Hello friends!

Can you believe its October?! This year has flown by, but I really can’t complain. This is the best time of the year. (At least I think so!) Its fall time! That means pumpkin everything, sweater weather (unless you live in Texas), and holiday central!! Yes, I’m the girl who burns my apple cider candle all day, every day. Its just the best. But before I launch into Halloween mania, I promised a post about our recent trip to New Orleans. If you haven’t been there, you need to go now. It’s such a charming city. The food and music is to die for. And I was the ultimate tourist, and I am going to share all about it!

Day 1

We got into New Orleans late morning and went straight to our hotel to drop our stuff and start exploring. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and it truly made all my NOLA dreams come true. The Ritz always exceeds my expectations, but I loved that they stayed with the traditional southern/ French quarter look. I literally took a picture of the bathroom in the lobby. It was adorable!  They also have an amazing Jazz lounge that is very popular within the city. Oh, and, they had a gumbo cart near check-in! I could really go on and on, I highly recommend it! 

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Once we checked in, we started making our way to our first tour at St. Louis Cemetery No.1. You can only visit this cemetery through a guided, licensed tour FYI. We had a little time to kill before it started so we made our way to Pat O’Brien’s! I told you I was the ultimate tourist, but what’s the saying? When in New Orleans?! We got their famous hurricanes and ended up with a sugar coma, but I feel like it’s a right of passage there. The cemetery tour was awesome. We took the tour with French Quarter Phantoms and they gave just enough history with a touch of humor. It was amazing to see how old and BIG some of these above-ground graves were. This cemetery also has the grave of the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, if you are into to voodoo, (or watched American Horror Story, like me). The tour was about two hours long, and it was HOT (especially during the summer) so make sure you have plenty of water with you and wear comfy shoes.

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It was in between lunch and dinner when we finished so we went to Bacchanal Wine to hang for a bit. It was such a cool place! It’s essentially a laid-back wine bar, but it’s in an older home with mis-matched furniture and a decent sized backyard. You can grab a bottle of wine and sit outside and listen to live Jazz music. My favorite part was creating our own cheese plate. They have a variety of cheese to choose from, and when you make your selections you just bring it to the counter where you pay for wine. They then create it into your own personalized cheese platter, then add dried fruits, spreads, crostinis, olives, etc. It was so unique to be able to actually choose what cheese you wanted for the cheese board! It was a neat spot. 

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That evening we had dinner at the famous Commander’s Palace. So many people love this place, and it seems like all first timers should go. But to be completely honest, we didn’t love it. Now don’t get me wrong, the food was good, the service was fine, but the inside was a little dated and there were too many birthday balloons for my liking. But the outside was charming, and we had a nice time. We probably won’t go back, but that’s just my personal preference. More people seem to like it then not! 

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My husband really wanted me to see Bourbon street at night, and if you haven’t you should. It’s amazing to me how a street is actually closed down just for people to party! It was wild to see. So many bars, restaurants and PEOPLE! Side note: I recommend not wearing open toed shoes when walking down bourbon street. As I said, it’s a true party street, so is not the cleanest spot. But you need to check it out! 

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Since Bourbon street was just a 5-minute walk from our hotel, and we only stayed there for about ten minutes, we made our way to the Davenport Lounge at the Ritz. It’s a well-known jazz lounge in the city and it was one of our favorite spots! The jazz music, cocktails, and bar snacks (specifically the beignets!) were amazing. It was definitely our speed. And I actually got my husband to dance with me on the dancefloor! Make sure you go here. 

Day 2

We woke up the next day and walked to Brennan’s for brunch. (Another reason I loved our hotel, the location! We walked a lot.) We have been to Brennan’s in Houston, but I really felt like we needed to try the original, and it did not disappoint! It is a darling, old-world yet creole restaurant. The food was delicious, and the service was wonderful. They definitely push a boozy brunch, but again, when in New Orleans! 

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Following brunch, we took a streetcar to the Garden District. The street cars remind me of cable cars in San Francisco, but DO NOT call them cable cars. They are street cars, don’t go offending anyone. We did a self-guided tour around the Garden District which was nice because you could go at your own pace. This was really one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved seeing all the beautiful, historical homes. And it was fun to see a few homes of celebrities who reside there or own a home there, including Sandra Bullock, John Candy, and the childhood home of Eli and Peyton Manning. And, if you are an AHS fan, especially the Coven season, you can see the house that they filmed in! We also popped by another popular cemetery, Lafayette Cemetery No.1. Many movies and TV shows have been filmed here, so it was cool to see. 

After the Garden District, we needed an afternoon snack, so we made our way to Café Du Monde for beignets. They are so freaking good and are an absolute must while you are there. Just a heads up, they only serve beignets and coffee. The café was also bigger than I imagined but crammed at the same time, and powdered sugar literally covered every inch of it. But I would go again just for the beignets! Truly a treat! Note: Across the street was St. Louis Cathedral but it was closed for a wedding so we couldn’t go inside. Bummer!

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Next on our list was Frenchman’s Street. We had heard it was less touristy and more where the locals hang! It had many funky restaurants and bars (like bourbon) but less crowded and less rowdy. As we made our way down the street, we heard live jazz music coming out of almost every place we passed. We finally stopped in The Spotted Cat for a drink and to enjoy some music.  We didn’t stay too long because we had another tour that night, but when I go back, it’s definitely a place I would spend some more time in. 

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We started off the evening doing a haunted ghost bar crawl. It took us to “haunted” bars around town and told us spooky stories about things that happened there. We love scary movies, Halloween, etc., so this was just up our alley. But it really wasn’t too scary, more informative, which I liked (and could actually sleep that night). After the tour we had dinner at Jacques-Imo’s. It was a fun, casual, true NOLA restaurant full of fresh fish, gumbo and red beans and rice. So, if you want to try some good creole food, this is your place.   They only take reservations for a party of 5 or more but I would just go early or have a yummy cocktail at their bar while you wait.

We packed in A LOT in that day so after dinner we went back to the hotel, had one more nightcap at the Davenport Lounge because we loved it that much, and hit the hay. We did so much walking that day, I don’t think we moved all night. 

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The next morning, our final stop was at the Ruby Slipper Café for breakfast. A friend of mine recommended it and it happened to be walking distance from our hotel. It’s a cute little café and it had a wonderful breakfast and great coffee. We did, however, skip the morning cocktail since we were going home, but I hear they are good there too. 

We really did as much as we could in two days and there is still much more to see! But being a first-time visitor, I felt like there were things I just had to do. Some things we loved and some we won’t do again but we can say we did it! I hope you enjoyed hearing about our NOLA weekend trip and that you get to visit this charming city soon!