New Orleans but Carol is! Mel: No, neither of us is from Carol owned the adorable French Quarter carriage house we rented for our week in New Orleans for New Years 2012. It was our first time visiting the city, and Carol gave us so many great recommendations for things to see, food, and music, most of which were not on our radar (even with my guidebook and all of the online research we did beforehand). Here, we've put together some of our favorites - and they are all cheap or free!
New Orleans are so effing nice and hospitable. In other cities, everyone is annoyed by tourists, but in New Orleans, everyone just seemed so genuinely excited to show off their city. And why shouldn't they - it's incredible. There's so much cool stuff besides Bourbon Street. Carol spent a full hour with me going through all the things we should see and honestly would have stayed longer if not for the Saints game. Oh yeah, New Orleans is crazy about the Saints. Kate : The people in
Mel: Be prepared to hear "Who dat?" constantly in New Orleans- it's a Saints thing.
New Orleans are so effing nice and hospitable. In other cities, everyone is annoyed by tourists, but in New Orleans, everyone just seemed so genuinely excited to show off their city. And why shouldn't they - it's incredible. There's so much cool stuff besides Bourbon Street. Carol spent a full hour with me going through all the things we should see and honestly would have stayed longer if not for the Saints game. Oh yeah, New Orleans is crazy about the Saints. Kate : The people in
Mel: Be prepared to hear "Who dat?" constantly in New Orleans- it's a Saints thing.
Antoine's
M e l: Antoine's is a restaurant in the French Quarter famous for it's French-Creole food and having a unique dining space decorated with Mardi Gras memorabilia. This is pricey fine dining, but as we found out from Carol, you can actually get a tour of the restaurant without eating there. We simply walked in and asked a waiter if we could see the Mardi Gras stuff. It felt a little awkward but the man happily showed us around the various rooms and the wine cellar. So if you can't be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras itself, head to Antoine's!
Muriel's Jackson Square
Kate: Muriel's is another place where I felt so weird going in and being like "Hey, can I just creep around your fancy restaurant for free?" but once again, New Orleans is amazing and so happy to have you there. Upstairs from the restaurant, there's an old seance room from when it was one of the bordellos during the storytime period. It's weirdly spooky and sexy at the same time. There's even a table setting for their resident ghost, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan.
Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo
New Orleans voodoo queen, Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo sells voodoo dolls for every possible occasion (ie. love & passion, money & success, etc.) and other creepy stuff. I think they make the perfect New Orleans souvenirs. I gave my brother the love & passion doll since he was a new relationship at the time; he did get engaged six months later, so there you go, voodoo might work.
Kate: Me l : What's a better gift than a voodoo doll? Named after a real I'm sorry... what's a better gift than a voodoo doll?? Umm, flowers, red velvet cake, a pony, anything?? I'm all about local culture but those dolls were frightening. I felt like they were staring at me the whole time.
Kate: Me l : What's a better gift than a voodoo doll? Named after a real I'm sorry... what's a better gift than a voodoo doll?? Umm, flowers, red velvet cake, a pony, anything?? I'm all about local culture but those dolls were frightening. I felt like they were staring at me the whole time.
Cemetery Voodoo tour with Creole Gwen
Kate: The voodoo dolls still freak me out but the cemetery tour was so fun. Mostly because we had the best tour guide ever, "Creole Gwen". When she had the whole group start applauding over the grave of the man who agreed to the first ever prenup, I knew this was not going to be your average tour.
Mel: I think I was more weirded out by the tomb that Nicolas Cage built for himself in St. Louis Cemetery than the voodoo stuff. And it felt really appropriate to see the site of voodoo queen Marie Laveau's remains, since, you know, I bought all those dolls.
Kate: I totally forgot about Nic Cage. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense though. It wouldn't seem right for the star of such classics like Face/Off and Ghost Rider to spend the afterlife in a regular cemetery.
Mel : How about when Creole Gwen asked for volunteers to stand on the statue and play air-trombone? I bet she was glad we were on her tour since we were the only people that agreed to do it!
this tour and specifically ask for Creole Gwen!
Clover Grill Mel : So, if you're interested in seeing the St. Louis Cemetery and Congo Square to learn all about the roots of voodoo and see some famous crypts, including the one in Easy Rider, we recommend taking
Clover Grill Mel : So, if you're interested in seeing the St. Louis Cemetery and Congo Square to learn all about the roots of voodoo and see some famous crypts, including the one in Easy Rider, we recommend taking
Kate: Ah, Clover aka heart attack grill. I'm actually ashamed to admit how many egg n' cheese biscuits I ate here during our stay. New Orleans is definitely not a city to be on a diet.
M e l : I'll never forget watching the line cook at Clover dousing the grill with butter while she made our sandwiches.
Kate: And doused the biscuit itself once it was on the plate!
Mel: I love how most people start the New Year with diet resolutions and instead we just ate grilled cheese and egg sandwiches every single day.
M e l : I'll never forget watching the line cook at Clover dousing the grill with butter while she made our sandwiches.
Kate: And doused the biscuit itself once it was on the plate!
Mel: I love how most people start the New Year with diet resolutions and instead we just ate grilled cheese and egg sandwiches every single day.
Mel: Clover is right on Bourbon and open 24 hours a day so it's good for a hangover cure, a late night post-drinking food fix, and really any time you want something heavily buttered.
Vaughn's Lounge & Kermit Ruffins
New Orleans was spent at Vaughn's lounge in the Bywater neighborhood. Vaughn's is famous for having live music on Thursdays which for many years included a Kermit Ruffin's residency. If you don't know who Kermit Ruffins is, watch Treme! M el : One of our best nights in
Kate: Vaughn's was awesome. When we first walked in, I thought we were in the wrong place because it was basically us and a couple of stray dogs in the bar. But within 30 minutes, the place was PACKED with both tourists and locals.
Mel: I think I was really having doubts when we had to ring a bell to be let in. In the moment that we had to wait for someone to answer, the man sitting out front asked me "When are you going to drop?". Maybe I had one sandwich too many at Clover? Anyway, I'm glad we got there a little early so we had time to get some plastic cup cocktails, notice the cigarette machine (when was the last time you saw a cigarette machine?), and eat some of Kermit's red beans and rice. As if playing a fantastic show is not enough, Kermit also cooks red beans and rice for anyone in the audience to help themselves too.
Kate : Between the red beans and rice and the $3 drinks, we were in heaven before the music even started.
Mel : As a big Treme fan, one of the highlights of the night for me was hearing Kermit play the Treme theme song.
Mel : He also humored me and all of the other Treme fans with photos after! Sadly, word on the internet is that Kermit doesn't play Thursdays at Vaughn's anymore, but I highly recommend finding one of his gigs elsewhere and also visiting Vaughn's. The place has so much character that it's worth visiting no matter who is playing.
Mel: I look so horrible and drunkenly flushed in this photo but I loved meeting Kermit so much, so here it is!
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
M el : A classic New Orleans experience and an absolute must in my opinion. This historic band plays traditional New Orleans jazz in a really intimate venue.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
M el : A classic New Orleans experience and an absolute must in my opinion. This historic band plays traditional New Orleans jazz in a really intimate venue.
Mel: One thing I liked about this show was that they played a lot of standards that even I recognized - almost my entire knowledge of jazz comes from Treme so that's saying something. Hint: If you get stuck in the back like we did, don't worry. Just wait for the place to empty out and grab a space up front for the next show.
Kate: And even though they don't have a bar, the no-open-container-law-thing comes in handy because you can just bring your own. This city is like Disneyland for adults and it's amazing.
Kate: And even though they don't have a bar, the no-open-container-law-thing comes in handy because you can just bring your own. This city is like Disneyland for adults and it's amazing.
New Orleans. Every bar, club and street corner has amazing live and mostly free music. And the best part is since there are no open container laws, you can grab a drink and walk around, sampling it all. Can we go back now? K at e : Speaking of music, it's really the biggest reason to visit