My love affair

…with donuts was only heightened when I joyously ate my first beignet.

We arrived in NOLA around suppertime, after driving in from Birmingham. After checking into our hotel room and getting ready to explore the city, I almost completely forget about my primary goal of New Orleans…BEIGNETS!

Beignets actually ended up being our saving grace because we no sooner got to Cafe du Monde when the heavens opened up and dropped a torrential downpour. As you’ll see below I’m in a white shirt and we did not have an umbrella on us!

All I can say is YUMMMMMMMMM!

 

Cafe du Monde

Clint - What to get? Or should I say "how many?"

Waiting...

Mmmmm...Sugary deliciousness!

Bienville House Hotel

While we were in New Orleans, we stayed at the historic Bienville House Hotel. I really had my heart set on staying here because, although it’s a private hotel (not affiliated with Wyndham, Marriot, etc.) and costs more, I really wanted to stay at a hotel with historic/real wood furnishings.

Originally, I booked and thought we got one of the last available rooms-an interior, window-less room-but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised… Not only was it a king-sized bed, with 3 floor-to-ceiling windows, we faced the water!!

Street-side entrance (which is really barely wider than an alley). Thank God for valet parking because we were driving a truck!:

Water-front side of the hotel. Our room was on the second floor, I believe. One of the sets of 3 windows on the right was our room.

Here are some interior photos. It was fabulous!

My only complaint was that breakfast sucked both days we were there. Like, the Days Inn offers a better spread.

But then again, I was a bit gluttonous at Cafe du Monde with their beignets…

I look forward to staying there again!

And some more shots of the hotel from my hubby:

New Orleans (Part 2)

After doing a self-guided walking tour of the Garden District (thanks AAA!), we hauled butt back to NOLA to catch the bus out to Oak Alley Plantation!

 

Oak Alley Plantation - Where they shot "Interview with the Vampire"...are you noticing a theme?

Clint on the bus ride out from the city.

Up on the 2nd floor overlooking the Oak "alley."

 

That's one big Oak tree and a skinny hubby!

On the way back to the city we drove past Felicity Plantation, which is where they shot “The Skeleton Key” with Kate Hudson!

 

Felicity Plantation

Long awaited vacation photos!

I was looking through our SmugMug account and finally had a chance to reminisce.

Boy am I jealous because my childhood bff’s step-Mom will be there for Mardi-Gras (sigh) and is only a 5-hour drive away from there anytime (double sigh).

These ones are from our 2nd day in New Orleans. First we went to the Garden District and then to Oak Alley Plantation.

Mansion in the Garden District

 

Anne Rice's House - Where she wrote "Interview with the Vampire"!!

Walking around the beautiful houses. And yes, I am dressed up for vacation!

Actual gas lamps on the houses!

Lafayette Cemetery - also from the book!

It's the St. Charles streetcar! Riding back into town.

New Orleans, Here We Come!

Our vacation is imminent and so we’re working on our “Things to Do” list. If you recall from my New York City Checklist, we only managed to do 1/3 of what I had hoped. But, really, that was because I underestimated the size of NYC blocks. Walking anywhere took FOREVER.

So, I’ve scaled back on my things “To Do” (which, by the way, Clint has minimal say in it):