"The Big Easy"

reat music, great food, and great fun was what made my 4th of July weekend trip to New Orleans way more than great. My amazing friend, Kait, and her hubby (both visiting from Australia) met me and Arya down in Louisiana for a long weekend adventure.

As a warning, this post is just going to center on pictures. Some taken with Kait's awesome new camera and some from Arya's iPhone camera. So please be forgiving if there is a difference in quality... some of us are just too lazy to carry around nice cameras. ;)




Our first stop was Preservation Hall. Arya let us know that this was a must-see stop in the city, and now I know he wasn't lying.

Preservation Hall, maybe even my favorite part of the entire trip. Below is a video of one of the solos before they let us know that videos were strictly prohibited.

Even though we were only there two full days we managed to eat at Café du Monde three times. They serve only café au laits and beignets, but really, when they do that so right there is no need for anything else to clog up the menu. 

Beignets.... this picture makes me so hungry.

Me in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. Not too sure of it's significance, but it's pretty and kind of looks like Cinderella's castle. 

The French market, and as our tour guide described it, "you can find something from every country in there, except the United States."

Spanish style graveyards. Above ground and on lots of concrete, very good idea when the hurricanes come around.

A tour of New Orleans isn't complete unless you see some of the hurricane destruction. Our tour bus drove around the 9th ward. It's been more than 6 years since and there was still obvious signs of Katrina.

The Super Dome!

Trolleys that are registered moving historical landmarks. Which means that they can't make any changes or upgrades to them, like windshield wipers. And if this was a higher quality picture then you would be able to see all the left over Mardi Gras beads hanging off the telephone wires above the train.

And of course the infamous Bourbon Street. Not named after the alcohol, but one of the ruling dynasties of France, fyi.

Oh, and really New Orleans?? 

Now for the most beautiful part... plantations!

Oak Alley Plantation

The house was beautiful, but still only second to those Oaks. 

Laura Plantation... very nice. 

Laura Plantation's slave cabin... not nice.

I think I've gone through enough pictures. It's almost like you just finished an official tour with me. You are very welcome for your free tour! I guess the non-toury point of the post was that I had an amazing time and definitely recommend New Orleans to anyone who likes food, music, or fun. There was even more fun had, but if there were no pictures of it then it didn't make the cut for this post. So you just got to check it out for yourself. Maybe try going during a cooler month though? That was my only complaint, the heat. It was inescapable even at midnight. But that should all probably be expected in the south during July. Ok enough advertising from me. I'm off!

New Orleans' lovely Independence Day weekend guests: Arya, Me, Kait, and Tom!