December 5-10, 2021
For our anniversary trip this year we decided to venture down to the “Big Easy” since neither of us had ever been. We decided to drive since it was only an eight hour trip.
We left on Sunday morning driving through Alabama and Mississippi making some brief stops along the way before arriving in New Orleans.
We opted to have dinner delivered, after checking into our room at the DoubleTree on the edge of the French Quarter District. We picked Mambos for our first cajun & creole meal. I had the chicken & andouille gumbo with a side salad, Jonathan had the blackened redfish lafoueche and we shared an order of blackened gator bites.
After a good night’s sleep, we set out to explore the city. From our hotel we could easily walk to the French Quarter District. For breakfast, we went to Cafe Beignet on Royal St. I couldn’t resist having beignets with an iced coffee and Jonathan had the waffles.
Next was our first walking tour of the trip. We did the French Quarter walking tour with Lucky Bean Tours. It was a great way to explore the area by foot and learn about the city’s the history along the way.
Our tour guide suggested a small French cafe for lunch since we wanted something light to eat after breakfast. We both had sandwiches at Croissant D’Or Patisserie.
We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of the French Quarter, walking through the French Market, and enjoying the weather while eating beignets and drinking frozen chicory coffee at the original Cafe Du Monde. (The cafe is cash only.) If you walk around to the backside of the café there is a window where you can watch them making the beignets.
For dinner we went to Oceana. Jonathan had the cajun jambalaya pasta while I had the Louisiana crab meat cakes with a side salad.
After dinner we went on the Ghosts of the French Quarter tour with No Secrets Tours. This was the first of three tours we went on with this company and all three were great! Our guide Arthur was great ghost story teller even though it was a dreary rainy night. We made several stops throughout the French Quarter including the LaLaurie Mansion and Muriel’s Restaurant. The restaurant prepares a table nightly for their resident ghost Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan (Click here to learn about their ghost). It was a fun night of historical haunting stories because you have to do a ghost tour in New Orleans! 👻
Tuesday was probably our favorite day of the trip. After grabbing a quick bite to eat and a coffee at PJs Coffee in our hotel, we spent the entire day at the National World War II Museum. It also happened to be the 80th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I was even fortunate enough to see a gentleman in the lobby of the museum who survived the attack that day and was attending an event at the museum that evening. There are not words to describe how incredibly amazing this multiple building museum is and how you could easily spend more than a day there. Also the 4D film Beyond Boundaries was so good and definitely worth buying the pass to see.
We did take brief break from the museum to walked down the street to Cochon Butcher for lunch. Hands down some of the best sandwiches we’ve had!
After leaving the museum (yes we stayed until it closed for the day), we walked back to our hotel and stopped at Peche for dinner. For appetizers we had shared the smoked tuna dip and the fried bread with sea salt. For my entrée I had the seafood gumbo while we can’t seem to remember what Jonathan had for dinner.
On Wednesday we walked to Two Chicks Cafe for breakfast before we took an Uber/Lyft to the Garden District.
We went on the Garden Tour walking tour with No Secrets Tours. We spent the morning with our guide Evian walking the streets of the Garden District. This area was completely different than the streets of the French Quarter. We saw the former homes of author Anne Rice, the Manning Family, Nicholas Cage along with the current homes of Sandra Bullock (her vacation home) and John Goodman (his primary residence). Unfortunately the cemeteries where still closed to the public, so we were only able to look through the gates of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. This cemetery has been used as the filming location for many movies and television shows.
After the tour, we walked to have lunch at Gris Gris and along the way we stopped for a photo op at The Buckner Mansion. For fans of the show American Horror Story. The exterior of this house was in the Coven season as “Miss Robicheaux’s Witch Academy”. So I had to take a pic since it was one of my favorite seasons of the show!
After lunch, we walked to Hivolt for a cup of coffee before catching an Uber/Lyft back to the French Quarter.
Once we were back in the French Quarter that afternoon, we went to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. In 1816 New Orleans was home to America’s first licensed pharmacist, Louis Dufilho, and this was the site of his shop. It’s a small two story museum, but an interesting self guided tour through the history of medicine.
Next we went to The Sazerac House. There we did a fantastic free tour of the history of cocktails in New Orleans. Through multiple floors we enjoyed complimentary cocktail samples while learning about the spirited culture and traditions in the area. This was such a fun thing to do and I highly recommend it. (Reservations for the free tour can be made in advance on the website.)
For dinner that evening, we went to Jacques Imos. The restaurant was about a 20 minute drive from the hotel, but I had read so many good reviews on this place we had to go try it. Since we weren’t sure about the parking situation there or the neighborhood, we opted to take an Uber/Lyft to and from the restaurant. The reviews were not wrong …this place was so good! It’s a tiny place and you must make reservations well in advance. For an appetizer when had the shrimp & alligator sausage cheesecake (yes I know it sounds weird but trust me just order it). I had the blackened redfish and Jonathan had the New Orleans style barbecue shrimp.
On Thursday, we started out with the best brunch at The Ruby Slipper. We couldn’t make a decision so we ordered both the bananas foster pain perdu and the chocolate & cherry stuffed french toast to share. I also tried the milk punch… delish!
After brunch we met up with the same tour guide, Evian, we had for the garden district walking tour. We went on the Mysteries of Voodoo tour with No Secrets Tours. We learned so much about the history and culture of Voodoo. Like most things, the media (movies, tv, etc.) misrepresents the history, culture and beliefs of New Orleans Voodoo. We saw more than a dozen real voodoo shrines and altars starting in Congo Square and throughout this French Quarter, including those dedicated to Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. We even went into an authentic Voodoo shop to learn more from our tour guide. This was an excellent educational tour that was really respectful and fascinating… no silly kooky stuff!
For our last afternoon in the city, we decided to check out one of the Louisiana History Museums in Jackson Square, The Presbytère. There was both a Mardi Gras and a Hurricane Katrina exhibit.
Later we walked over to Pat O’Briens to drink some hurricanes and check out the dueling piano bar. It was so much fun and the ladies were fantastic!
Throughout the day we also went hotel hopping to see the Christmas decorations in the lobbies. Some of our stops were at the Hotel Montelone (also home to the Carousel Bar), Royal Sonesta, The Ritz Carlton and The Roosevelt.
Our last dinner was at Luke and it was a delicious way to end our third anniversary trip. We started with the smoked trout dip then had the shrimp & grits and grilled swordfish for entrees before ending the night with two of their desserts.
This next morning we stopped for breakfast at Surrey’s Cafe & Juice Bar before driving out to the Barataria Preserve for the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour. This was something we decided to do while we were in the area and there happen to be a really good Groupon offer since it was the off season. I’m so glad we did the tour and we even got to hold a baby alligator!
The tour was a fun ending to great week in New Orleans!
Some additional information:
The DoubleTree offers free valet parking for AAA members. While we had our car we only used Uber/Lyft when we couldn’t walk to our destinations since we weren’t familiar with driving in city and the parking options.
If you’re looking for a free walking tour or the French Quarter, grab your earbuds and download this app. French Quarter Tours
National WWII Museum – reservations can be made online and there is an in/out privilege for the day of your ticket. Also a second day pass can be added for a discounted price.
If you would like to travel throughout the city via the streetcars you must have exact change or buy a pass online.
The Historic New Orleans Collection is a free museum that we didn’t get a chance to visit but free tickets can be reserved here.
So Many Places So Little Time 