Steph & Katie's Excellent Adventure: N'Awlins

After driving through (and around) Birmingham on Friday morning, Katie and I went on to New Orleans.  We had to cross Lake Pontchartrain to get there, so I drove across (what I hope is) The Biggest Bridge of My Life. 

(Katie says there is a bigger one that goes to South Padre Island.  I guess I'm not going to South Padre Island.) It kind of terrified me, but I was driving, so I couldn't close my eyes.  I think that it was more an issue of fear of heights than fear of water, because the bridge felt so high up.  When I rode across that causeway from Tampa Bay to Clearwater, Florida, it wasn't so frightening.  Fear of heights...yeah... yeah that's it.

Anyway, the Lord got us safely to the other side and I started breathing again.  We told Nancy (the GPS) to take us straight to Cafe Du Monde so we could eat beignets.   We got on Decatur St. pretty much where it started and drove all the way down to Jackson Square, couldn't find a place to park, then drove even further past Canal St. before we could get turned around and go back to the public parking we had passed.  Finally we got there safely.  There was lots of traffic.  And one-way streets.  And pedestrians.  Interesting pedestrians.  I won't say it was the best first impression of a city.

Luckily, Cafe Du Monde did a lot to salvage the reputation of the Big Easy for me.  Beignets are WONDERFUL!!  If there is one thing you do in New Orleans, go to Cafe Du Monde and eat beignets.

After stopping at the visitor center and getting a very helpful map of the French Quarter we returned to the car and tried to find a place to stay.  Between Nancy, Katie's Blackberry, the map, and a few phone calls (yes, I made phone calls-- aren't you proud of me?) we decided on the Best Western on the edge of the French Quarter. 

Reasonable rates, fridge in the room, free breakfast, free wireless, and within walking distance of mostly everything so we didn't have to drive anymore.  It was right across from Louis Armstrong Park.

After checking into our room, we walked around to find something for dinner.  We found ourselves on Bourbon St.  It was flashy, it was extremely loud, and there were lots of people.  Needless to say, it was not the highlight of my trip, but it was an experience.  We found a little place that served Creole/ Cajun food and sat inside to eat while people watching things on the street.

Katie commented that she was surprised how many old people we saw.  We made a pact that it she wants to celebrate her 50th birthday in N'Awlins I need to talk her out of it and remind her how ridiculous she looks.

(Disclaimer for those who are concerned about my character/ reputation: I did not partake in Bourbon St. festivities.  Neither did Katie.)

We walked back to the hotel and hid in our room for the rest of the night.  We didn't sleep very well because we heard drunks yelling and things that go bump in the night.  But the Lord kept us safe, and we were up and out by 9 the next morning while everyone else slept of the booze from the night before.

Gerilynn had mentioned a trolley she rode when she had been in New Orleans so we decided to check it out.  We walked down to Canal St. and found an empty streetcar just waiting for passengers.  We (and a few others) paid our $1.25 and started the ride.  

We rode a long time down St. Charles and got to see the beautiful Garden District.  We decided to get off at Tulane Universty and poke around, then went across the street and explored Audubon Park.

We started walking down St. Charles back toward the French Quarter, because we had seen lots of little cafes in that direction.  We walked, and walked, and walked and walked and walked.  Then we came across this Historical Library and decided to go inside.  It was a quick little tour (maybe 2 minutes) and then we resume our Lunch March.  One of the first restaurants we came to was the New Orleans Hamburger & Seafood Co.  It had looked intruiging when we rode by on the streetcar and it looked REALLY good now.  We were tired and cold and hungry.  

We went in and knew we had made a good choice.  We had such a hard time deciding what to get, but Katie got a salad 

with a side of hush puppies (I know...it makes no sense)

 and I got a "Southern Thing" poboy.  

The food was amazing, the staff incredibly friendly and helpful (I got a compliment on my ring!  Four years later and it still sparkles :) and the atmosphere was fun.

We then decided that rather than walking the 10 miles (hyperbole) back to the French Quarter, we would ride the streetcar back, so we did.  It was a lot more crowded this time and felt much more like public transportation than a kitschy tourist activity.  We got off where we started at Canal and walked down the the Aquarium of the Americas.

The Aquarium was pretty cool, but it smelled... fishy (I know, I know...thank you Mr. Obvious).  Plus it was a Saturday and there may or may not have been boy scouts taking over the world.  Don't get me wrong... I have a soft spot for Boy Scouts (Lil' Brudder's and Eagle Scout, afterall), but it was just a lot of kids.

I think I have a chronic problem when it comes to aquariums where I just expect too much.  But I was disappointed.   They didn't have very big sharks.  I guess that I would say that for as much as we paid... save your money.  Unless you have a kid that is obsessed with marine biology and take ONLY that kid.  That's my review of the aquarium.   

I think life would be fun if I was an otter.

Then we walked along the River and decided we needed to warm up, so it was back to Cafe Du Monde for hot chocolate (it was really good) and more beignets (again, delicious).  

After that we picked up some souvenirs and decided to head back to the hotel to regroup, warm up, and decide where to go for dinner.

I guess the saying "you get what you pay for" is true, because we could not get a strong enough signal to connect to the "free wireless" in our room, so we went down to the lobby.

We needed a zip code to look some things up, so we asked the bar tender.  He told us then asked if we were looking for something, and we explained we were trying to decide where to go for dinner.  

"Coop's Place is THE BEST restaurant in New Orleans.  Everything they have is amazing... gumbo, fried chicken...its a little hole in the wall on Decatur,  but all of the locals eat there."  

"Ok," we said, "thanks!"

So we went to Coop's Place for dinner.  And he was right... it was really good!  Score.

We decided we hadn't really had any dessert on this trip yet (unless you count beignets, which we don't) so we wanted to get some really good dessert.  Bananas Foster was invented at a restaurant in New Orleans called Brennan's, so we figured that was the place to go.  We walked 10 miles down Royal St. (btw- I like Royal a lot better than Bourbon) to get there then stood outside a little to try to decide if we met dress code.  I contemplatd calling and asking while we were standing right outside, but there was jazz music down the street and I thought they might hear it in the background and connect the dots.  After some deliberating we decided the best plan of action was just to walk in and ask.  The hostess said we were fine and we said "Good!  We just wanted to get bananas foster."  She said they don't seat for dessert until after 8:30 so we said we would come back.

We walked around for 10 more miles and decided to stop at a different place (K-Joe's) that looked good... and warm.  Katie got a brownie sundae...

 and I got bananas foster bread pudding.  

So.  Delicious.  Then we had to walk our tired bodies 10 miles back to the hotel.   Katie went to take a shower, but couldn't get any hot water, so she called the front desk.  They kindly informed her that a fraternity had checked in not long ago and they had all taken showers, so just wait a little bit and let the water heat up again.  Great.  A fraternity.  Then we got to listen to the drunk girls next door scream at each other.  Awesome.

Eventually they piped down and we were able to get some sleep.

This morning after one of the coldest showers of my life, Katie and I walked down Rampart to Our Lady of Guadalupe/ St. Jude International Shrine for mass.  It was a very interesting mix of ritualistic Catholic mass and black Gospel music.  I think I kind of liked it!

We checked out of our hotel, and that was pretty much N'Awlins!  It was a very beautiful city with a lot of rich culture.  I haven't decided if I would like to return or not.  It would probably be worth it, even if just for the beignets!