My mom and I got back from our wonderful trip to New Orleans on Sunday night. We got in late Wednesday evening (more on that in the next post!) and had all of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to explore this foodie city. The spoiler alert here is that a) I don’t know if I ever need to go back to New Orleans and b) two non-foodies being in a big foodie city makes for some very boring meals. (We should have brought my stepdad, as he loves all of the seafood, Cajun food, etc. that is inherent to New Orleans.) But we still had a lot of fun. Here’s what we got up to:
Thursday
We started off our New Orleans adventure with brunch in the French Quarter, and just as we were finishing up our meal, it started to downpour. Our plan after brunch was to walk over to the aquarium, but that would have been a very uncomfortable walk! We opted to wait out the storm at the restaurant. I always forget that storms in Florida are vastly different than storm in other parts of the country. In Florida, it’s odd for it to rain for more than 30 minutes. Typically, the storm clouds roll in, it downpours for 20-30 minutes tops, and then the storm clouds roll out. Not in Louisiana! Instead, we sat at that restaurant for almost two hours waiting for the storm to pass. I was contemplating taking a Lyft to the aquarium, but decided to give it a little more time. We ordered drinks (the New Orleans classic Hurricane!) and played on our phones.
Eventually, the rain stopped and we trekked over to the aquarium where we enjoyed lots of fun exhibits. We especially enjoyed the penguins and stingrays! I was hoping there would be some sea turtles for my mom (she loves turtles), but we didn’t see any. Wah! After the aquarium, we took a Lyft to the Garden District where we perused around some shops, including a bookstore where I spent way too much money on books (oops). Then, we opted to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before our big plans for the night.
And Thursday night was our reason for coming to New Orleans: Nate Bargatze! I didn’t realize this when I booked the tickets, but I booked fantastic seats just 15 rows from the stage. That meant when Nate Bargatze came out, he was mere feet away from me as he strolled up the aisle! (I was especially jealous of the people on the right side of our row—we were on the left side—who got to fist bump Nate when he left the stage. Ahhh!) Anyway, Nate was amazing as expected. After the show, I asked my mom if she liked Jim Gaffigan’s show or Nate’s show better and honestly, it’s hard to say! They both are exceptionally funny. It was also really cool to see Nate fill an entire arena for this show. I love seeing comedians like him thrive!
After the show, we went to a bar close by for dinner and then headed back to the hotel.
- Where we ate: Royal House (brunch) and Brewery Saint X (dinner)
- What we did: Audobon Aquarium ($32 for an adult pass), Garden District Book Shop
- Steps: 9,363 (3.17 miles)
Friday
On Friday, we slept in a bit and then headed over to the French Quarter for brunch. One thing my mom and I agreed on when it came to the food in New Orleans: they understand how to make some damn good bacon. Crispy and greasy and perfect! After brunch, we meandered around for a bit. We did some shopping in the French Market (more on my purchases in my next post!) and then went to Jackson Square, which made for excellent people watching. We went into St. Louis Cathedral, which was breathtaking and lit candles for Grandma and Pops. We stopped into Faulkner House Books, which was a teeny-tiny bookshop tucked into an alleyway behind the cathedral. I had just spent a lot of money on books the day before so I knew I had to be very particular about what I purchased from the bookstore. And then I found a beautiful hardcover edition of Anne of Green Gables from 1995, and I knew I had to have it. I have a new-ish goal of collecting as many editions of this beloved novel as I can, so it was such a delight to find a gorgeous edition in this bookstore!
After the bookstore, we headed over to the Pharmacy Museum but on our way there, it started to downpour so we took refuge under an awning for a bit but didn’t want to waste too much time waiting so once we realized the rain wasn’t letting up, we continued our journey. But then… a woman in a nearby shop approached us about a foot massage and we decided that would be an excellent way to wait out the rain. It was only $22 for 20 minutes and well worth every penny. It felt so good to get our feet massaged after being on them for so long the last few days. And by the time we were finished, the rain had stopped so we could make our way to the museum nice and dry.
The pharmacy museum was everything my little history-loving heart could have wanted and I especially loved the exhibits that focused on the number of Black-owned pharmacies that popped up in the area. Xavier College of Louisiana was one of only two universities in the 1920s that accepted Black students in their pharmacy college, so there’s a rich history in New Orleans of Black pharmacists and the pharmacies they ran. These pharmacies became community centers where people not only picked up their prescriptions but could get non-urgent medical care, sit at a soda foundation and chat with friends, etc. The building that this pharmacy museum is located in was actually a working pharmacy for the first licensed pharmacist in America. He opened it in 1823 and it was operated as a pharmacy until 1855. In the 1950s, it became a museum.
After the museum, we decided it was time to go back to the hotel and chill for a bit. Our plan for Friday night was to hit up Frenchman Street (which is, according to New Orleans locals, far superior to Bourbon Street), have some drinks, and get dinner. First, though, we stopped at the famous Carousel Bar, where we hoped to score a seat at the revolving bar, but it’s very limited in its seating and you have to be fairly aggressive in your approach to grab a seat when people leave. My mom and I, these sweet little enneagram 9s, are not the aggressive sort so we simply found an open seat in the corner of the bar and took in the action from the sidelines. We ordered drinks and an appetizer and had a good time people watching.
Then, we took a Lyft to Frenchmen Street where we happened upon a local art fair so we spent some time perusing the various artists’ work. My mom ended up buying a few things and I couldn’t pass up a cute cat painting, so we emerged from the fair very happy! We found a restaurant for dinner where the food was pretty average and the drinks were flowing. I ordered some sort of fruity rum drink and holy smokes, it was strong. I eventually had to order a Sprite so I could dilute the drink enough to finish it. Whew. Two of those drinks would have me toasted, that’s for sure.
And after all that fun, we made our way back to the hotel for the night.
- Where we ate: New Orleans Vampire Cafe (brunch), Carousel Bar & Lounge (drinks), and Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro (dinner)
- What we did: French Market (shopping), St. Louis Cathedral (free), Faulkner House Books, New Orleans Pharmacy Museum ($10 admission for adults)
- Steps: 6,818 steps (2.43 miles)
Saturday
On Saturday, my mom and I woke up around 9:30 and popped into a Starbucks near our hotel for a quick breakfast. And then we took a Lyft to New Orleans City Park. We spent a few hours there, first touring the sculpture garden where there are nearly 100 works to view, all carefully installed throughout a meandering garden path. We strolled around the garden for a while and I don’t think we even made it through half of the sculptures! Afterward, we headed over to Big Lake to rent a paddleboat. It was very, very hot on Saturday (in the 90s with 75% humidity), so we hoped that spending time by the lake would cool us down a bit. Every now and then, we caught a nice breeze but we also quickly realized that paddleboating around a lake is a lot of work! We brought the paddleboat back after about 40 minutes—that was more than enough time for us to get our money’s worth, we thought!
After our adventure at City Park, we stopped by Backspace Bar for lunch and I failed to get any pictures of the bar, which is literary themed. It was a really unique spot and was pretty empty during the time we went, so I’m bummed I didn’t get any pictures. Womp, womp.
We went back to the hotel for naps and showers, and then headed out right around 6pm to get dinner before our ghost tour! Our food at the restaurant wasn’t anything to write home about, but we did have excellent service so there’s that! Afterward, we walked over to meet up with our ghost tour! As you might expect, there are lots and lots of ghost tours available in New Orleans and we opted to do a ghost tour pub crawl where we were taken to some of the creepy spots around the French Quarter and got to enjoy a few drinks while we did so. (New Orleans is an open-container city so we could walk and sip our drinks, which was nice!) I started the pub crawl with a lemon drop shot and then had a spiked watermelon lemonade at the first bar we stopped at. It was super sweet and not really that good, but I sucked it down anyway. Then, we stopped at another bar where I got the New Orleans signature drink, the hurricane, which was delicious and strong and I was definitely feeling it after I finished that drink. And then we capped off the night at a different bar with a coffee-based drink that was actually pretty good. I don’t do a lot of coffee-based alcoholic bevvies, but I enjoyed this one a lot!
The ghost tour itself was fairly interesting and I really loved our tour guide, but I was left wanting a little more historical context with my ghost stories. I love ghost tours because of the historical components, and I felt like this tour guide talked a little too fast for me to fully immerse myself in what he was telling me. He seemed like a really interesting guy, though, and I would have loved to pick his brain about the history of New Orleans and other ghost stories. It also might have been because I was a bit drunk that I didn’t connect with the stories as much as I wanted to. Whoops! Lesson learned.
After the ghost tour, it was back to the hotel and preparing to head back home.
- Where we ate: Backspace Bar + Kitchen (lunch) and Pere Antoine (dinner)
- What we did: New Orleans City Park (free), paddleboating ($46 per boat for one hour), NOLA Haunted Pub Crawl ($27 per person but does not include drinks on the pub crawl)
- Steps: 9,759 steps (3.7 miles)
Have you ever been to New Orleans?
I have been to New Orleans and, as someone who does not drink, I found it seedy and frightening. LOL. I will not go back unless I have to. I’ve heard people talk about how great it is, but I honestly felt nervous the whole time I was there. I am obviously not cool enough for NOLA.
Listen, I felt the SAME WAY while I was there! I didn’t really enjoy the city all that much. Unless you’re a foodie or someone who likes to party, there’s not a ton to do. I’m glad I went and I never need to go back.
What a lovely time! Minus the rain. Isn’t it interesting how we expect the weather to behave similarly to where we live? That was me in Europe, like “this rain is so much different than ours!” LOL.
I am so glad you had awesome seats!
I love that you are collecting editions of that book. That’s so fun. Do we get to see a photo of the cat art you got?
I am LOLing at you thinking maybe you were too drunk to enjoy the tour. When we did a ghost tour in Arkansas Steven had the opposite complaint – too much history!
Oh, that’s funny! I love when a ghost tour is heavy on the history. The ghost stories are fun but I don’t really believe in ghosts, so I kind of glaze over the stories lol.
I have not been to NOLA and haven’t felt compelled to go? Phil is more interested in going than I am but I am not lobbying for a visit so the chances of us going? Low because guess who plans things? Ha. I know people who have gone there and loved it, though. And I know there is a lot of history in the area so that is appealing to me. But the party hardy scene is NOT for me! Not that you have to be a partier to go there but the night scene is part of what it’s known for. I have heard Bourbon Street is extremely seedy so hard pass from me! 😉
If you want to experience a revolving bar, you could go to Francois Frankie’s in the loop in Chicago when you are in town for the Popcast live show. That is a bar that is just down from my company’s office. I went once but will not go back because I got so freaking dizzy! It moves really slowly so you wouldn’t think it would throw you off but wow I was dizzy and I only had 1 glass of wine so it was not related to drinking! So now I’m vocal about the fact that I will go anywhere except that place unless we don’t sit at the revolving bar.
There is a lot of interesting history in New Orleans, and I think it’s a GREAT city if you’re a foodie, but it didn’t do much for me.
I’ll have to see if Francois Frankie’s is near where the show is taking place!
What a fun trip! I’ve never been to NOLA, and I’m neither much of a foodie nor much of a drinker, so I kind of feel like it isn’t a place I’d love, but never say never. Who knows, I may end up going there for an event the way you did.
I would not have thought to go to a sculpture garden, but I love the one of the figure sitting, arms around knees–it’s so cool!
I don’t know if I would have ever visited New Orleans if not for the event! It is a cheap(ish) trip from Florida so there’s that.
No, I’ve never been there! Although I’ve driven right past the city every year when we drive to Waco. Your trip sounds really fun! It looks like a really beautiful and interesting city. I would have been falling down drunk during that ghost tour- I’m SUCH a lightweight these days. But it sounds like a unique experience- I want to go someday.
It’s a very interesting city with so much history! I really wish I had done a history walking tour now that I think about it, but my mom would have HATED that, lol.
What a lot you packed into a few days! I’ve never been to New Orleans, but it’s been on my list of cities to visit, so I loved reading about your trip. And that book haul! So exciting!
Also- I’ve never really been into stand up comedy, but decided to check out Nate Bergatze after reading this since clearly you would travel to see him. I put him on as the 12 year old and I cleaned the kitchen, hoping that he was family friendly, and man we haven’t laughed so hard in a while and now she’s asking for more. I’m going to download some of his stuff to listen to on our roadtrip later this month.
This is the BEST COMMENT, Diane! I’m so glad you loved Nate Bargatze. I really love clean comedy and he’s one of the bests at it!
I’ve never been to New Orleans but I’d love to go. (I’d have a hard time not thinking STELLA STELLLLLLAAAAAA all the time).
It’s fascinating to me, and I loved your photos! Gorgeous! Too bad about the rain though.
I think you would enjoy New Orleans, Nicole! There’s a lot to love about the city. There’s so much history!
Now I am EXTRA excited about our tickets to see Nate B later this year. We have LOVED him (borderline obsessed?) for years and quote his stuff almost daily. Honestly, I feel like he’s part of our family now because we’ve just worked so much of his material into inside jokes (I think of hammots regularly when I hang up my new hammock).
I love that you are collecting editions of the Anne of Green Gables book. What a lovely book to collect and you have found some great copies so far. It also reminded me I really need a feel-good comfort read in this season and it might just be the first few books of the Anne series calling my name?
I can’t wait for you to see him! It was a really good show. I didn’t love his opening acts that much, but he more than made up for them!
I am definitely due for an Anne reread soon!
I’ve never been to NOLA, but I really, really, really want to go. And when I do I will circle back to this post!
I hope you make it there someday! If you are a more adventurous eater than me, you’ll love it!
It looks like you guys packed a lot into just a few days.
I am going to be the outlier here, as I lived in NOLA for years and I think the issue is that the touristy places are not great, especially if you are not a foodie or a drinker. However, there are a ton of things to see that are not food or booze, and DEFNITELY they are not Bourbon street. It is just gross.
My favorite non boozy things are to go to live music, like in a place like Le Bon Temps. Sure, people will be drinking but you do not need to drink to enjoy the music. Also, Audubon park, their cemeteries (like Lafayette 1 in the Garden Dist), the Garden District homes, Magazine Street, the Warehouse District, swamp tour etc. Also your visit will be best in Nov – Feb, as it is cooler and NOT the rainy season (it rains a LOT in NOLA in the summer months!!)
Yeah, we definitely did not plan the timing well for this trip but we went for the show so we had to deal with it. It wasn’t too bad, though. We’re used to rain + heat, being from Florida. We did some of the things you mentioned, but I like doing touristy things so I was a little bummed that the touristy areas weren’t great. I think it’s a much better city for foodies!
I have not been to New Orleans, but I love these typical New Orleans buildings and would love to visit sometime.
It sounds like you were a bit unlucky with the weather but made the best of it and you had some great sight-seeing planned.
I do have to admit that I had to google Nate Bargatze. Never heard of him. Ha.
On a different note: I generally know what it means to be a foodie (I would call myself one) but I am curious to hear why you call yourself a non-foodie. What exactly does that mean for you?
For me, a foodie is someone who loves to try new foods and local cuisine. They aren’t afraid to order something they’ve never heard before and they have a fairly extensive palate. And, most importantly, it’s something they really enjoy! They seek out these new food experiences because they love it. I am a very picky eater and not adventurous at all when it comes to what I eat. I don’t derive enjoyment from trying new foods, so I don’t consider myself a foodie.
This sounds so fun. What an amazing weekend.
And you did fit in so many fun activities. I reads like you have been all over the place but looking at your steps it also seems it is all very close by. Or maybe I am just mistaken and can’t convert miles and kilometers correctly.
Anyways, all the photos are so great. I have never been to New Orleans. But I would love some witchy, vampire ghost tour for sure.
I wish the ghost tour had leaned more into the voodoo side of New Orleans, since that is such a big part of their history! But ah well. It was still a fun time!
I’ve never been to New Orleans. I would love to try the restaurants, the parks, and I am interested in the architecture. My MIL was invited to a wedding there a couple of years ago and I volunteered to go with her, but she ended up not going. My uncle did go, and he said it smelled like a toilet. I guess he was on Bourbon Street. I hope to see it some day, but I don’t feel strongly about it, so likely it won’t happen.
I love that you support local bookstores when you travel!
True confessions… I really don’t like NoLa. I’m with you – the food was meh, it was loud, it was dirty, it was smelly. I was there once to visit a friend (fine, but meh, the visit, not the friend) and then again for a conference (both meh). I do think it’s worth a visit – and your love of Nate B. is more than enough reason to go! – but I will happily cross it off my list of “places I’d consider returning to on another trip”. I am glad I am not the only one!