New Orleans

Back in January, I saw an ad for a Southwest Airlines sale and clicked through to see what they were offering. There were a few deals to cities I'd never been to, and after deciding on some dates and looking at the number of stopovers, Keizo and I purchased tickets to New Orleans.

We arrived around 9 PM last Saturday and left just after lunch on Tuesday, which ended up being a good amount of time to get oriented, learn a bit about the city's history and indulge in its rich food, drink, and music.

We stayed in a rental apartment a few blocks from the French Quarter in Faubourg Marigny, which aside from being located along the route the horse drawn carriages took from the stables to the Quarter worked out perfectly (I've gotten pretty used to living above the metro in DC, but horse hooves on pavement were pretty disruptive). We enjoyed breakfast at two neighborhood places, each less than a block from the apartment and were surrounded by traditional, colorful houses.

Highlights of the trip included watching and then participating in an Easter parade, a bike tour that took us to a cemetery and introduced us to a sliver of City Park, and the live music on Frenchman Street. Our last day, we saw a bit of the Garden District, but we'd love to go back to spend more time in City Park as well as experience more of the history and nature outside of the city.

Top to bottom, L to R: Streetcar near CBD, shrimp po'boy; enjoying our beignets, Jackson Square, shrimp and grits, hand grenades on Bourbon Street, cemetery and joining in the Easter parade.