In 2014, I decided to throw my mom a Mardi Gras themed 50th birthday party. Chris and I decided to drive to New Orleans on a Friday afternoon, the weekend after Mardi Gras, just to buy decorations for the party. We drove back on Sunday and, therefore, we spent Saturday sightseeing New Orleans. This may sound insane to most people, but we love spontaneous trips like this. Since this was my mom’s birthday party, naturally we asked her to go with us to help pick out decorations. We also asked Chris’s mom to go because we wanted to have a fun weekend with our moms. This was the first trip that we took with both mom’s together and how our travelling as an entire family started. The trip to New Orleans was also before the blog was even thought of, therefore, the pictures I have to choose from are limited. I love this trip because I learned so many things, with the most important being that when you are traveling with multiple families that have never traveled together before, it is a good idea to have a daily plan. This is why I do checklist for every trip that we take. I say this because everyone travels differently and it helps keep everyone on the same page. It also avoids the “what do you want to do?” problem, each day already has some sort of plan or idea of what we are doing. My checklists not only have activities for the day and several options of places to eat. This not only helps with the dreaded no wants to pick a restaurant and then two hours later everyone is starving and you just eat fast food, it also helps with eating at local-only places so everyone can try new and different foods. This trip to New Orleans was so much fun and I owe most of what I have learned, regarding family traveling, to this one trip.
I went through Expedia to book our hotel, which we ended up staying at the Chateau LeMoyne on Dauphine Street in the French Quarter, one block from Bourbon Street. We left on a Friday afternoon and drove from Nashville to New Orleans, which is about an eight hour drive. We ended up arriving at the hotel a little after one in the morning.Essentially, we had one day in New Orleans and we wanted to see as much as we could, therefore, we got up bright and early around 7a.m. and walked to Cafe Du Monde. Cafe Du Monde first opened in 1862 at the New Orleans French Market, where it still is today. It is most known for its beignets.(pronounced ben-yay), which is a french style doughnut covered in powdered sugar and they are delicious! Cafe Du Monde is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and if you are in New Orleans it is worth the stop!The New Orleans French Market is located at 2 French Market Place and is open every day from 9am-6pm. The market stretches six blocks and is where we bought most of the party decorations.The photo was taken inside St. Louis Cathedral, which is located at Jackson Square in the French Quarter. This cathedral is a well known landmark due to its triple steeples and the famous statue of Andrew Jackson riding a horse located right in front of the church.Central Grocery store opened it’s doors in 1906 and has been family owed ever since. This is not simply a grocery store, it is also a sandwich shop that sells the New Orleans muffuletta. The muffeletta originated from the Italian immigrants in New Orleans and uses round Sicilian sesame bread and consists of Provolone and mozzarella chesses, ham and salami, mortadella(Itialian sausage), and olive salad. Central Grocery is located at 923 Decatur St and is open daily from 9am-5pm.While walking around and exploring the French Quarter, we came upon street performers. Some were dancers, some were singers, and some just played instruments. Seen here are some street performers located at the corner of Royal street and St Peter Street.Since we were in New Orleans the weekend after Mardi Gras, all the buildings were still decorated. The architecture in the French Quarter is so beautiful, it really is something to see.As we were walking along Royal Street, all the of the store windows were decorated.We seen three weddings walk and dance up Bourbon Street. The bride and groom lead the way with the wedding party and guest right behind them.We walked to Canal Street to ride the streetcar to one of the local cemeteries. The streetcars are operated by Regional Transit Authority and it is $1.25 for a one-way ride, however we bought the one day pass for $3. With the one day pass you can ride any car and hop on and off as much as you like. You can purchase tickets from the driver when you get on the car, from vending machines located up Canal Street, or now from your phone. We hopped on the St. Charles streetcar and as we went around Lee Circle, we seen this house that looked out of place.While on the St. Charles streetcar, we also got to see the Robert E. Lee monument located in Lee Circle, formerly known as Tivoli Circle. The monument was erected in 1884 and was placed on the National List of Historic Places in 1991.Since we were there the weekend after Mardi Gras, we seen beads everywhere. Here is a tree located on St. Charles Street that is full of beads.After we got off the street car near St. Charles Street and Louisiana Street, we walked to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. This cemetery is located at Washington Ave at Prytania Street; it was about 6 blocks from our stop. The Cemetery is open daily 7am-3pm.The Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was built in 1833 and is a city-block size. There are about 1,000 tombs located here, with about 7,000 people buried within them. This is one of the most filmed cemeteries in New Orleans. While we were walking through, crew members were making fake tombstones and they were installing fog machines to film NCIS: New Orleans that night.Once we left the cemetery, we took the streetcar back to Canal Street. We then walked the length of Canal Street to the Port of New Orleans, where a cruise ship was docked. Seen here is a train track that parallels to the Mississippi River, located near the port.After we seen the cruise ship, we boarded the River Front street car which took us to the French Market, ironically is where we started our morning.On the street car the backs of the seats flip so you can face the people you are with or all sit in the same direction.Once we arrived back at the French Market, we decided to walk up Bourbon Street on a Saturday night. It was so crowded, we all had to hang on the the shirt of the person in front of us so we did not get separated. However Bourbon Street is somewhere everyone needs to experience at least once. Seen here is a street performer, actually his dog is the performer. The dog played dead for a long time, when we seen him a little past midnight the owner had taken him out of the box and put whisky bottles around him and put sunglasses on him so he could play drunk. It was really cute.Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is known as the oldest structure in the United States to house a bar. It was built in 1722 and is located at the corner of Bourbon Street and St. Phillip Street. It was deemed a National Historic Landmark in 1970There is a lot of history within the walls and worth the stop to say you have been inside the oldest bar in America.When you think of New Orleans, you automatically think of Bourbon Street. However, the French Quarter has so much more than that one street. When you are in New Orleans venture out and see what the city has to offer. The architecture, the history, and the experience is worth the trip.
