The morning of day two started off pretty early. The bed and breakfast drops off croissants in the morning. They had plain and fruit filled ones but my favorite was the chocolate. We sat outside in our little courtyard and enjoyed the warm weather.
We didn't really have a plan for the day. Well, actually, I planned out the entire trip weeks before; every day, morning to night, where we were going, what we were eating, what I was wearing... but I decided to scrap the plans last minute and try to just "wing it."
We were seeing for the first time how everything looks in the day light and I loved how colorful and unique all of the houses were.
We were seeing for the first time how everything looks in the day light and I loved how colorful and unique all of the houses were.
Lori found a free walking tour that would take us through the Garden District so we decided to go for that.
We walked to the Central Business District which I think is pretty much downtown New Orleans.
We found out that they have a Trolley system that you can take for only $2.50 round trip. We hopped on and it took us about 20 minutes to get the the Garden District, which is a really nice neighborhood.
We made it to the walking tour meeting site and almost couldn't attend because there were too many people, even though we were told over the phone that it would be fine. But everything worked out and we began the tour.
Our tour guide's name was Sarah and she was a New Orleans resident who was very passionate, entertaining and knowledgeable about her city.
We started at the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. Thank goodness it was daytime because that place would be creepy AF during the night.
We walked around and stopped at various tombs to learn about the history of the cemetery. There were actually a lot of interesting facts. All the tombs are above ground because of the low water table of New Orleans; burying people underground would not work well. It is also the family's responsibility to maintain the tombs of their family members. Some were very well kept and others were actually open because of damage that would just be ignored.
The second half of the tour was spent walking around the gorgeous neighborhoods of the Garden District. The pictures definitely don't do these homes justice because they were just beautiful in real life. The colors and just the design details were really amazing.
Our tour guide warned us about the sidewalks and streets being extremely uneven and broken. Some of the sidewalks were actually really awful so we had to pay very close attention when we were walking around.
This house below is the childhood home of Payton and Eli Manning. Their dad, Archie, still lives there.
This home below is owned by Sandra Bullock. She doesn't really stay there often but she rents it out to celebrities that are in town if they are filming movies. Django Unchained was filmed in one of the houses nearby. Sandra also donated millions of dollars to help re-open a school after hurricane Katrina so the New Orleans natives love her.
I did feel kind of strange walking around the neighborhood, standing in front of people's houses and taking pictures, but there were tons of other tour groups around doing the same thing.
After two hours when the tour ended, we walked over to Magazine Street. I heard that this was a really nice area so we wanted to check it out.
We walked around the cutest shops included art galleries and unique furniture stores.
This store was my favorite, such cute things!
And more gators to wrangle.
We were all really hungry at this point so we stopped for lunch at the Rum House. This was on my list of restaurants I wanted to go.
Everything was so cute. Even the water glasses were extra large Ball jars with colorful straws.
We started off with the Avocado Mango Dip and tortilla chips which was soo delicious.
We also ordered some cocktails. Lindsey and Lori had the Pina Coladas.
I had a Mango Margarita which was really good and refreshing since it was so hot out.
Our food arrived and looked amazing. Aubrey had the Rum House Salad which had sweet potato, beets, goat cheese and a curry vinaigrette.
I ordered three Rasta tacos which were jerked veggies with an avocado lime sour cream. SO. GOOD. And french fries.
Lori had two meaty tacos and one of the veggies with a side of mango rice.
And back to my tacos because they were seriously so good. The avocado lime sour cream was perfect and the veggies were a tiny bit spicy. I think this was my favorite meal in New Orleans, and it was Mexican food... go figure.
After lunch we took an Uber back to Jackson Square to explore that area. It was really pretty with the gigantic St. Louis Cathedral and Andrew Jackson's equestrian statue. Yes, I had to Google those things because I forgot what they were called.
We were able to walk inside of the Cathedral which was kind of bizarre. There was a sign that said Mass was in session but people were just standing around and talking photos, even though cell phone use was not allowed. Oops.
Back in Jackson Square there are a bunch of artists set up, musicians and carriage rides available.
We walked around some more and visited some of the shops on the outskirts of the square.
It's really fun to see all of the beads in random places around New Orleans. This tree with covered with them.
Next, it was time to try our first Beignets! We walked over to the famous Cafe Du Monde and were warned that the lines would be outrageous any time of day. It was around 3pm and we were able to find a table outside. The place was packed but there were servers that would come to your table. How they kept track of all of the tables, I have no idea.
We had one order of beignets; they came three to an order and even though it was hotter than hell outside, I ordered a Cafe Au Lait, since it is a New Orleans specialty.
The Cafe Au Lait was nothing special, it kind of tasted like coffee with milk which is pretty much what it was.
The Beignets were really good. I couldn't have eaten any more than one. The whole place was pretty much covered in powdered sugar. Also, look at that woman's face behind me. Yikes.
We walked a little more and saw the Mississippi River. How thrilling. It was pretty but nothing special.
We went to some more shops and found Santa's Corner which was an adorable and ornament filled Christmas shop.
We went back to The Gentry House to freshen up and change our outfits for dinner.
Again, it took us a while to find something that we all thought sounded good, but we decided on Mona Lisa's restaurant.
It was actually a really cute little Italian place with hundreds of Mona Lisa paintings and drawings on the walls. Some of the drawings were Mona Lisa puns which I thought were hilarious.
We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and it came with this olive oil tin filled with ice as the ice bucket. We thought it was darling and super creative.
We all started with a small appetizer salad that came with a tasty feta vinaigrette.
Our food took a little while, so we drew on the table with crayons. We played several games of Hang Man and Tic-Tac-Toe for entertainment.
Finally our meals came. Lindsey had the Eggplant Parmesan.
I had the Fettuccine Alfredo with Peas. I love alfredo with peas. It was really good.
We finished off with a yummy slice of Tiramisu which is a must after finishing a big plate of pasta.
Again, not the typical New Orleans fare, obviously, but it was a great little place that I would definitely recommend.
On our way we saw this cute little guy. There were tons of carriages which I wasn't a fan of. I feel so bad for the mules that have to pull around people all day. Especially with all of the noise and obnoxious people around Bourbon Street. Supposedly the owners treat them very well, but I still don't support it.
We made it to Frenchmen Street after about a ten minute walk. We had heard that this area is a little more "hipster" and has a lot more of a calm atmosphere with great live music at almost every bar.
We went to the Frenchmen Art Market which is an outdoor night time market that opens at 7pm.
We left the market and walked down Frenchmen Street. It was definitely a different vibe than Bourbon Street. I'm actually not really sure if I liked it or not.
We stopped at a bar called Bamboulas. I saw a beer on tap that I didn't recognize and thought it might be a local beer, so I tried it. It was called Andygator.
We found a table and sat down to chat for a while. After a super long day we were all pretty tired and decided to call it a night.
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