Here are some of the things we did while we were in New Orleans. We generally like to stay near the French Quarter, but do venture out to the business district or Fauberg.
Of course, there is Bourbon Street, which is a strange mix of bars, strip clubs, great music halls, t-shirt shops and restaurants (some excellent). You do have to experience Bourbon street once, just to say you did.
There is good music to be heard here:
Interesting note – On Tuesday night, there was a huge bang of thunder and the lights went out in the Quarter. We were in a cafe about a block off of Bourbon and it was a bit scary. My mom was safely in the B&B, thank goodness. The staff was saying how this only happened a couple times in 10 years for the Quarter to go dark. We decided to head home after waiting a bit. You could see down to the business district and see the lights on there. There were people still in the bars on Bourbon, singing LOL! Not to mention when we went by Fritzel’s, they were playing jazz still – in the dark! The power came on maybe 45 minutes later?
My favorite place is actually Royal Street. It’s a block south of Bourbon and the street is blocked off from traffic during the day. There is a lot of shopping to be done on Royal from uber upscale shops selling $14,000 chandeliers to small boutiques. Some shops have courtyards leading to them, like this one:
With the streets blocked off, musicians set up camp and entertain.
You will hear all types of music and of varying quality…
There are shops all over as well. I found a cute shop called Fleurty Girl and got a purse! This is actually a textured vinyl purse that is lined (pink) and has a magnetic closure. I just love the colors. And shall I tell you it was $16.95? I started using this the minute I bought it, too.
I just love the colors! Of course, I managed to knock over some stuff trying to get the purse off the rack. I always find a way to embarrass myself. Not sure if John was embarrassed or not – or just used to that stuff when accompanying me places 😀
We took the famous St. Charles streetcar for a long way out to the Riverfront (where we had lunch).
Ding, ding!
My mom was a trooper getting on and off the streetcar. They were working on the track and we actually had to exit the streetcar, grab a shuttle which took us further up the track, and back onto the streetcar again!
This is the Beauregard-Keyes house, which is a historic residence museum.
If you are looking for an apartment in New Orleans, there is this one.
Not haunted, in case that was on your deal breaker list.
I love just seeing all the cool buildings in New Orleans. Here is the famous Cornstalk Hotel.
The fence gives it the name.
We wanted to go to the botanical gardens, but the last full day we had there was cold and rainy, so we went to the Insectarium.
There was a butterfly garden in there, which made me happy as a clam!
The butterflies were free to go everywhere, including landing on people!
And you do have to be silly.
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Here are some nice shots of the Jackson Square area.
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Same shot at night. I love this shot.
It’s funny, the cathedral is not lit green, but it comes out the way on my camera. BTW – all of my photos were taken with my windows phone.
I love the Quarter at night.
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The next post will be a post about the food – so stay tuned!
If you missed the Healthy Heart Weekend signup – here is the link!
Wonderful photos. You are a great photographer. It is amazing what there is in the US to see.
I want to go there! It looks so beautiful and lots to see and do. Your phone takes great photos!
SO COOL!!! I would love to see the architecture, history…all of it!
I’m not surprised they kept playing when the power went out – NO does not let much stop the party, LOL!
Am laughing a bit at the mental image of you knocking over stuff to get the purse…hey, shopping is serious business when you really want something! Cute purse and the colors are super fun.
Love that streetcar! What a cool way to go to lunch.
Such wonderful pictures – thanks for sharing them. We’re going to GulfShores in April and we’re thinking we might go to NO for a night. Your pics make me want to do it! Beautiful architecture – have you been so Savannah, GA? Some of the pics remind me of what we saw there. Can’t wait for the food pics/post!
This post makes me want to take a trip to New Orleans!! I love that city and haven’t been in a number of years!!
Super cute purse, too!!
I love this post Lori, it was so fun to see all the photo’s. New Orleans looks like a fun city to visit.
Think Bourbon Street is a bit the same as the “Ramblas” in Barcelona. You have to visit it but I was fairly disappointed when we walked the Ramblas. Too commercial and not really fun either.
Look forward to the food pics jum jum
Thanks so much for sharing all these great pics. It’s almost unreal, like a whole nother world.
The shopping area reminds me of several on the French side of St. Martin so I suppose it’s the French influence isn’t it?
Seems like you guys are having a great time and I appreciate that you’re sharing it with us!
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fun Lori!! It just looks like such a creative & fun place to visit!! SCORE for you on that purse – very cute!!!!!
You can easily see just how much you love New Orleans. If you didn’t have Casa Radiance, I would have said you should look to move to New Orleans. 🙂 How fun and a great time to be away from the snow and muck.
I love all the pics Lori . . . but I am anxiously awaiting the food post! 😀
Thanks for the virtual tour, Lori! I had planned to take DH on a surprise trip to NO for his 50th birthday – he’s a HUGE jazz fan and we have never been. Over the course of the 3 years I was secretly stashing money, though, he kept talking about Costa Rica this and that, and so-and-so loved Costa Rica, so I changed our destination. We had a great time (other than DH’s broken elbow on the 2nd day…), but I still want to get down to the Big Easy some day. The music, the food, the ghosts – gotta love it. Have fun!
I love that rainy daytime shot of Jackson Square. It’s so broody.
We have a butterfly house at our local zoo. My first instinct is to swat at bugs, so it took some massive willpower to keep my hands at my side (or on my camera) while I was in there. 🙂
Darn. Actually, BEING haunted is on my “must have” list. Guess the apartment search continues.
Great pics, you are making me crave a trip. Which I’m sure will get worse when I see the food.