New Orleans according to Finn

Skip and cousin Sunny at Acme Oyster

July 2-6, 2013

Awe, New Orleans, the home of beads, boobs, gumbo and 'gators. This was going to be awesome!

Pirate Bar!

Day 1:  We pull up to a very fancy hotel, a far change from our usual hostels and couch surfing!  We stayed at The Crowne Plaza on Canal, a quick walk to anywhere we needed to go. Perfect. It's always nice not having to worry about were you will stay, so far so good.


We then ate at my personal favorite the entire trip, Acme Oyster House.  I will be dreaming about those oysters for a while. Followed by Lafitte's Bar to see the piano bar, discovering Abita amber, (my trip favorite), followed by wandering on and around Bourbon. And the rest is a happy blur.

Skip + Beignets = hot mess

Finn and Crawfish

Day 2: Beignets for the morning at Cafe Du Monde then wandering around the French Market. Skip and I aren't very good shoppers, it's usually an activity we do on our way to something else or a way to kill time.  You will also never catch us in a mall...ever.

Gator balls, mmm!

However, the French Market was perfect because it is outside, lots to look at, prices are better than the souvenir shops, and you can shop while drinking beer!  

Sunset view from the boat

Side note: there is not an open container law and you can drink beer on the streets anywhere, but it's always a plus!  We spent some time looking around the French Market, then decided Skip was a little too comfortable and made her try some craw-fish!

  Now a big 'ol plate of craw-fish was something I was really looking forward to this trip, but was pretty disappointed. According to the waiter it was toward the end of the season and may have been the reason they weren't very good.  HUGE bummer!

Fountain on Magazine St.

We then spend some more time bar hopping on Bourbon and surrounding streets, this time getting a good view from a balcony and convincing my cousin to ride a mechanical bull.  Once again making our way back to the hotel in a happy blur.

Bloody Mary buddy!

Day 3: 4th of July! We were crazy all day! 

Not really, we are old ladies now, just started off with some easy walking around, Bloody Marys, nothing really memorable (including the Crescent City Brewhouse...meh) until our Natchez Steamboat Tour for the fireworks. We did attempt Magazine Street, a short trolley away, but ran into a lot of closed signs for the 4th.  Whomp-whomp.

Watching the fireworks over the water on the boat was definitely a highlight, and almost didn't happen. Lesson learned: even when told a tour might be full, it never hurts to ask. 

If it weren't for the fireworks, however, I am not sure the tour would have been worth the money we spent.  It was a little slow, open bar, but the lines were long, the band was good, but unless you get there early to get a good spot, it is difficult to appreciate them.

We stayed away from downtown that night aside from walking back to the hotel.  Though it was great people watching, it was also INSANELY crowded, so we turned in pretty early after our epic search for ice cream.


Day 4: Swamp day...or the trip that almost didn't happen.  

Let me paint a very sad picture of the beginning of our day.  Skip and I are outside waiting for our tour bus to pick us up.  Waiting, waiting, waiting some more, and yes, it's raining. Poor girls!

So we eventually book with Louisiana Swamp Tours instead, having been abandoned by Cajun Encounters, boo!

Skipper and Elvis

This tour was slightly more money, but totally worth it.  I am glad we did the covered tour over the air boats, I was not prepared for rain,(burrr). The tour guide was great, and well they picked us up! We have high standards I know.  

To end this amazing day we ended up finding some great music, food and shopping.  This was another definite highlight for me, finding some music I really enjoyed at The Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Street, and conveniently next to a small but quality group of vendors with awesome stuff. Score!


This area was a lot more low key, and I felt Frenchmen was a find I will definitely be telling others about.   

Day 5:  Travel day.  Good bye New Orleans, I had a blast and still survived!

Until next year, 
Cheers!
Finn