The Big Easy

Holy Moly! Since when is May the new December?!  I need a minute to breathe.  First communion, Emilie's 6th birthday, Mother's Day, and what seems like a thousand end of the year concerts/programs/recitals. AHHHH.  Deep breaths.  We can do this people.  I can practically taste the summer daiquiris waiting for us on the other side of this month.

BUT.  Last week, Jason and I took a break from it all and headed to The Big Easy for a long NOLA weekend without our children.  (Thank you mom and dad. I'm not sure they have yet recovered from Hurricane Patterson- or as my dad lovingly calls us, the Pestersons.)

A year ago, my friend Lara asked me to sing with her choir for an upcoming trip to New Orleans at Jazz Fest.  It was of course a no brainer and I am forever grateful to Lara for offering me the opportunity to join them.  It had been a long time since I'd dusted off my pipes, but we had a great time practicing and singing together all year, and it culminated with a concert at St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square on Monday Night.

Since I spent much of our time there in rehearsal, and it had been 15 years since we'd been to NOLA together, Jason and I planned to stay an extra day just the two of us and we had great fun walking the city and discovering all that New Orleans has to offer.

One of the benefits of New Orleans is that it is a great 3-4 night trip, which is perfect for a little getaway.  The best part of New Orleans is that there are people of all walks of life, wonderful music literally on every corner, excellent food and constant parades in the streets.  It's essentially a giant, live party personified.  And you can chose to enjoy as little or as much of that as you'd like.

Some highlights of the sights and sounds of the city:

Bourbon Street: Absolutely no question about it, NOLA is definitely more than what you hear about Bourbon Street.  But, I still think it's a fun place to walk down at night and just take in the crazy.  The key is that you have to embrace it really.  It's a display of debauchery at its finest and it is crazy and it is loud.  But it's also colorful and hilarious and highly entertaining.  For a little while.  After that you can wash your feet, hug the one your with and move on.

Frenchmen Street: This was a huge highlight for us.  I'd describe Frenchmen Street as the grown ups version of Bourbon Street.  Like all of New Orleans, it was fun, it was lively, it was cultural, and you can drink in the streets.  Frenchmen Street is a short walk from the French Quarter and is literally lined bar after bar with amazing jazz that is all so good and so easily accessible.  Most bars didn't charge a cover and often times you could even stand right outside and listen to the music pouring out to the crowds.  There was also bands playing in the streets where spontaneous dancing followed.  There were restaurants and bars where you could buy tickets for a specific show.  That's exactly what we did at Snug Harbor one night when we got the last four tickets and were lucky enough to see the Herlin Riley Quartet and even got to meet Herlin afterwards. Frenchmen street also has a little open air artist market that we strolled through and did I mention the music?

French Quarter: The French Quarter feels like the heart of New Orleans to me.  It is the best place to experience the beautiful architecture with the balconies and the colorful homes.  There were many parades in the street- celebrating a life or just because, and they always invited you to join in the parade, march with them and hand out beads and good cheer.  We loved ducking in shops and local art galleries along Royal Street, where during the day they close the street to vehicles and open it to allow pedestrians and bands and walk and dance and sing in the streets.  We also enjoyed the shops of Chartres street which has cute shops and some antique stores.

A highlight of the French Quarter is beautiful Jackson Square, which of course is where the St. Louis Cathedral is located.  Jackson Square felt very European to me, mostly because of the awesome open-air artist market that surrounds the iron gates of the square.  There are also plenty of entertaining street performers here.  The actual square itself was open during the day and into the early evening and was the perfect spot for great pictures.

Jason and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Muriel's in Jackson Square one night which had great Creole food and fun story about the buildings ghost, for whom they always keep a table unoccupied and set with wine and bread. We also enjoyed a post concert dinner and drinks with the the whole group at Tableau.  Both Muriel's and Tableau had tables on the balcony overlooking the streets below, which were really fun to sit at and enjoy the square.

Beignets: The beignets deserve their own category, because come on, it's a fried doughnut under a mound of powdered sugar.  Need I say more?  I didn't think so.  We enjoyed the cafe au lait and the best beignets in the city at Cafe Du Monde in Jackson Square, as well as the beautiful courtyard and delicious beignets (and more) at Cafe Beignet on Royal Street.  I've been dreaming about beignets ever since.

Garden District: We took a streetcar ride on the St. Charles line to the Garden District which is home to gorgeous old southern homes- one more grand than the next.  We loved walking the streets admiring their beauty.  We also popped into the historic Lafayette cemetery which was a very old and popular cemetery open and available for the public to walk.  Lafayette cemetery has been in films and has insipred literature and it was just so interesting to walk the cemetery on our own little self guided tour. Because New Orleans is above sea level, all of the graves are above ground, which is equal parts really freaky and super cool.

Peaches Record Store: We walked Magazine Street one afternoon, the highlight of which was Peaches Record Store.  Known for one of the best locally owned record stores in the world, Peaches has an awesome vibe, live music in the back (we happened upon the Ellis Marsalis quartet when we were there!), and a huge record selection.

Other highlights from our trip:

Ruby slippers: We had brunch at Ruby Slippers in Uptown where I had delicious barbecue shrimp and grits and a bloody mary made with bacon infused vodka.  Yep.  You read all of that correctly.

Mulate's: We had a group dinner at Mulate's, know to be the original cajun restaurant.  They had live music with square dancers and I played the washboard with the band.  Yep. You read that correctly.

Napoleon House: We loved the Napoleon House's courtyard, food and signature Pimm's Cup.  And maybe a Sazerac or two.

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar: Lafitte's is supposedly the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States.  It's a cool spot with good drinks and an even better atmosphere.  And it's open late... later than this mama should have stayed up.  Or should I say earlier. Yep. You read that correctly.

Willa Jean: Willa Jean was a little bit off of the main path and appeared to be popular with the locals and I can see why.  The decor was light and modern and the food was scrumptious! 

We had a great time in New Orleans and are looking forward to the next time we can return to the party!