Paul and I recently traveled to New Orleans over Christmas break. As I’ve done with some of our previous trips (Puerto Rico, for one), I decided to document our trip here on my photoblog. It will be fun having this record to look back upon to remind ourselves of the details from our adventures. I think of it as “digital scrapbooking.” 🙂
Here goes!
Day 1: Sunday, December 31, 2017
Our flight departed from Detroit at 7:35am. Here we are, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the airport!
We had a short layover in Nashville before landing in New Orleans. Upon arrival, we hired a ride through Lyft (similar to Uber) to take us to the Airbnb (website for renting rooms, apartments, or homes) room we reserved. Unencumbered by our bags, we took our first look at the city! Our Airbnb host generously offered to drive us into town.Â
The streets of New Orleans:
I love the look of the balconies and other architectural influences from France, Italy, and Spain. There is fascinating history here.
It was chilly in New Orleans. We were looking forward to respite from the winter temperatures of Ohio, but unfortunately the South was affected by the same cold snap that week the Midwest endured. During our 6-day trip, the daytime temperatures ranged between 30 and 40 degrees. Back home, the temperatures were in the single digits.
We found lunch at a small bistro appropriately named “Eat New Orleans”. Paul enjoyed their blackened catfish sandwich while I experienced their take on biscuits and gravy.
Having heard that the antique shops in New Orleans were fantastic, we on a whim ducked into a shop on Royal Street. What we weren’t expecting was for the shop to be practically a museum…at least, to folks like us. All of the items in this antique shop had at least three zeros on the price tag. The items were beautiful to admire, but they were certainly nothing to take home with us. 🙂
Check out this German player piano that dates from c. 1910.
It’s a “Phonoliszt Violina” built by Hupfeld that not only plays piano, but also three violins.
With it being New Years Eve, the French Quarter was bustling with people. We stopped to watch a street parade.
The parade consisted of marching bands as well as elaborate floats sponsored by local sports teams and local businesses. They tossed beaded necklaces by the fistful into the crowds of spectators.
For dinner, we left the French Quarter to visit a restaurant called Bacchannal Wine. Paul has been closely following their Instagram channel for some time now, drooling over tantalizing photos of their dishes and cheese platters.
Downstairs, we selected three types of cheese, which they assembled into a platter with toasted bread, apple slices, house-made orange marmalade, pickled vegetables, and candied pecans.
Upstairs, we also ordered a few “small plates” off the menu, to share between us: dates wrapped in bacon, a delicious roasted cauliflower dish, and braised pork shoulder. All the while, we enjoyed live music from a jazz band called The Roamin’ Jasmine. They were great, so we stayed late to listen.
We spent the final hours of 2017 back in the French Quarter, where folks were gathered to hear the band Imagine Dragons and watch the Fleur-de-Lis drop. It was cold out, but spirits ran high.
Click here to go on to Day 2!
