I left Saturday July 26th, to fly down to New Orleans to see my friend Keri for the first time in 4 or 5 years. It was a blast! I would definitely go back and visit, but with a long list of things to do. We just kinda winged it all week on what to do, without actually having a tool to help us with what sights we should see and the like.
The places we did get to see are, the aquarium, French Quarter, French Market, Bourbon Street, Canal Blvd, River Walk, the bayou, Lake Pontchartrain, the long bridge over the lake, and that's all I can remember.
The aquarium was a lot of fun, and we made it in time to watch the penguins be fed. I think it could have been a little bit bigger, but it was still a lot of fun.
The French Quarter was my favorite places. We walked all over there and the old buildings were astonishing and beautiful. We even ate some of the famous Beneits (I know I spelled that wrong), they were delicious. Not sure you would like them? To me they tasted like a funnel cake that you get at a carnival, but instead of the batter being spread all over, it's kept into a square shape, and drowned in powdered sugar YUM!
The French Market was a lot of fun as well. A lot of people were selling a lot of the same things, but to see a lot of great deals that you can't get in the shops in the French Quarter, is great. I wanted a real taxidermy Alligator head, one shop wanted $15.99 for them. Another claimed to have the lowest prices in the French Quarter, they wanted $11.99 for them. In the French Market, they were only $6.99! Before hitting the shops, I suggest hitting the French Market first because the prices there are cheaper than the stores!
Walking down Bourbon during the day was a bit weird. It was completely dead except a few tourists like us. Some of the bars only had a couple people in them, or none. We went back Thursday night, and it was a completely different scene. Police and security were everywhere, which was a good thing, because some people had their kids with them. When I say kids, I don't mean 13 and 14 year olds (there were some that age there), but I'm talking anywhere between almost new born to 3-5 years old. Between the 3 of us, we agreed Bourbon isn't the place for those kids.
Walking down the street, there were quite a few kids tap dancing trying to earn money for whatever it was they were raising money for. Keri told Chris and I that there are people there that will con you into giving them money, by giving you a service for "free", only to ask for money later. Chris was stopped by a man who suddenly came out of no where and started asking him about his shoes. I thought he was gonna try taking them off and steal them, but instead, he went down and spit on them and shined them up. Keri and I walked away and tried giving Chris the excuse to get away, but it didn't work. The man then asked for some money, but Chris told him he didn't have any and the man walked away. Luckily nothing bad happened.
I really liked Canal Blvd because there were places to see everywhere, plus palm trees lined the street. I love palm trees! Plus they have street cars that run up and down Canal. We got the chance to ride in one and it was a lot of fun. It was a different experience though because it was raining. If you've never experienced a New Orleans rainstorm, then you don't know what I mean that it was raining. Every time it rained, it came down hard. So hard and fast that everything would become white. New Orleans floods easily as we all know, but these steady downpours turn the roads into rivers. When we got off the street car the road had about an inch or 2 of water flowing over it. Where Keri lives in Metairie, every time it rained, puddles would form and they'd get deeper and deeper. That's not exactly a good thing, when a puddle is deep enough to be a pond.
At the River walk we watched some of the tug boats pushing barges and then we went inside the River walk mall and looked around all the shops. We then ate in the food court, and then headed home to just chill after a long day of walking.
The Bayou was cool, if you like swamps. It was really cool to see authentic Cajun houses in the bayou with nothing around except water and alligators, sometimes trees and water and alligators, depending where the houses were built.
Lake Pontchartrain was huge! Looking out to the North and seeing nothing on the other side was like looking across the great lakes or a sea of fresh water. We drove over the bridge and and got some pictures. It was really cool! We also had a picnic there in the park area. It was very nice and peaceful and gave us a chance to talk more.
I also remembered some more things we did. We went to City Park and walked around. That was fun because we went over to where there was water and watched a family feed the ducks and the pigeons. We walked away from them following a few other ducks. Suddenly, right in front of us was a raccoon. Yes, a raccoon in the middle of the day. Raccoon's are nocturnal animals, so to see one during the day is rare. It slowly walked closer to us looking for food while keeping an eye on us like we would hurt it.
Keri also took us to a part of town where there are still buildings damaged from Katrina, and where there are visible water lines still on the houses from the flood, 3 years after the devastating storm. Some areas were completely clear with no sign of there ever being houses. Weeds and grass took to the areas covering up what was once a house. The best way to describe it is like looking at Hiroshima and the after math of the bomb, years later.
New Orleans is still rebuilding, and fixing up the city, but crime there doesn't seem to be getting better. Those hardest hit have resorted into selling drugs to get money, others haven't moved back. Many shops are still closed with for sale signs because the store owners never came back after the storm. The city is getting a lot of money from tourism though, which is helping to rebuild. I don't think New Orleans will ever be the same as it once was, because of the devastation we all saw and the destruction that turned many places into fields, even wiping small towns completely off the map.
Restaurants
Please allow me to tell you about the places we ate at. These reviews may make or break some of these places, and I'm sorry, but the truth sometimes hurts.
IHOP: While eating here, we had wonderful service and the food was great! I believe our server was Natasha and she was wonderful! Kudos to her! I will eat there more often as long as she is our server. She made everything very pleasant and was very nice and courteous.
Copeland's: Here our waiter was a little pushy, but the food was DELICIOUS! I had the chicken Parmesan and I HIGHLY recommend it! You get a big plate of angel hair pasta with marinara sauce topped with 3 chicken breasts topped with Parmesan cheese and sprinkled with parsley. I know it may not sound that great, but it was incredible! If you ever visit New Orleans, you must eat at Copeland's. It is a little on the pricey side, but worth it! The food was just that good.
Hard Rock Cafe in the French Quarter: Sorry, but the service sucked. I do not recommend eating here. It's so loud you can't understand the waitresses with their foreign accents, plus the service was slow. The food wasn't that great either. I ordered a BBQ pork sandwich and actually had to put more ketchup on it just so it would have flavor. I love BBQ pork, but this was nasty. I cut the sandwich in half and upon doing so, I revealed that some of the pork wasn't done. It was still red, as in raw red. It seemed like it was strategically placed on the bottom and in the middle as to not all the customers to know that it wasn't done. For $10.75 for the meal, it wasn't worth it. I could have made my own by buying the ingredients I need at the grocery store and had it turn out much better and be fully cooked.
Harrah's Casino Buffet: For $12.99 + tax, the service was great! The food was good, wasn't the greatest, but usually food in a buffet isn't that great, but still good enough to eat and keep you going back for more. Between the 3 of us we had about 8 plates of food, and about 20 desserts.
That's all the places I can remember we ate at. I'm sure there's more.
Thanks for reading! Comments are welcome.
