Thursday, November 13, 2014

New Orleans, 2014!

I love New Orleans. So much so that I went three times in one year. I'm not exactly sure what it is about the little city that I like; maybe it's the history, or maybe it's the beauty of the older houses in the Garden District, or maybe it's the magical feel in the air that makes you believe in vampires, voodoo, and...well, I'm coming up with a loss for another word that starts with v, so we'll go with gumbo.

I got to go back last weekend with Philip and Patricia, my favorite P people. And we had a blast! I was definitely not ready to come back, even though I had the day after off to go get my bridals done.

The first day, we left Katy around 10 and headed east. We stopped in Lafayette for lunch at none other than Cracker Barrel, the official travel restaurant, then continued on. By the time we arrived and checked into our hotel it was already dark, so sight-seeing was out of the question. So we went to the mall instead, where I got a bottle of my favorite non-grape wine (blackberry) and where we made the mistake of entering the Lindt Chocolates store. Lo and behold, they were having a "100 truffles for $25" sale, and Patricia and Philip had to really twist my arm to get me to participate.

Pitzer family photo
We next hit up Pat O'Briens for dinner and hurricanes (and more hurricanes).

I can't tell if the man in the background is seriously looking at the menu or seriously trying to be in the picture.
One hurricane is enough. You can trust me on that.
After we left Pat O's, we walked down Bourbon Street, taking it all in. People threw beads (even without us performing the necessary task to receive them), which I found very exciting for some reason. We then ended up at the Cat's Meow where Patricia sang karaoke while Philip and I sat in the quieter (read: old people section) part of the bar and people watched.

After those hurricanes, this was pretty much my posture the rest of the night.

After a while, we decided we had had enough fun for one night and headed back to the hotel, where we got up bright and early slept in nice and long the next morning.

BEADS!
We met up with Philip's friend Kristen, who lives in New Orleans, at the Irish House for lunch the next day. Afterwards we went into the Garden District to check out my favorite coffee house in Nola, Still Perkin', and then walked around the Garden District for a while, checking out the cemetery and the houses.

At the cemetery wall
We next hopped onto the trolley (which was full to bursting) and headed into the French Quarter. Our first order of business, of course, was to stop at Cafe du Monde for Philip to experience the beignets. Yes, it was all for Philip.






The weather in Nola at this time of year actually got pretty chilly--much better than the last time I was there, when I nearly sweated to death from the humidity. Unfortunately I left my jacket in our rental car, which was all the way back in the Garden District, hence the "cold" look.

We walked through Jackson Square afterwards and just in time, too, for they closed the gates right as we were leaving.

"Wheeee!" says Andrew Jackson in the background
As we were walking through the quarter in search of dinner, Patricia spotted a sign for a ghost tour. So we went in and signed up, then, since we had some time before it started, we went off and had dinner at Maspero's.

The ghost tour was really fun. It was full of history with a few fun tidbits about hauntings here and there. The tour covered the Lalaurie house; the Count of St Germain, rumored vampire of New Orleans; the Lafitte Blacksmith Shop Pub; and several other buildings with haunted pasts.

We were exhausted by the end of the tour and headed back to get some sleep. This time we vowed we would actually get up the next morning and go do some things, before we had to leave to head back to Houston.

The next morning we drove back to the Garden District to check out Audubon Park, where Patricia graciously took engagement photos of Philip and I.




I'm so lucky to have a good friend that can put up with us being all couple-y!

We ate lunch at a place that doesn't even deserve a mention, the customer service was so bad, then headed home. It was a great trip that provided a wonderful respite from wedding planning and work for a few days. Here's to many more!

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