Part 1 of 4
Mardi Gras, Bourbon Street, the French Quarter and beignets all come to mind when one thinks of New Orleans. While all of these are wonderfully appealing to others, frankly, my images of them are not my cup of tea and I have had no great desire to visit. Until….
The VanGogh Immersive experience came to town; I realized New Orleans is an easy drive from our new home in Mississippi; and I wanted a quick birthday getaway with my husband. So we made a plan and were wonderfully surprised at how much we enjoyed it.
Today’s blog is a quick overview of our highlights, I will revisit the Food and the Fun blogs in greater detail in future blog posts.
The Food
Let’s begin with the food. We are self-proclaimed foodies and staking out unique restaurants with fresh food (and craft beers on tap for my husband) is always a top priority while on vacation. NOLA did not disappoint and in fact exceeded all expectations. From Chevre Chaud at our first meal to fresh yummy salads followed by tiramisu at a French bakery on our way out of town, every meal was a delight. The food alone is enough to inspire me to make the 3 hour drive again!
The Fun
Our plans for fun on this quick trip were The VanGogh Immersive Experience( obviously!), live jazz music, and the WW2 Museum. We enjoyed all 3 and are already planning a return trip to revisit Freedom Street and museum, which we were unable to fully explore and experience. We also want to further explore some of the street art markets that we passed by during our visit.
The Fall
Unfortunately, the trip started out with a mishap, which I share with you as a warning. The sidewalks there are old – and dangerous. Within the first 30 minutes of our arrival, I hit a broken sidewalk, twisted my ankle and had a horrible fall. My kids will vouch for the gravity of this fall when I tell you, while cooling off inside the nearby tattoo parlor (Muses Tattoo) which offered me assistance in the immediate aftermath, I was contemplating which tattoo I should get to offer my appreciation. (If that wasn’t proof of my concussion, I don’t know what is! Ha!)
Besides needing to move at a much slower place, the biggest impact of the fall was increased costs due to needing to drive and use Lyft much more than anticipated so our parking and transportation charges mounted quickly as hourly parking rates decrease dramatically the longer you stay in the garage. Had the fall not happened, we could have parked near our centrally located hotel and walked everywhere – which had been our plan.
Those parking charges were a small price to pay to remain in NOLA and experience a wonderful getaway, and we are looking forward to returning one day.
Please check back for further installments in my New Orleans series.
