On day two of our NOLA vacay, we woke up and had breakfast in our hotel Mmmm…. Yummy potatoes and eggs Benedict – sorry, no pics. I was too hungry. Then, we headed out to explore. We spent the morning at the Audubon Insectarium and Aquarium. If you’re planning a trip to NOLA, get your tickets ahead of time, online. Not only did we get to skip the lines, but we got passes to tons of stuff for one low price (about the price of admission for the two places we went by themselves). Now, we didn’t hit the IMAX, zoo, or anything else, but we could have without paying any extra. What a deal!
Insectarium Pics
Aquarium Pics
By the time we were ready for lunch, we were really ready for lunch. Unfortunately, our plan to hit a dive bar for burgers was quickly quashed by the realization that those places all required the patrons to be 21 or over, and we forgot The Girl’s fake ID. So, back to the hotel we went (it was easy, and we were getting hungry). Anyway, lunch was delish, as I’d come to expect.
Louisiana gulf shrimp with Abita Amber BBQ sauce. The sauce was so yummy I had to ask for more bread. Oh, and that drink? It’s called a “Flirtini” and it is fruitylicious.
We decided to chill for a tad in our room before heading out again. I decided to take advantage of the time to snap some more pics from the balcony.
After a bit, we figured out our dinner destination (so we wouldn’t be hungry again without a plan), and headed out to see the Quarter. When we reached Burbon Street (just a couple of blocks from our hotel), the requisite beads were being tossed. The Girl wanted to collect them from the ground, but we vetoed that. She wanted to catch some, but at first, Hubs was creeped out. Once we observed that nothing untoward was required of bead recipients (if it’s not Mardi Gras, it’s not all “Girls Gone Wild,” like we’d been led to believe), we let her catch a few from the balconied revelers.
Then, as one is wont to do in New Orleans, we happened upon a parade. They have parades for everything there. In fact, it’s a legal right to have a parade. Some, like weddings and funerals, may be not so big, but this one was huge for St. Joseph’s Day. It went on for hours and hours of fun. The Girl was in her glory.
We did have one celebrity sighting – Chazz Palmeri was in the parade. Of course, I was too busy to get a photo because I was hitting Hubs to get him to notice. Some paparazzi I am.
We ate at the Crescent City Brewhouse (have I mentioned Hubs is a beer snob?). I had shrimp and grits. Again, too hungry to photograph. But it was ah-may-zing.
Coming soon – NOLA day 3.