The Wedding

Last night was the wedding; the sole reason that we made this trip to New Orleans. And, oh what a wedding it was.

The rather efficient ceremony was held by the pool.  The bride and groom looked both gorgeous and happy.

After a just long enough cocktail hour, we followed the bride and groom in a second line down Bourbon Street.

The reception was held in the ballroom of the Bourbon Orleans hotel.  Excellent food. Great crowd. And Best Wedding Band Ever!!  I was so absorbed in the wedding that I forgot to take additional photos.

There is a wedding brunch this morning and then we head back home.  Another successful trip. 

3 x lunch

Up relatively early again this morning. Thanks Butch.

Grabbed some cajun benedict at a place on Chartres.

Walked over to Louis Armstrong Park.  I went into so many tourist shops this weekend looking for a "Louis Armstrong NOLA" patch for Louis the dog's coat but never did find one.

We tried to visit a cemetery but it cost $20 per person and you needed a registered tour guide to enter.  No tour guide and the price seemed exorbitant.

Wandered back towards our hotel.  Stopped in to see the Omni Hotel.  The door man gave us a key to go up to their observation deck on the 7th floor.

Headed over to Midway for Eric's 3-phase lunch.

Stop #1 Mopho.  This is his friend Jeff's place.  Fantastic food but they kept bringing us out gifts from the kitchen which threw off our pacing for the rest of the day.

20 minute walk to Stop #2 Parkway Tavern for po'boys.  We got there to find the line out the door and half-way down the block.  The wait was much too long especially since we were not really that hungry anymore.

15 minute walk to Stop #3 - Cafe Degas. Here we had only crepe suzette before heading back to our hotel for a nap before the wedding.

More of the same

After a short break relaxing on our balcony, we ventured out for some more exploring.  

Believe it or not, we were not really hungry but thought we should get something before the wedding cocktail party so we stopped at Chartres House. This was our least favorite meal of the trip.

The sausage is boudin and I did not like it at all.  Is it supposed to be served cold? That might have been the problem.

A quick round of drinks at The Chart Room

The cocktail party was as expected. It was held at one of those balconies over Bourbon.  We threw beads at people. I had my first and last Hurricane.  They should come with a "causes diabetes" warning label.

After the party, we headed over to Frenchmen Street to drown in the sound of the jazz and blues clubs.  What a scene just wandering up and down the 2 blocks of clubs.

We tried to get burgers at Port of Call but we could barely even get in the door. We need to visit this spot again.  After the loud clubs, it was like entering another world; mellow music and everyone just sitting around eating burgers.  We settled for some late night beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

Not sure what time we finally went to bed but I see that my Fitbit measured 3000 steps after midnight.

The last blog-worthy thing item of the night was our late night visitor.  We had a drunk woman beating on our door at 4:30 this morning.  We finally called security to rescue her.  Butch and I were laughing listening on the other side of the door as the poor guards were trying to get some coherent information out of her.  There's a story there somewhere. Either she forget her room number or her partner locked her out because he was mad at her getting home at 4:30.

Today, we are planning to do Eric's 3-for-lunch adventure.

Streetcars, food, drinks and an impulse purchase

The craziness on Bourbon Street died down around 3 am.  On a Thursday.  I can't wait to see what the weekend brings.

We were up relatively early this morning because of Butch and... well... just because of Butch.  He was excited to go and explore some more.

On a non-Eric recommendation, we walked over to Mother's for breakfast.

Great atmosphere at Mother's but the food was so-so. I had an egg and sausage po'boy while Butch opted for a regular plate of eggs, grits and ham.  Butch and I still don't like grits.  I was just listening to this podcast about whether or not a restaurant can be truly integrated.  Those people need to visit Mother's before reaching their final conclusion.

We then hopped on the St. Charles Ave. streetcar and rode it as far as The Columns Hotel.  We got off and walked around looking at all the beautiful mansions.  This one was by far my favorite.  I thought I put up a lot of Christmas lights but this has all the fences and all the large trees completely wrapped in lights. We were discussing how we need to take the streetcar back at night just to see what this place looks like lit up.

Streetcar selfie

After a round of drinks at The Columns Hotel, we hopped back on the streetcar to ride back to the French Quarter.  Bloody Mary for Butch and Pimm's for me.

All the art galleries finally got to me which led to the following impulse purchase

Nothing like shopping to work up an appetite.  Shrimp po'boy at Napoleon House.

Butch and I are back on the balcony at our hotel room, sipping on our to-go drinks and resting up before heading out again.  We have to pick a place for dinner and then have a wedding cocktail party.
So little time and so many places to eat here.  It is truly mind boggling the number of places to eat here and the good, good food.

Back on the balcony

We are literally crossing things off Eric's New-Orleans-Must-Do list.

We had dinner tonight at Restaurant August and it did not disappoint.  I handily won the appetizer course with my stuff crab vs Butch's shrimp dumplings.

Butch easily won the main course with his pork vs my duck.

The fried apple pie dessert was a fail.  Just a gentle reminder that you can't have everything.

After dinner, we made our way back to Bourbon Street stopping at The Chart Room for a few drinks. Great local dive bar.  Reminds me of the Flight in my neighborhood.  I am making my way through the list of classic New Orleans cocktails.  I had a few Sazeracs at Chart Room.  At a bar on Bourbon Street, I had my first and last Gin Fizz.  I discovered that I don't like Gin Fizzes.  Duly noted.

We are now quite exhausted from the early morning flight and are sitting on our balcony taking in all the craziness on Bourbon Street.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. Stay tuned. 

Beads, Booze and Bourbon

We have arrived in New Orleans.  Nothing to note about the travel with the exception of the absolute disaster that is LaGuardia Airport.

We are staying at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel and our room has a balcony on Bourbon Street.  View from the room

I'll let you know tomorrow if the balcony is a good idea or not.  Right now it is brilliant.  We are sipping drinks and people watching from the balcony.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the French Quarter.  Our favorite thing is To-Go drinks. We would buy a drink, walk, go in the stores, buy another drink, walk... You get the idea.

For lunch, we went to the Central Grocery and had a world-famous Muffuletta sandwich.  I promised food pictures and the first one I took I messed up.  The sandwich is upside-down.

The sandwich is even better than it looks.  Tonight, we have dinner at Restaurant August and then will do some more wandering around the French Quarter.

St. Louis Cathedral. The oldest cathedral in the US.