Sister Trip Part 2 ~ New Orleans March 2023
After a quick flight from Houston, we landed in New Orleans in the morning! We stayed at the La Galerie hotel on Decatur St; it was right by the French Quarter. This hotel was in the best location: across the street from the most popular restaurants like The Ruby Slipper Cafe and right next to many lounges and bars. I loved everything about New Orleans; it felt like everywhere we walked there was something to see along the way. There’s an abundant amount of restaurants, small shops that carry spiritual supplies, and live music everywhere too! I also adored how we were able to walk everywhere and not have to worry about getting an Uber or a rental car. It was a good change from being in Houston and having to drive everywhere, to then being in New Orleans and being able to walk to restaurants, live shows, and to the tour meet up spots :)
Right around the corner from our hotel room was a restaurant called Mr. Ed’s Oyster and Fish House. This was so good!! I got the shrimp and grits and my sister got the fried fish with a side of red beans and rice, it was delicious! I easily fall for southern comfort food and New Orleans has some of the best cuisine around in my opinion.
Once we were done with lunch, we walked around the city for the afternoon. We were walking around near the French Quarter and we stopped at an adorable chocolate shop and got some delicious chocolates and truffles. Then we stopped at a shop that had beautiful masks, we assumed for people that were there during Mardi Gras. And they most likely have those shops all year round for tourists too. The time that we went to New Orleans was right after Mardi Gras, so a lot of the streets and buildings still had confetti and decorations from the Mardi Gras parade. It was definitely a sight to see and I could only imagine what the actual parade looked like! One of these days I will be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras haha!
We of course could not go to New Orleans without stopping at Cafe de Monde for their mouth watering beignets. I also got a coffee and my sister got an iced coffee. The line was sooo long for the beignets, but my sister and I are the type of people to wait in the long lines because if there’s a line that means the food is worth it. And the beignets were definitely worth it, they were absolutely delicious! The French Quarter is so alive with culture; artwork painted by artists, people filming for their social media channels, live music everywhere. There were also stations set up for people to get their faces or hands painted and could get tarot card readings done too!
Our next day in New Orleans, we wanted to take a tour around the city. We started our day by going across the street from our hotel to The Ruby Slipper for some breakfast. It looked pretty busy even in the morning but we surprisingly didn’t have to wait too long for our table. There were a lot big groups that were waiting but it was just my sister and I so we got seated pretty quickly. For breakfast: my sister ordered the green fried tomatoes and the biscuits and gravy and I got the sweet heat chicken and French toast bites. Again, I cannot say anything bad about the food that we had in New Orleans because everything was delectable, I feel like I can still taste the food now :)
After breakfast, we went on a bus tour around the city. We learned more about the history of New Orleans and the things that make New Orleans so special today. We saw some of the famous sites like New Orleans City Park and we went through the Garden District and saw the beautiful homes there. We also went to a neighborhood next to the dam that broke and destroyed not only that neighborhood, but a lot of New Orleans back in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina. Even though there were many devastating effects from the hurricane to New Orleans, being there, I still felt the joy and the aliveness of the city. The tour bus guide said that there are neighborhoods that are still affected today from Hurricane Katrina. Along with many families that had to leave their homes and leave the city because of the effects. It was a very eye opening tour and we really enjoyed learning more about the city and how both the city and the people are doing recovering after the hurricane.
Overall, this sister trip was very fun!! I have to say New Orleans was my favorite. I wish we were there for more days to do and see more around the city because we absolutely did not hit everything. It was great to spend time with my sister and show each other the cities that we’ve been to and learn about the other one we haven’t been to. I am so excited to go back to both Houston and New Orleans and do more exploring in both cities :)
At the airport, leaving New Orleans