Girl Meets City: New Orleans
When planning a last-minute, inexpensive, get away- do you immediately think of New Orleans? Maybe not, but that’s exactly what we found. A plane ticket for well under $200, an Airbnb spot for around $30/night, and lots of places to see that were free to no cost. Buckle up kids, and prepare to “laissez les bon temps rouler”- because I had a blast in New Orleans and I can’t wait to share it with y’all!
Granted, the trip got off to a rocky start. My flight was extremely delayed due to bad weather in Texas, where the plane was coming from, and I almost said to hell with it and cancelled because Southwest was being so uncooperative in regards to whether or not the flight would be cancelled. However, I (and the rest of us) stuck it out in an airport bar and would later prevail.
Landing stupid late at night in the airport also caused for a slight issue, as I wasn’t sure if there would be a taxi or Uber available at 3:00 a.m. Again, luck prevailed and there was an Uber. Did I mention that this was my first time travelling somewhere where I wasn’t meeting someone? I’ve flown alone before of course, but always to visit a friend. This was a spur of the moment I’m not going to my original destination anymore trip so I’m going somewhere else random kind of thing, so I was a little nervous.
It was also my first time using Airbnb, but I loved it. The room was charming, and I ended up being there alone. I guess picking a random weekend to travel, with low ticket fares, meant no one else was travelling at that time.
Once I got in, I somehow stumbled my way into bed and collapsed around 4:00 a.m., which I suppose is appropriate for NOLA anyway.
When I did wake up I thought it best to start my day with beignets and chicory coffee, but I didn’t want to go to Cafe du Monde because I didn’t want to deal with tourists. Instead, I went with the recommendation of a friend and went to Morning Call.
I have to note, I got pretty lucky with my Airbnb in that it said it was a block from the streetcar line, but I didn’t really understand what that meant. What it means was that I bought an unlimited pass and once I figured out that my Google Maps app would tell me where to walk and each stop the car made- I was good to go. However, I didn’t know at that time and went the wrong way. Then I gave up once I reached the end of the line and just ordered an Uber.
Once I did get to Morning Call, located within the New Orleans City Park, it was absolutely beautiful. I could sit on the patio and look over the lawns- the people playing in large gazebos, and just enjoy myself.
I ordered the beignets and cafe au lait to drink. I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting there and watching it all, but then it was time for me to walk around.
Some of the places in the park weren’t quite open yet, but I could peer inside of the amusement park and the sculpture gardens. I’ll also admit, I did not quite have the hang of following the directions on Google maps. It does something weird where if you’re just walking, it’ll audibly tell you every move to make. Or just driving, every turn to make. If you’re taking public transit somewhere and need to walk to the transit, it won’t tell you audibly the moves to make- you have to watch (shocker, much like an old-fashioned map haha) and then get onto transit. Eventually, I decided again to take Uber to my next stop, which was down to Magazine Street.
I had been told by my friend and Leadership Macon classmate, Jean Bragg, where all to go. After all, she had lived in NOLA and owned a gallery there for years. I knew I could count on her to steer me straight. She said this was where all the fun shopping was.
Lucy Rose was a boutique I found thanks to Instagram, and it did not disappoint. Lots of pretty clothes and jewelry all over the store.
In fact, to be honest there was plenty of shopping and antiques all over Magazine Street. But next I found something that made me super happy: pretty colors, clean storefront, modern looking everything. It was Sucre, and I am still dreaming of their decadent macarons!
One of the more unusual spots was the Southern Food Museum and the Museum of the American Cocktail. Big thanks to Dr. David Davis at Mercer University for the heads up on this spot! You can walk around and see exhibits that talk about the history of food in each Southern state, as well as staples of each state.
But one of my very favorites things I discovered was just to ride the St. Charles Trolley Car everywhere that I could. I would highly recommend making sure you stay somewhere on this historic trolley line. It’s great for people watching and even just for grabbing a drink and riding.
In the evening, make sure to check out Frenchman Street. I met up with a former Maconite who told me where to go on Frenchman Street and some other places along the way to check out.
Inside Cafe Negril there’s also a taco stand, and damn I didn’t write it down, but I was able to get some amazing food while inside!
By the way, did I mention this was also the weekend of the Red Dress run? I wasn’t familiar with it until this weekend.
The next day I decided, on the advice of locals, to check out Bourbon Street in the daylight. I really just wandered around until something caught my ear:
Someone was singing Otis Redding.
So I made my way into Funky 54 on Bourbon Street, where I was the only person listening to the band. Of course I had to tell them I was from Macon and how excited I was to hear some hometown music.
After that I figured I might as well grab lunch inside the French Quarter, and found myself looking up spots on OpenTable. Now, as much as I like to always try a different spot, when I ran across Salon and realized it was also by Sucre- I just couldn’t help myself. And I’m so so glad.
Everything after lunch was a blur, I know I grabbed another cocktail after wine and took the trolley all around wherever I could go before heading back to my Uber. I cleaned up per the host’s request and packed all up. That evening- I was to see the Hot 8 Brass Band. It would be a late night, with an even earlier flight, and I wanted to be ready.
The Howlin Wolf Cafe had amazing tacos along with hosting the Hot 8- and their sound was incredible. I knew it would be, but it was super cool to catch this group when I already loved in such a small venue. Loved loved loved it.
Well, looking back on everything- I don’t know how I did everything I did. Especially rising before 5 am to catch my flight back to Georgia.
New Orleans, it took me some time to type up this ode to you, but I am in love with this totally unique city of the South. I’ll be back!!
Love to all y’all,
Molly
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