krissy
For the last three years, each January Aaron and I have been taking a vacation for our anniversary. We never had a honeymoon, and due to our anniversary being in January, we never celebrated it either other than a dinner date. So we made a pact that each year we would go on a vacation, just the two of us to celebrate and focus on each other. I’ve been blessed to have my Mother stay with me and she has been able to take care of Evelyn and Auggie while we are away.
This time we decided to go on a cruise! Our port of call was New Orleans, which was exciting to me as I have never been there. On our flight down, we noticed our plane was full of people wearing Clemson and LSU gear. Everywhere we looked there was a tiger staring at us, as both school mascots are the tigers. It wasn’t until we landed and got into our Uber that we learned the NCAA football championship was that week. No wonder the place was packed.
As soon as we got off the plane, we were greeted with beads! I loved that! Welcome to Nawlins!
We had two days prior to our cruise to play tourist and one day after our cruise. I am going to put all three days together in this post and make another post for the cruise.
The first place we headed to after dropping off our luggage at the hotel was to get some food. Everyone talks about the food being so delicious in NOLA, and they ain’t lying. The food is amazing! Just thinking about it right now is making my mouth water and tummy rumble. We decided to try Ocean Grill. There are so many restaurants that it made it hard to choose. As we were waiting on our food, I noticed a group of tourists come in and sit near us. I was able to overhear that they were on a food tasting tour. I immediately looked up the tour and learned that they go around to a selection of restaurants and try one certain thing from each one. If we had more time, I would have signed up for that tour. Maybe next time!
Aaron and I split the crab cakes and each got a bowl of the gumbo. It tasted just as good as it looks!
After our delicious meal, we decided to walk up and down Bourbon street. Now I must admit I had a preconceived vision of what I thought Bourbon street looked like and I was completely WRONG! In my head it was a huge street that was glamorous with people standing on balconies wearing masks and throwing beads down on us. Nope! It’s a little tiny, dirty street with beggars and cons every few feet. I lost count of how many times I had to tell people that I did not need my shoes cleaned. They can get pretty aggressive about it it too! Also, It’s 5:00 all day on Bourbon street, so don’t be surprised to see people doing beer bongs at 9 in the morning.
We happened to walk by the NOLA professional rugby team shooting a commercial. These guys are no joke.
We explored the French Quarter taking in all the sights and sounds of a bustling city.
The Mississippi River
A good pair of tennis shoes is a must in New Orleans. We walked multiple mil each day. After milling about the stores and shops for a few hours we worked up a sweet tooth. When you are in NOLA it’s a requirement to visit Cafe Du Monde and eat a beignet! There is the original cafe in Jackson Square. The line here could be hours long at times. If that’s the case head over to the marketplace and grab one from there. There is rarely a line as most people don’t know that there is two locations. These little dough delicacy covered in powdered sugar is absolutely delicious! I paired mine with a hot chocolate.
When we finished devouring our delicious dessert we walked around some more and visited shops to grab souvenirs and gifts for the family before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.
Day Two
Day two started off as a rainy and dreary day, but we didn’t let that stop us! We headed out to explore the city some more. Our first stop was breakfast.
We decided to try Cafe Conti and honestly we wished we hadn’t. This was the absolute worst service I have encountered in over 3 decades (cough) of life. It took the waitress 45 mins just to get to our table to take our order and Another 15 to get our drinks. After we got our drinks she never came back to check on us. She wanted to sit behind the cash register and talk to the hostess the entire time. We tried everything to get her attention and she wouldn’t even glance our way. It was absolutely ridiculous. After wasting an hour and a half of valuable sight seeing time we finally got our food. We never received our check so we had to walk up to the hostess to let her know we would like to pay. Phew!
