Tuesday, June 05, 2007
New Orleans
Memorial day weekend, my mom, sister and I went to New Orleans to celebrate my sister's 21st b-day. We went to NY for mine and we wanted to go somewhere we'd (at least Roll & I) had never been before, but could do in a weekend. Roll had already had about 5 b-day celebrations up to this point, and after this weekend, we decided that everyday will be her b-day for the sake of free desserts.
My mom hasn't given me all her pictures yet, as she is not what one would call computer savvy. She can't email them or something - I don't know what the problem was, but whatever. Roll sent me hers and I had a few too. I will post any good ones when I get them.
On Saturday, Roll and I left NC, for some reason had a layover in Cincinnati, and got to NO around 10 am. My mom met us there and we cabbed it to our hotel in the middle of the French Quarter. We dropped off our bags and went on a bus tour of the city. Our guide was George and he was nice, but a close talker in the mike so a lot of what he said was muffled. If I go back, I'm going to do the horse and buggy ride of the quarter instead. Holly fell asleep. My mom was sad because the last time she was in NO (30 years ago) there was a trolley, which is no longer (although they're trying to bring it back).
That night we went to Brennan's. It was ok, but the food wasn't that great and I wouldn't say it was really that fancy. Apparently it's a pretty big tourist place and hey, we were tourists. We had the Bananas Foster, which was created there. I don't like bananas, but the ice cream part was good and the fire was fun. They made Roll a weird bread person instead of giving her dessert. I will post a pic when my mom sends it.
The hotel was stupid and somehow gave our room away or something. So we ended up with a room with a king bed and an air mattress (not a roll away). That part happened before we went to dinner, and we got dinner the next night for free. However, when we got back to our room that night, after walking around Bourbon Street for awhile, there was no air mattress. So we had to call (2 or 3 times in 30 minutes) to get it upstairs. So that pissed us off more. But whatever. On Sunday we went to a small cafe for breakfast, which was good. Then we walked around the French market where Roll wanted to buy everything.
That afternoon we went on a swamp tour and rode a fan boat. Felix was our guide and was pretty funny and slightly un-PC. It rained a bit and was high tide so we didn't see any big alligators. We did about 4 or 5 that were "young" (i.e. 5 years old) that were about 4-6 feet. He also told us that the length of an alligator's snout in inches, is its length in feet, which is apparently true. We stopped for awhile to check them out and he threw marshmallows to attract them because they can see white easily. Then we got to hold a small one that Felix had named Henry. When you stroke him on top of the head, his eyes go all white. Twas cool.
After the tour, we went back to the French Market to shop and to stop in at Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets. The donut-like snacks come 3 to a pack and have about a pound of powered sugar in there with them. But damn, they are good. And Roll probably ate about a cup of the extra sugar. They sell the mix in stores and one of the sales guys was like, why would you bring a box of Bisquik back to someone?
We had dinner that night at Bacco, which was next to our hotel. It too was run by Ralph Brennan, but the food was much better...and we got dessert not a bread man! On Monday we had brunch at the Court of Two Sisters, walked around for awhile downtown, then headed home. At some point, I'm sure I'll go back, but it's not at the top of my list and there is no way I would want to go for Mardi Gras unless I was on a float or a balcony where I wouldn't have to deal with people and/or their vomit/pee etc. All in all, it was a good weekend.
My mom hasn't given me all her pictures yet, as she is not what one would call computer savvy. She can't email them or something - I don't know what the problem was, but whatever. Roll sent me hers and I had a few too. I will post any good ones when I get them.
On Saturday, Roll and I left NC, for some reason had a layover in Cincinnati, and got to NO around 10 am. My mom met us there and we cabbed it to our hotel in the middle of the French Quarter. We dropped off our bags and went on a bus tour of the city. Our guide was George and he was nice, but a close talker in the mike so a lot of what he said was muffled. If I go back, I'm going to do the horse and buggy ride of the quarter instead. Holly fell asleep. My mom was sad because the last time she was in NO (30 years ago) there was a trolley, which is no longer (although they're trying to bring it back).
That night we went to Brennan's. It was ok, but the food wasn't that great and I wouldn't say it was really that fancy. Apparently it's a pretty big tourist place and hey, we were tourists. We had the Bananas Foster, which was created there. I don't like bananas, but the ice cream part was good and the fire was fun. They made Roll a weird bread person instead of giving her dessert. I will post a pic when my mom sends it.
The hotel was stupid and somehow gave our room away or something. So we ended up with a room with a king bed and an air mattress (not a roll away). That part happened before we went to dinner, and we got dinner the next night for free. However, when we got back to our room that night, after walking around Bourbon Street for awhile, there was no air mattress. So we had to call (2 or 3 times in 30 minutes) to get it upstairs. So that pissed us off more. But whatever. On Sunday we went to a small cafe for breakfast, which was good. Then we walked around the French market where Roll wanted to buy everything.
That afternoon we went on a swamp tour and rode a fan boat. Felix was our guide and was pretty funny and slightly un-PC. It rained a bit and was high tide so we didn't see any big alligators. We did about 4 or 5 that were "young" (i.e. 5 years old) that were about 4-6 feet. He also told us that the length of an alligator's snout in inches, is its length in feet, which is apparently true. We stopped for awhile to check them out and he threw marshmallows to attract them because they can see white easily. Then we got to hold a small one that Felix had named Henry. When you stroke him on top of the head, his eyes go all white. Twas cool.
After the tour, we went back to the French Market to shop and to stop in at Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets. The donut-like snacks come 3 to a pack and have about a pound of powered sugar in there with them. But damn, they are good. And Roll probably ate about a cup of the extra sugar. They sell the mix in stores and one of the sales guys was like, why would you bring a box of Bisquik back to someone?
We had dinner that night at Bacco, which was next to our hotel. It too was run by Ralph Brennan, but the food was much better...and we got dessert not a bread man! On Monday we had brunch at the Court of Two Sisters, walked around for awhile downtown, then headed home. At some point, I'm sure I'll go back, but it's not at the top of my list and there is no way I would want to go for Mardi Gras unless I was on a float or a balcony where I wouldn't have to deal with people and/or their vomit/pee etc. All in all, it was a good weekend.
# posted by rjhackman @ 2:23 PM 
