Swanning around New Orleans - Lots of Love, Buffy

Arriving in New Orleans

I took the past week off because a good friend of mine, Charlotte, (that I grew up with in England) was stopping by for the week before she headed off to Mexico. We decided to spend the first 3 days in New Orleans because she had not been there before. I have only visited once and that was a couple of years ago for a work trip so it was nice to go back!

Luckily we got a hotel a few streets down from Bourbon Street. Our goal was to be in the French Quarter so that we were close to a lot of things and could walk around easily.

Both our flights landed in the morning so we made it to the French quarter by late morning. This was after a very interesting taxi ride where the driver started off by arguing with airport security while we were quietly sitting in the back of the taxi! That was then followed by her asking where we were from…when my friend responded “London” she said “that’s not in America is it”? Much road rage on her part ensued after that!

After safely making it to the hotel we dropped our bags off and went for a wander around.

First stop was obviously Bourbon Street!

From there we just got lost in the French quarter and admired all the (iron) balconies and interesting buildings. We also stopped in a Voodoo Store and a bar for a hand grenade.

Lunch

When our stomachs started to growl we went on the hunt for food…local food! A friend had recommended Coops! We were told it was nothing to look at but the food was great! After stepping in we immediately understood – the inside looked like a very local bar! We shared a table with some other people (family dining style) and then Charlotte and I shared a bowl of gumbo, green beans and shrimp Gumbo. It was all very tasty.

From there we headed to Jackson Square (originally called “Place d’Armes,”) where we strolled around looking at some of the street art, popped in St. Louis Cathedral and walked through the park.

Then we decided we would slowly make our way back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner. We choose a nice restaurant in the Garden District called the Commanders Palace and so had to make sure we were dressed appropriately.

Dinner

We made our way there via the Street car (which is actually a really easy way to get around New Orleans). It was a short walk from our stop. I don’t think either of us realized our fancy this restaurant was – or how big it was. It consisted of 7 dining rooms!

We started with Apèritif cocktails.

Bread and soup for an entree

This was followed by risotto with crab for myself and risotto with lobster for charlotte. We also had some greens and grits (charlotte wanted to try grits – I am not a fan of grits) as sides.