Voodoo and Po'Boys

Today we took our time exploring New Orleans, and went to St. Louis Cemetery #1 where Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau  is buried. Legend has it that if you knock on her tomb, ask her for something, and leave her an offering, your wish will be granted. 

Of course there are other versions of this (marking it with three X's), but it's truly interesting to see all of this history. There are also those who know nothing about her, as was proven by a mom telling her teenage daughters that she was a porn star. Good job lady. 

Afterwards we walked by Brad and Angie's house again, and are 80% sure we saw Angelina Jolie. We were down the street a bit, but this woman was saying goodbye to someone at the house (not Brad), as she got into an SUV that had come out of their garage. She had a hat and sunglasses on, but her voice sounded like Angelina's....so, we'll just say that we saw her!


We had lunch at the Green Goddess (delicious!), and dinner at the Acme Oyster House (also delicious!). At lunch we made a dog friend named Pickles, and her owner had a basket for her on his bike. The picture of them doesn't give Pickles justice! You can barely see her! No oysters at dinner as we feared we wouldn't like them. Next time though!

Lunch

Pickles and her owner (you can kind of see her)

Also, next time we plan on taking an entire city tour since most of our trip revolved around the French Quarter. 


Tomorrow we're off to Avery Island and the Tabasco Plant, and then overnighting it in Natchez, MS. The hotel says they aren't flooded, so wish us luck!

The Big Easy

Greetings from New Orleans! We arrived Monday and headed straight out to Bourbon Street for some dinner and drinks. We took the trolley from our hotel, Prytania Park Hotel, (in the Garden District), and it was a lot closer than we thought! 

We had dinner at Coop's and enjoyed duck quesadillas, rabbit and sausage jambalaya, and creole green beans. We also hit up Pat O'Brian's for a Hurricane (strong!), Tropical Isle for a hand grenade (sweet! we also got a shark attack!), and the Absinthe House for absinthe frappes (interesting). The nightlife on Bourbon Street is intense- and it was a Monday! Lights, bars, strip clubs, restaurants, and all sorts of people. Older couples, grandparents, young kids- it seemed like everyone was there.

 

Today we took it a bit easier and headed back to the French Quarter, did some shopping and eating before our ghost tour. Pretty interesting, and we even saw Nicholas Cage's old house that has a horrible past involving torture and murder in the 1800's by a woman named Delphine LaLaurie (ex. a hole was drilled into a man's head and a stick was put in and his brain was stirred). Disturbing. 

The LaLaurie House

We also got to stop at LaFitte's Balcksmith Shop (we went back later too), which has a ton of ghosts supposedly and the piano player said that he sees them all the time. Side note: LaFitte's claims that it's the oldest bar in the US, but it's not. That would be The Bell and Hand in Boston (where we visited last year!), but unlike The Bell and Hand, LaFitte's did not close during prohibition.

Jackson square is also very cool. Right in front of St. Louis Cathedral. At night groups of feral cats go there to relax and sleep (probably to get away from humans, since it's closed to people at night). And when we say groups we mean it....we saw at least 8, but people have reported seeing upwards of 20.

St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square

We also swung by Brand and Angelina's house (not too shabby!), and took stalker photos (see below).  Afterwards we had beignets (ben-yays) at Cafe du Monde, and Chunk had a Pimm's Cup at Napolean Cafe. Overall a great second day!

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house

Destin-ation New Orleans

Sorry for the delay in an actual post until today- our Destin hotel had less than stellar wi-fi. We're now sitting in our New Orleans hotel room (which is very historic), and are deciding what to do this evening. 

Anyway, back to yesterday. We ate lunch at a wings joint (which we mentioned before was not impressive), and then we relaxed until our sunset dolphin cruise. It was awesome! We took the Sea Blaster, which is a giant speed boat that holds 100 people. They had free beer, wine, and soda, and we saw dolphins and had a great ride! 

Check out our video that we will post TONIGHT (it has to upload), and be sure to watch the whole thing because there are dolphins throughout. We had the best seats too since everyone had filled in the "good" front seats, we sat alone in the back. Woohoo!

After that we ate dinner at The Shed. Amazing brisket and overall a cool joint. It's been featured on the Travel Channel and Food Network. Brad, the head chef and owner is competing on Best in Smoke. 

A great last night in Destin, only to be woken up this morning at 7am by a car alarm that went off for at least 5 minutes. With the person in it not caring! Oh well. On our way out we stopped at The Donut Hole, picked up a slice of Key Lime pie (delicious!) and some donuts for our trip.

Happy to be in New Orleans and can't wait to explore!