I spent my birthday in New Orleans last week and returned home with a few extra pounds and a full heart. I was debating between NOLA and Charleston for my birthday but with hurricane Florence, I’m glad I settled on NOLA. One of my friends also had NOLA on her travel list and she decided to come along. This is my second time in NOLA but this time, I really got a chance to see more of the city outside of festival season.
My friend and I traveled separately so I arrived a day earlier. If you know me then you know I love solo travels and dining solo for me is fun. I always seem to meet people and have the best conversations even if I never see them again.
Upon arriving at the airbnb, I immediately went to find food because I was starving. I ended up at Oceana in the French Quarters. The food was soo good, we went back for my birthday dinner and I tried alligator for the first time. Kinda tasted like chicken. They also had the BEST crab cake I have EVER had. Highly recommend this restaurant. The service was pretty good too!
After dinner, I took an uber to Cafe Du Monde, because you cant go to NOLA and NOT go to Cafe Du Monde. I actually went back a second time as my friend wanted to try the beignets.
I took this photo after dinner while strolling and wow, I just love New Orleans architecture.
Had the best eggs benedict at Cafe Fleur de Lis. Definitely recommend.
My friend took this swamp tour at Jean Lafitte. My friend was up for it so we decided to do something outside the French Quarters. I was able to get a ticket for this tour on groupon so make sure you check on groupon for local activities in your vacation city. I paid about 20 bucks for a tour for 2. Tickets are normally 40 bucks per person. I actually got to hold a baby alligator and it was quite fun actually. I highly recommend this tour.
When I tell you everything I ate on this trip was BOMB. You better believe it. We had to wait 45 minutes on Saturday morning for The Ruby Slipper Cafe but it was well worth it. Most places in NOLA don’t take reservations because they’re always so busy, they have no problem filling their tables. We walked to the MAC cosmetics store on Canal street to kill time and before I knew it, 45 minutes had gone by. This egg benedict was THE BEST I have ever had. I barely had time for the mango stuffed french toast. Also, the grits there was soon good!
We took a horse carriage tour of the French Quarters which I highly recommend. 20 bucks gets you an hour group tour. It was really fun to learn the history of New Orleans. I highly recommend. Quite a few people on instagram recommended the tall drinks in NOLA. I drank about half of this strawberry daiquiri which was so good. It wasn’t as strong which is good because I cant hang with strong drinks. That goes for alcohol and caffeine.
The Royal Sonesta Hotel hosted us for appetizers and Jazz at the Desire Oyster Bar and the Jazz Playhouse. This was my first time trying oysters so I opted for the Chargrilled Oysters and I’m a fan. Not sure I’m brave enough to try the raw ones, yet. The crab cake was also very delicious. I highly recommend this restaurant.
We ended our trip at City Park which is NOLA’s comparison to Central Park. This Park is beautiful! The sculpture garden is gorgeous and they had paddle boats for rentals. We rented a paddle boat for 20 dollars an hour and it was awesome. I love paddle boats because it’s pretty difficult for them to tip over. I have to admit, I was a tad bit nervous because I had just fallen off a jetski the weekend before and I cant swim to save my life. I cant even float. LOL