on Bourbon St before heading back to our room. We were eager to get to bed and charge up for the full weekend ahead.
Day 1
Saturday morning we woke up and grabbed some free hot breakfast from our hotel. We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton which was conveniently located in the French Quarter. It was only a two block walk to Bourbon St so it was close enough to walk to and from all the action, but settled in a quiet little area to catch some much needed z’s at the end of a long day.
We wanted to fit in as much sightseeing as we could for our first day, so we headed straight down to Jackson Square and we were immediately in awe of the size and beauty of the St. Louis Cathedral.
The entire Jackson Square area was gorgeous and the weather was a perfect sunny and mid 70s which made for a beautiful walk around the park.
We walked through to the other side of Jackson Square and we headed straight back to catch a glimpse of the Mississippi river.
Between the river itself, the Crescent City Connection bridge and the Natchez steamboat–it was quite a breathtaking view!
We found a set of concrete steps that faced down towards the river and provided the most serene spot to sit and take in the sights.
Another item on the list was to see Hotel Royal which is was a filming location for one of our favorite series of all time, The Originals.
We were admiring it from the outside when we overheard a group guys that were also fans knocking on the door to ask if could go back and see the courtyard which is where Marcel threw his big party in the pilot episode. We followed them in and were nearly speechless when we caught this view. We felt like we were transported straight into the show! Our fellow fan group snapped this picture for us.
We grabbed a quick lunch at a delicious seafood spot called Mambos on Bourbon St and then got ready for our ghost and vampire tour.
I’m a skeptic when it comes to ghosts, but since New Orleans is known for their ghost tours I knew that it was a must do. We enjoyed every second of it and would 100 percent recommend it for the history lesson alone!
One of the first spots that we stopped at was Napoleon house which was built in the 1700s and has a rich history. Our guide actually didn’t tell any ghost stories here, and focused mainly on the fact that this was where the bar Rousseau’s was filmed in The Originals.
We ended up having dinner there that night with no thoughts of it possibly being haunted–which I’ll get to in a minute! The next stop was the home of Jacques St Germain who is known as the infamous “Louisiana Vampire.” The story behind him was pretty crazy and definitely stuck with me! This was also used as the outside shot of the Mikaelson compound in The Originals.
Another interesting stop was the famous haunted LaLaurie mansion which had a terrifying backstory.
Once the tour was over we decided to grab some dinner before catching some live bands on Bourbon St. We wandered around for a bit and then realized that we were close to Napoleon house so we grabbed a table there.
Having no prior knowledge of this building having stories of being haunted, Anthony during mid bite swore he felt someone touching his elbow on the outer side of the table. A few moments later he says that he felt fingertips run down the back of his hand. A quick search on Google told us that he wasn’t the only one to think this place was haunted! We sat just out side the courtyard which is where a lot of people report strange experiences.
Like I said, I’m still a bit of a skeptic, l but I do trust that he felt what he felt and there is really not a good explanation behind it so I guess the verdict is still out for me!
After dinner we found an amazing rock cover band called Rockbox that was playing at a cute corner bar called Fat Catz. We got sucked in for hours and enjoyed listening to them late into the night!
Day 2
We got a little bit of a later start and just barely caught the free breakfast at our hotel before heading out to catch a streetcar down Canal St.
It was a humid day and we thought it may rain, so we took it all the way down to the Four Seasons hotel to check out a place called Vue Orleans and headed inside.
Upon entering, it is an interactive museum where you can learn all about the people, food, music and history that has made up New Orleans over the last hundreds of years. At the end you travel up to the 33rd floor to the observation tower which allowed us to get a 360 degree view of the city and had a couple of other interactive pieces to learn with.
We then went one more floor up to go to the outdoor observation deck. There was also a little café up there so we grabbed a couple of coffees and made a trip around to get another view. It was insanely windy but totally worth it!
One of the videos that we watched in the museum was about po-boy sandwiches which gave me a fierce craving to try one, so we headed back to Bourbon St to a place called Pier 424.
It was absolutely delicious and my mouth waters when I see this picture!
We went back to the room for a quick rest before heading back out for our evening plans which consisted of taking a jazz dinner cruise on the Natchez Steamboat. We got down to the river a little early so we used that time to pop into the famous Cafe Du Monde to try a beignet.
We were very impressed with those messy but delicious treats!
Once we were done we headed over to board the boat!
They took us straight to the dining room which was so elegant that we joked that we felt as if we were boarding the Titanic.
They served some staple Southern foods like sugar can vinaigrette salad, baked chicken, Bayou seafood pasta, gumbo, jambalaya, fingerling potatoes and green beans. We both agreed that was honestly one of the best meals that we’ve ever had!
I didn’t grab a picture, but they also served not only one, but two desserts! One right after the other– bread pudding followed by bananas foster. After we ate we headed out to the deck and were welcomed with a gorgeous view of the city behind us.
They had a jazz band playing on the top deck and it was so nice to sit back, watch the water and listen to the music.
It was such a unique experience and one that we will never forget!
Once we got back on land we headed back to Bourbon St and checked out a few different places before finding another awesome cover band at a place called The Famous Door where we enjoyed another night of great music.
Day 3
We took our time waking up and checking out which meant that we missed the breakfast cutoff at the hotel. We decided to head over to Bourbon St to check out the breakfast at Oceana.
Our Uber driver from the airport raved about this place and once we got our plates we quickly realized why!
Everything was absolutely delicious and we can’t remember the last time that we enjoyed a breakfast quite that much!
We did a little bit of souvenir shopping before heading back to the hotel to get picked up for excursion of the day which was a swamp tour. We were so excited when the bus took us over the Crescent City Connection bridge that we had been admiring for the past couple days.
Once we arrived at the swamp I was relieved to see that the boat was roomy and high…
which meant that my fear of an alligator making it to the boat was settled a bit!
We saw a couple of smaller alligators before cruising past this beast!
Everyone gasped and you could feel the excitement on the boat. Later on we found this guy who seemed to be smiling as us.
Naturally we needed a selfie with him!
The whole experience was very educational and the views were gorgeous, but the highlight was towards the end when our captain pulled out this cute baby alligator from a cooler for everyone to hold.
She was so much softer and lighter than I thought that she would be!
And the way she wiggled her little arms as if she were swimming was precious!
We got back to town with enough time to enjoy a balcony dinner to soak in one more delicious New Orleans meal.
We said our goodbyes to Bourbon St before heading back to get our luggage and catch our ride to the airport.
The entire trip was more than we could have even dreamed of and I’m so happy that we took the plunge and decided to take the trip! The food, the people, the history…it was all truly incredible and has become a place that we definitely want to visit again.
Next week we will be back to regularly scheduled home DIY and decor talk–until then I hope you have a fantastic weekend!
Joanne says
That sounds like a really wonderful trip!