guest blog #10 – new orleans love
let's welcome back guest blogger, teresa dotson (momma t) today! she just recently returned from new orleans, and has some great ideas for food, shopping & where to stay!
Laissez les bons temps rouler! is the Cajun expression meaning "Let the good times roll!" It strongly conveys the "joie de vivre" ("joy of living") attitude that pervades south Louisiana. It is mostly associated with New Orleans (one of my favorite cities) and one in which my hubby and I had the great pleasure of visiting for his birthday!
We’ve been coming here for years and it never fails to provide us with an abundance of terrific food, lively entertainment, COMPLETE relaxation and gorgeous viewing of architecture, flowers, and happy, happy folks.
Because we drive, we spend a night in Natchitoches, LA (where Steel Magnolias was filmed!) and this time we stayed at a very lovely bed and breakfast - The Levy-East House, which was really nice and right downtown, within walking distance to shops and restaurants. It was a wonderful place and we would definitely stay there again. We always enjoy our first couple of pounds of hot boiled crawfish here too; if you are any way into mudbugs I highly recommend this place!
Lovely room!
Back of B & B
Azaelas everywhere!
The relaxation has begun
Mudbugs rule!
This bridge takes us over the Mississippi River into Baton Rouge - I was driving and this always gives me the heebie jeebies! Quite a view when you are going over the river but I can’t look down (because I’m driving and because I am too heebed out!)
Yikes!
Upon our arrival in New Orleans we headed straight to Central Grocery for a muffuletta sandwich; another culinary highlight! Central Grocery is a small, old-fashioned Italian-American grocery store with a sandwich counter located in the French Quarter. Just looking at these sandwiches make me hungry!
The two-handed method is best!
We’ve been staying at the Hotel Villa Convento for several years; it’s a quaint, charming little guest house on one end of the quarter. We try to get a balcony room so we can do alot of this:
Another one of our very favorite places is the Acme Oyster House on Iberville. Dang, I can barely look at this web site without craving some of that incredible food - and I just got back! We have spent ALOT of hours here eating fantastic oysters, fried seafood platters, many beers and almost always meet new friends at the oyster bar! It’s always crowded, busy, loud, fun and AWESOME! These pics might give you an idea:
You just have to top off the night with a stroll down Bourbon street to take in all the revelry!
The next day we decided to take the streetcar to the Garden District and Magazine street which is a 6-mile long neighborhood avenue with tons of darling shops and antique stores. We walked ALOT but that’s the only way to justify eating all the food; hoping we can at least physically stroll off some calories! This little old restaurant is now one of our favorites - if you ever watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, it was recently featured there.
Beads in the trees!
There was a Pirate gathering in the French Quarter - don’t ask me why! That’s what we love about New Orleans; there is always a random parade or gathering of just about anything!
