New Orleans for the weekend

  So you watched the Super Bowl and you wondered what
it would be like to visit the Crescent City?
New Orleans or NOLA makes a great weekend getaway.
It's the birthplace of jazz......great food, history, shopping
and spontaneous street bands. I have to admit I had an
opinion about New Orleans and visiting it was not on my list.
BUT I am happy to say I was genuinely surprised to find that I enjoyed myself!

We all know about Bourbon Street but NOLA is so much more than that one 
street. How did I find this out? I took a walking tour! Two hours with an informative guide and I knew history, restaurants, shopping, jazz clubs and directions; in short it made the trip that much more interesting and informative. The tour started at Legend's Park on Bourbon St and continued on to Royal, Chartes, Decatur,etc. ending at the Mississippi and the
neighborhoods north of the French Quarter. 

Southern hospitality in the Crescent City begins at your hotel.
We stayed at the Windsor Court; located on Gravier Street on
the edge of the French Quarter. The hotel was recently renovated 
and a 4,500 sq ft spa was added. 

  
The lobby of the hotel is beautiful; afternoon tea is served here and in the evenings the cocktail bar had a jazz trio performing. 

My favorite was the Polo Club Lounge on the second floor; 
great atmosphere with big chairs and couches, cocktails
and an attentive waitstaff.  

Guest suite

Of course the food is a big part of a visit to New Orleans. We made sure we hit all the top spots.Dinner the first night was at Bon Ton Cafe, authentic Cajun cuisine that relies on food from Louisiana.   We enjoyed dishes such as crawfish etouffée, crawfish bisque, shrimp and oyster jambalaya.

For breakfast the next morning we went to Brennan's, located on the Royal St.

Brennan's for breakfast is a must; a culinary experience and wonderful service.

Lunch was at Cafe Napoleon, another historic restaurant located in

 an historic building from 1797 and a restaurant from 1914. The food is local; the muffaletta sandwich, the Po' Boy,and seafood gumbo were great!  

After lunch we walked Royal, Chartres, Conti, Decatur and Canal

looking for boutique shops. We found so many shops; it was a haven for that one of a kind item we are always looking for. From clothing to jewelry to antiques, the French Quarter has over 100 stores to satisfy even the fussiest shopper.   

Razzle Dazzle

Dinner that night was at Patois, a local restaurant in a quant uptown New Orleans neighborhood. You need to take a taxi as it is six miles from the French Quarter but it was the best meal of the weekend and I did my share of sampling. There were four of us at dinner and each one of us felt our choice was the best!

The next morning, our final culinary stop was breakfast at the Ruby Slipper.

I always like to try a local spot for breakfast and the Ruby Slipper had a line out the door. We went inside to give our name and found two seats at the breakfast bar were available, which was just fine with us. I was determined to have shrimp and grits for breakfast; it was delicious! The breakfast bar had an energetic waitstaff of two; they were the barista, bartender and servers, all at the same time. What I liked best was the chance to talk with the other customers at the bar; on our left was one of the committee members for the Mardi Gras parade floats and on our right was a local boutique owner. Great conversations with locals give you a feel for the area.

grade on arrival, subject to availability
Continental breakfast daily, for up to two in room guests
$100 USD Food & Beverage credit, to be utilized during stay

Continental breakfast daily, for up to two in room guests
$100 USD Food & Beverage credit, to be utilized during stay 

Nancy at the Ruby Slipper

But there was still shopping to be had and so I met up with my daughter Maureen and her friend Erica to check out a few more boutiques in the French Quarter. Erica needed to visit to a Voodoo shop; everyone needs a shrunken head! Maureen wanted to purchase some coffee from Cafe du Monde.

We stopped by both places and then headed back to the hotel to check out and get to the airport for our flights home. 

Even though our stay was short we enjoyed it all!