This past weekend I flew to New Orleans for my college friend Jayme’s bachelorette party! It was a ton of fun, but wow did we have a jam packed agenda for just 3 days!
I have been to Nola before on a family vacation, which was quite a different than this trip. This trip we did a lot more eating, drinking and local activities. I’ll share some of the fun adventures in this post and the links here will have more about food and bars!
Hurricane Ida really impacted the tourism in New Orleans. While the infrastructure and electricity were fine in the French Quarter, a lot of the restaurants and bars were still closed or closed early. All the tourist areas were extremely empty as well as the nightlife. Our local friend said this is the most empty she has ever seen the French Quarter.
Day 1
Sunny Day in Jackson Square
All the girls and I flew in on Thursday, we had a decent crew of 7 girls. Funny enough I found out the day before that one of the girls was on my flight and we were actually next to each other on the flight - what are the chances?
When we arrived, the first thing we did was go to Starbucks for a much needed iced Chai Latte (I don’t drink coffee). After that we checked into our hotel, the Omni Royal Orleans, we decorated the bride-to-be’s room.
Starving, we went to Napoleon House for some alligator po boys, which were DELICOUS. One of the old man managers walking around came up to us and asked Jayme what her hat spelled, pretending he couldn’t read that it spelled out “Bride.” We couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but then he came back with a glass of champagne for her. How sweet!
After that we were so full, but managed to roll around Jackson Square for some shopping and stumbled upon some jello shots syringes, which was harder to eat than you would think!
Preservation Hall
We headed to Preservation Hall before dinner for some live jazz music, was AMAZING!!! The band had even played with Eric Clapton. (Fun Fact: I used to play the piano, so was super excited to see some jazz piano playing!)
We then went for a quick drink at French 75, then onto dinner at Restaurant Revolution, which was fantastic!! We had our own private room in the back all to ourselves! The food was delicious, if I wasn’t full before, I definitely was now!
On a random personal note: Our waiter’s name was Daniel and on the way back right outside of the restaurant we saw a MN license plate - if that isn’t a sign about my ex, I don’t know what is… (Monica agreed) What does the sign mean, that is to be determined...
We then hung out on the balcony of Jayme’s room and people watched, which meant listening to people singing really loudly with speakers from blocks away! :P
Day 2
We started off the morning with brunch at a super cute garden café, Café Amelie. After brunch, we walked around the French Quarter, did some shopping and ended up at a wig shop, where a few of the girls tried on some fun wigs! We then found our way to Pat O’Brien’s Courtyard, known for their hurricanes and is a favorite spot for many of the girls.
After this we went to Bacchanal, for some wine and cheese. The concept is very cool, you can choose your own wines and cheese and they make a yummy cheese platter for you! We had the entire upstairs to ourselves!
For dinner we went to Arnaud’s, which had an old school vibe, and some amazing delicious food! my favorite was the potato soufflé!
After this we went to see a jazz burlesque show at the Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta. Ill be honest, the show was fun, but not as good as the show I saw in NYC. One of the performers gave Jayme her fans and let her do her thing!
We went to Old Absinthe House afterwards, however the city was pretty much dead after that, which was surprising for a Friday night.
Day 3
We started off the morning with a pole dancing class at Awakenings Pole & Aerial Fitness, which was actually a chair dance, pole dance, spinning on the pole and silks! I loved the silks and want to find a place in the city for silks!
Next we headed to Sylvain for some lunch at another cute garden vibe restaurant. I had the best chicken and cornmeal waffles!
We had a pool party at the hotel and played some bridal games before heading to Costera for dinner.
At Costera, we had a delicious blind chef’s tasting menu - yummy apps, paella, scallops and more!
After dinner we went to The Maison on Frenchmen Street for some awesome live brass band jazz music by the City of Trees Brass Band!
Day 4
One last drink at our final spot!
For our final day in Nola, we got bunch with the bride before she flew home. Monica and I were the final two, not flying out until ~6PM, so we decided why not live our best lives and explore.
We didn’t do much touristy stuff the earlier in the week, so we packed it in our last few hours in Nola. We did some souvenir shopping for pralines and ate some beignets from Café du Monde before heading to some bars.
We went to the quintessential touristy bars, the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone, Lafitte’s for a voodoo daiquiri and Pat O’Brien’s for another hurricane!
What a great trip - CONGRATULATIONS JAYME!!! Can’t wait for the wedding in a few weeks!