A Long Weekend In New Orleans

A Long Weekend In New Orleans

by

ashley

Thursday, March 21, 2019

A few weeks ago, I took a trip to New Orleans and I can immediately say it is by far one of my FAVORITE cities!! It is a city literally for everyone. I was in NOLA for 5 days 4 nights (originally only 4 days 3 nights but due to bad weather back home, my flight was cancelled. To be honest, I wasn't complaining, lol. 

Though this isn't a travel guide,  I want to share with you all some of the best spots and my highlights from The Big Easy.

I stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton New Orleans located on Canal Street. We choose this hotel because it was only a few blocks away from Bourbon Street (the heart of all NOLA nightlife) making it super easy to just walk to. Speaking of walking, since we didn't rent a car, we chose to do a lot of activities/sighting seeing that was within walking distance of the hotel. It turns out that there was a lot to do within walking distance. The views from our hotel room wasn't all that bad, especially at sunset.

Our first night in the city, we ate at the Creole House Restaurant & Oyster Bar and I had an authentic shrimp po-boy which was absolutely delicious. Our waitress also told us that the one drink we had to try was the "drink of New Orleans", the Hurricane. What was interesting about the Hurricane was that it was made quite differently at the restaurant than in the bars, the ones in the bars being a little sweeter and more like an alcoholic juice.

There are so many "side show performances" up and down Bourbon. One of the most random ones that I saw turned out to literally be a guy in a bear costume... just sitting there, haha.

For breakfast on one of our days in New Orleans, we went to Daisy Mae's Southern Fried Chicken & Breakfast. 

Mother's is one of the most popular food destinations in the city for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Its traditional southern breakfast known for, as their sign says, the "world's best baked ham."

Whenever you go to New Orleans, trying Gator on a Stick is a MUST! It was surprising not bad at all. 

Gator on a stick was pretty much just a sausage on a stick which tasted even better with the mustard that the guy who worked at the stand suggested we try with it. 

Seafood gumbo is definitely recommended if you love seafood. Mother's has a good dish and it was really filling. I love that there was no shortage of flavor in anything that you eat in NOLA.

Another great spot to check out is Ruby Slipper Cafe which is a popular brunch spot. 

Two of the most popular drinks are the Shark Attack and the Grenade. They are totally touristy but are both worth a try. I have to say however, I was more a fan of the Shark Attack than the grenade since the Grenade had more of a sour flavor to it. For me, its one of those drinks that I bought just to say that I had one, lol.

We visited Woldenberg Riverfront Park  where you can walk along the Mississippi River and see the Natchez Steamboat docking, or take a ride on one if you wish. The New Orleans Holocaust Memorial is also located in the park.

We spent a day walking around the French Quarter which is pretty different in the day time, I might add. There are so many cute stores and boutiques to shop as I'm a lover of small trinkets.  

We spent some time at the French Market browsing the booths and trying different foods. New Orleans has some of the best bread pudding that I've tasted!

Like I mentioned earlier, we made the city walkable by doing a lot of activities that were in walking distance of the hotel. But, we really wanted to take a trip to City Park, a popular New Orleans park. It is the 20th most visited public park in the United States. It was about a 25 minute Uber ride from the hotel. This also happened to be the best weather day as it was sunny and 75 degrees. Definitely better than the 30 degree and snowy weather back in NY! Everything about the park was so pretty and had great views. City Park has a lot of activities including riding swan boats, bike riding, miniature golf and more. The New Orleans Museum of Art is also located within. 

All around the city, there was various 'NOLA 300' signs that were still up for the 300th anniversary of New Orleans in 2018.

I can't forget to mention that at the end of my trip, I did try the famous New Orleans King Cake for the first time and it was pretty good! If you don't know what it is or have never seen one, here is some info.

Here's another food spot that we went to that should also be on your list: 

Oceana Grill (which is right off of Bourbon Street.)

(I feel like more that half the activities involve food haha!) 

I highly suggest that you pick up a bottle of Crystal hot sauce. I love spicy foods but was never one to put hot sauce on everything but I have to say that the hot sauce to me was more of an enhancer which made everything taste better. Even eggs, which in the past I'd never think about doing that. (Yes, I know tons of people put hot sauce on eggs. That just wasn't me.)   

Last but not least, it is a MUST that you stop at Cafe Du Monde to pick up some of the best beignets that you'll ever have. 

Like I said, New Orleans is hands down one of my favorite cities that I've been to and I cannot wait to go back really soon!! I already have a list of a bunch of other things that I want to do which will include riding on a boat through the swamp! Have you been to New Orleans? If you have, let me know what your favorite part of the city was and what I should do next time!