Takin in the BIG EASY..

ambience: Blue in Green - Miles Davis

I meant to post this earlier, however a little show called the Walking Dead had its season finale so of course blogging had to wait! (P.S. - It was AH-mazing!!)

Anyways, last weekend B and I tagged along with his parents and their friends for a just-because-we-feel-like-it trip to New Orleans... and we had a blast!  Our feet hurt so bad and we were so exhausted by the time we got home, we didn't even unpack the car.  Before we left, we were both saying, "You know, I could live here..."

We stayed at the [1] Lafayette Hotel on St. Charles Street.. it was a nice hotel very convenient to the St. Charles streetcar.. a little stuffy but the staff was very friendly!  

Friday morning we woke up FAIRLY early (considering we got in around midnight the night before), and went straight to lunch at [2] Commander's Palace.  It's one of those places you have to have a reservation for, even for lunch, but boy was it worth it!  I got the shrimp over corn and beans which was amazing.  For dessert B and I shared a bread pudding souffle, and during dinner we enjoyed 25 cent martinis.

After lunch, we headed across the street to the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.  I have always wanted to go in the cemeteries in New Orleans!  It's just so interesting and beautiful to me.  

The rest of the day we walked around, of course visited Cafe du Monde and Jackson Square, and then made our way to [3] Bourbon Street!  People watching is one of B and my favorite pastimes so Bourbon is like watching TV for us.  After walking around a bit and grabbing a VERY late dinner at an oyster bar we headed back and called it an early night.

The next morning, B's parents and all their friends went to the WWII museum, and I'm not a big fan of museums, so we went and checked out [4] St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square.  While I have been to Jackson Square MANY times, I have never been inside St. Louis Cathedral so it was really cool to go in and take a look.

After we got the word the other group was done with the museum, we headed back across Canal Street to [5] Magazine Street!  Miles after miles after MILES of shopping...  In other words, B's worst nightmare.  B's mom and I tried not to shop too long but we got some good browsing and walking in before the boys completely quit on us!

We decided not to push ourselves though because that night we went to see the always awesomely bizzare [6] of Montreal at the Howlin' Wolf.  I honestly didn't think I could stand one more second but I'm glad I persevered because it was one of the best shows B and I have ever been to!  Such great performers!

The last day everybody else left pretty early so B and I looked in my handy Frommer's guide and found a brunch spot called [7] Ralph's on the Park.  We weren't quite ready for just how fancy it was, but there was a guy in a tie dye T-shirt sitting next to us so it made us feel a little better about being in shorts.  The food was so worth feeling under-dressed though!  I got the Pigs in a Blanket and B got the Eggs Sardou.. SOO good!

We rode around the park for a little while after that and then drove through a Frommer's-recommended walking tour down Esplanade Avenue (our feet were still killing us from the previous 2 days!).  Along the route, we came across [8] this wonderful mansion that originally sat back from Esplanade.  All the cottages and bungalows sprung up around it and you can't even see it from Esplanade now.

After our "walking" tour, we sadly had to say goodbye to New Orleans and headed back across Lake Pontchartrain to Bham.  We had so much fun though...  don't worry New Orleans, we'll be back!  :)