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Here are pictures from a short weekend trip to New Orleans over the Valentine's Day weekend. This was my second time, with the first visit being shortly before celebrating my 21st birthday (so a really long time ago!), and the first time for Sandra. We
We actually got in the night on an afternoon flight that had us to the hotel, the Eliza Jane by about 9pm. This gave us just enough time to grab dinner at a late night eatery around the block before the kitchen closed.
The next day we went to explore the French Quartet. I actually forgot how wonderful New Orleans is. The vibe - and architecture - is very European, unsurprisingly. The food was also great, I got the oyster po' boy I was looking forward to and we also found a cute beignets shop on Royal Street. This street was full of galleries and antique shops, and also, for some reason, a small group enjoying Vueve Clicquots next to a vintage race Ferrari. On a sadder note, we also passed by the Bourbon street memorial to the 14 victims of the 2025 car attack. We also managed to find our way into a museum at the Historic New Orleans Collection just as a large group from some LGBTQ convention. We followed them as they were led away by a lector who took us to a conference room for a narrative of New Orleans' libertine history. We got to see blue books used to advertise the prostitutes working in a part of town called Storyville.
This was Valentine's Day, and actually I was under the impression that Sandra had booked a place for a surprise date night, but this was not so. So last minute we looked into what was still available, and found a table for early seating in a place called Red Fish. I actually really liked this place! Due to being early, the restaurant was mostly empty on our arrival and we landed a table right by their impressive mural. The place filled up shortly after. When I go to a restaurant, I always try to order something weird that I wouldn't otherwise be able to make at home. What intrigued here was a dish consisting of grits, seafood, and of all things, pickles. It was interesting, but good.
We were couple of weeks early for the Mardi Gras, but the town was already in a full parade season. There was a parade every night. Given what is currently happening in the government, many of the floats took aim at Elon Musk. For example, one advertised a "musk by Elon, the smell of oligarchy", or another one shown below poked fun about invading Mars.
The next morning we went on a tour to the Oak Alley Plantation, one of many plantations that dotted the south during the pre-20th century America. Plantations were self-sufficient agricultural producer centers of cash-crops (like cotton or sugar cane) that heavily relied on the slave labor for the manpower. There were over 46,000 plantations in the 1860s, with about half of them having a work force of at least 20 enslaved people, with around 2300 having over 100 slaves. This last group would include the "classic" plantations, similar to Oak Alley, which were characterized by a large mansion in which the white landlord lived, and surrounded by shacks in which the slave workforce was crammed into. Oak Alley, which is now a historical landmark, contains replicas of these housing units. What I learned on the visit is that slaves tended their own vegetable garden which was used to supplement their food ratios. After arriving, we first took a walk down the famous oak-lined alley way, where I got to see my first ever wild armadillo! We then had a tour of the main house, where photography was prohibited. After a break for a lemonade and a stroll through the slave accommodations, it was time to head back to town.
Another highlight of this trip was that we were looking forward to catching up with our previously-SoCal friends Bevin and Chris. They used to live in our town back in So Cal, and Sandra met Bevin through running. Maybe two years ago they sold their house and instead bought one on a large plot of land in Southern Carolina (so SoCal to SoCar?). Being relatively close by to NOLA, they came down for a weekend. We met up with that night for a "night on town", as much as 4 middle-aged runners who don't drink much can call it that. We visited an absinthe bar. I also got to try tasty grilled oysters.
The next morning we went on an another excursion with Louisiana Tour Company for an airboat tour of the Louisiana swamp lands. People from the bus got sorted onto different airboats and then we were off. I imagine this is not all that unusual but we definitely got treated to a proper swamp-people redneck experience! These boats go fast, and can also drift, as we found out on many turns. Then later, in one channel we came upon another boat parked, which almost led to a fight between the two drivers. Unclear if that was real or a shown. Later the driver showed us how to lure an alligator out of the water using marshmallows, and that you can just poke the gator on the snout without getting bitten. I figured he must have a bet gator at home given his level of conform, and indeed, he even brought two babies for a ride on the airboat ride. We saw at least a dozen gators in total. They are actually quite interesting in that they look like fake statues when warming up on dry land.https://hnoc.org/research-collections/collection-highlights/blue-books
Then that night we joined Bevin and Chris for a ghost tour, which is really just an excuse to visit bunch of pubs. I have never been on one of these before, but it was a good way to get insight into the town history.
Finally, the next morning, before needing to head to the airport, we took the St. Charles trolley the Garden District. His part of town is known for nice houses. After a breakfast consisting of a king cake, we took the bus back.
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