The second part of our anniversary trip two weeks ago was to spend our actual anniversary in New Orleans. Neither of us had ever been: we have heard mixed reviews about NOLA, both good and meh, so we decided to just stay one night to feel it out and then come back if we felt so led. Here are a few photos from our 18 hours spent there :)
Pulling into downtown and heading towards the French Quarter, where our hotel was located.
The French Quarter has beautiful architecture!
Very narrow streets... Nate was glad we did NOT take his truck on this trip!
Our hotel: Hotel LeMarais, I HIGHLY recommend it! The staff was very friendly and accommodating, the atmosphere was beautiful, the rooms/pool side/lobby were well kept and modern, and we even scored two free drink tickets to use that night. Yes please!
Our window had these adorable shutters and overlooked the street. Loved that part!
Our bell man, Bull! He has the same last name as my maiden name, so he joked with Nate that I was his wife and Nate stole me from him! Ha! He was hilarious and very friendly :)
Heading out to explore and to go to dinner to Emeril Lagasse's restaurant, NOLA: he has three restaurants in New Orleans, but we chose "NOLA" for our anniversary dinner. Delicious food!!!
Each street had a beautifully tiled sign that explained the street name.
The French Quarter was beautiful. We enjoyed walking throughout and taking photos, a favorite pastime of ours!
The front of Emeril's restaurant, where we ate for our anniversary dinner! And next door, they had this adorable cooking school with the cutest Cajun ingredients and treats!
This happened. Stared at me straight in the face.
There were so many antique shops throughout the French Quarter as well: all adorable, pretty ritzy with their merchandise, and had the cutest signs!
Our hotel grounds were beautiful: this was the pool area where we enjoyed drinks in the evening, after dinner, once we "escaped" Bourbon Street. We wanted to walk down one block, just to say that we had been there... It was NOT our scene. No offense to you if it is your favorite place in the world, but we did not enjoy the smells, nor the scantily clad ladies in the bar door ways. We have nothing against going to have a drink and/or listening to live music, but this area was too much for us. We probably won't be visiting again anytime soon: we would rather go elsewhere.
The front of our hotel: gorgeous!
So to sum up:
*We would definitely visit the French Quarter again
*We would definitely stay at our hotel again (although between the hours of 3-4am, it gets loud in the hallway... I guess that's when the bars close on Bourbon Street)
*The food is fantastic
*I would like to go back to see some sights outside of the French Quarter
*I would like to go back to visit Cafe Du Monde
*We will not visit Bourbon Street again nor will we walk down that block again, if we can help it
Hope that helps if you are planning to take a trip there soon!
Happy Monday!
"The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17
Oh gosh, the smell of Bourbon street - YUCK! I found the scantily clad women interesting, as well. I mean, I've been near such establishments before but have never seen them standing in the door way or street trying to get people to come inside before. Double YUCK! You totally have to go back for Cafe Du Monde, though! They were worth the almost 2 mile walk from the warehouse district for us.
ReplyDeleteYou are so incredibly detailed with your recap!
ReplyDeleteLoving your pictures! All the food looks amazing. Of course I would notice food pictures :)
I have never been there! Love all of your pictures.
ReplyDeleteCute post! I'm from the New Orleans area and this makes me miss home! I hear ya about Bourbon street, and I try to avoid it at all costs! I got married at the Hotel Mazarin, and needless to say the night before I didn't get much sleep due to being so close off of Bourbon ha! Lesson learned!
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