As promised because of all of the help we received from this forum I am posting my trip report to NOLA to say thank you. My daughter and I arrived on Sunday morning June 10th 2007, for 5 days and were immediately impressed with the warmth and kindness of the people. We opted for the airport shuttle to and from the Hotel Monteleone. The driver gave us some personal history of his struggle with the Katrina aftermath that he and his family are still going through. He also pointed out the watermarks on walls that showed how deep the water was in different sections and other facts. The shuttle was quick, efficient and economical.
The Hotel Monteleone is gorgeous. We had a room facing the city. Not such a great view during the day because it is of the roof tops but if you really look you can pick out different landmarks like the cemeteries. At night it was gorgeous with lights as far as you could see. We had two double beds and plenty of room. The room was immaculate and the beds are extremely comfortable although the pillows left a lot to be desired. Even though we hung our towels up everyday to conserve on energy they always replaced them with clean ones everyday. There is a coffee pot in the room but I preferred to go to the lobby in the gift shop where you could get coffee/tea for $2.50. The in-room safe worked perfectly and they do have the minibar. I would have preferred no minibar to have more drawer space. The rooms are decorated beautifully. The hotel roof pool is on the small size and heated but is a beautifully landscaped. We did eat breakfast one day in the hotel caf茅 but was not impressed at all because we were spoiled by the bacon at Caf茅 Beignet. The doormen are a wonderful, helpful addition that have the most marvelous personalities and smiles. Even the young lady in the gift shop was so courteous and polite by always asking how my visit was going and if everything was acceptable.
We immediately started to explore the city and were amazed at how clean it is. It is spotless. I wish, because I am a smoker, that they would put ashtrays on the streets. We found Petunias but didn鈥檛 feel like waiting in line so we ate at Caf茅 Beignet instead. Normal eggs and grits but the bacon is to die for. It is so thin and flavorful that we craved it afterwards. It was the best ever. Excellent iced Caf茅 AuLait.
We did the Ghost tour of the French Quarter with Renee (you get it outside the Voodoo shop near Pat O鈥橞rien鈥檚) she is a great actress and very informative. We used the same tour company for the Garden District/Lafayette Cemetery walking tour. The Garden District is hurting for tourism and hopefully when the street car gets up and running this will pick up. We took a cab to the Hotel Pontchartrain where we met the tour guide. We had a basic breakfast there and it was ok but the bacon was the grocery store kind, tough and no taste. I told you we were spoiled by Caf茅 Beignet bacon. The tour was great.
While in the Garden District we ate at Cannon鈥檚 Restaurant and the food was excellent. We took the city bus back to FQ.
We didn鈥檛 rent a car to tour the plantations instead we took a tour through Old River Road Plantation and we went to Oak Alley and Everwood Plantations. Oak Alley is beautiful (and is now my screen saver on my computer) and it was interesting. Everwood鈥檚 house was disappointing because it has been furnished with pieces from all over the world and the first floor is being refurbished and in disrepair. It is used as a home and is not really a true replica. However all of the slave cabins are still intact and it was the most interesting and sad part of the tour to see the inside of the cabin and how they lived.
We took the ferry over to Algiers and toured Blaine Kern鈥檚 Mardi Gras World which was fascinating and fun but so hot. We walked up the street and visited the little voodoo shop and chatted with the owner for quite awhile she is delightful. The shuttle driver knew we were there and sat outside the shop waiting for us to come out to take us back to the ferry. Thank god for that air conditioned room on the ferry.
We took the afternoon Natchez Steamboat ride on the Mississippi and a storm came up which was great because it broke the humidity and Wednesday through Friday the weather was beautiful. We did a buggy tour of the French Quarter and the driver was hysterically funny. We toured the Presbytere, Cabildo and St. Louis Cathedral all in Jackson Square which is gorgeous.
We had the beignets at Caf茅 DuMonde. We were not impressed with their beignets. They were cold, hard as a rock and tasteless and laid in my stomach like a rock. I burped them until I went to bed that night. We walked around the back and watched through the window while the beignet maker rolled and cut the beignets and literally threw them in the huge fryer.
Back to Caf茅 Beignet we had their beignets and they were outstanding. They were hot, flavorful and I ate all three and wanted more they were so good. Not one burp. They also serve a big cold fruit plate with a yogurt dip and it was great on a hot day and hit the spot. Loved Caf茅 Beignet.
We had the muffuleta at Napoleon House and it was excellent. We also ate at Acme Oyster and Seafood House and had the char grilled oysters, fried shrimp and oyster platter, coleslaw and the platter with a little bit of everything on it. We didn鈥檛 like the hushpuppies at all.
Ahh Fiorellas, the mac and cheese is to die for, huge portions of food, pink lemonade and everything was excellent and an adorable waitress. We took our leftovers and knew that we would just be throwing them away and as we walked around the corner there was a man sleeping in a doorway with a whiskey bottle next to him so I quietly stooped and placed our bag of food next to him. I hope I didn鈥檛 offend anyone but he genuinely looked like he could possible use it. We actually went back to Fiorellas for a double side order of mac and cheese as a meal later in the week it was just that good.
Another Ahh is Petunias we had breakfast there twice. Pain Perdu (French toast) with custard consistency just the way I love it. We figured out that they put syrup in the batter and that is what makes it excellent. On our return visit the Pain Perdu was dry and tasteless, so our adorable waitress was right, on our first visit she told us it depends on who is cooking it. Not fair it should be the same always. Their Eggs Benedict are oh my god out of this world the best ever. The bacon was close to Caf茅 Beignet but not the same. We are weird we just loved that bacon.
We couldn鈥檛 decide where to eat dinner so our tour guide Renee suggested K-Paul鈥檚. She said she wasn鈥檛 going to tell us what they have she was going to tell us what the restaurant didn鈥檛 have and that was a freezer. Which meant that everything was fresh, fresh and fresh. So we made reservations for our last night. However, we had to cancel because my daughter got sick and we didn鈥檛 get to experience it. Darn.
Bourbon Street an experience and at times down right smelly. We did get to see a private parade of the Merrill Lynch conventioneers. We learned from Mardi Gras World that companies rent one of the small carts and hire a band and people to throw flowers and beads from a balcony. The entire Merrill Lynch entourage paraded down Bourbon Street it was fun to watch. We had no trouble with people begging for anything. Our last night we were approached by a young man that had the most impressive pitch. He showed us a badge and explained he was collecting money for children of Katrina and for a ten dollar donation we would get a receipt for income tax purposes, a pink baseball cap (with Bourbon Street NO on it), a get out of jail card and a guarantee we would continue to have fun. He was young, cute, well spoken, well dressed and fun to talk with and I wanted and was looking at pink baseball caps to buy so we both made our donations. So considering most of the caps I had looked at, that I didn鈥檛 like, were $5 and $6 dollars this cap I did like and I was helping someone out.
We took the airport shuttle back to the airport and our driver had to take a round about way because of an accident on the major highway and we got quite a tour of some Katrina devastation. He told us his story of being a Katrina survivor and I had a hard time choking back tears of his evacuation story with his children. So many stories. The horse and buggy driver had to leave for a year, a tour guide also had to evacuate for a year, one drivers entire family lost all of their homes and are still fighting to get them finished, another driver an ex-marine who has a brother over seas fighting and scared to death for his return. Just wonderful, decent and respectful human beings all tied together by a horrible tragic event.
On our last morning my daughter went to Hove Parfumer Ltd on Royal Street and bought a bottle of homemade perfume and forgot to put it in her suitcase. Before we went through security she remembered the perfume and I went back up to the counter to ask if I could put the perfume in my suitcase and this was the only time I was treated with rude disrespect. They snapped at me that I should have checked the US websites to make sure what we couldn鈥檛 carry on the plane. I explained that we had made a last minute purchase and my suitcase was sitting right there. I showed them all my ID and the gentleman snapped at the woman to give me my bag back. She sneered at me and I gently apologized again and thanked her for her courtesy. Then I stood there waiting for them to take my suitcase again and put it on the belt and she snapped at me to just leave it. I don鈥檛 think so after all we are not suppose to leave our luggage unattended. So I just smiled and waited. That was the only time we received arrogant treatment. Maybe airline security should be sent for hostility training on how to treat and speak to the public and they might have less problems from the passengers.
Your city is amazing, charming and addicting. The people are the sweetest, kindest and most appreciative of tourists coming there to help with the recovery. Their gratitude is shown in the smiles on their faces and the request of sending our friends to NOLA to help out. We truly hope to return someday because there is so much we did not see and things we still wanted to do and food we never got to eat. Thank you NOLA for a truly wonderful and humbling vacation from two New Jersey Travelers.
Our Wonderful Vacation 06/10 to 06/15/07 in NOLAWhat a great trip report! Thanks so much for writing it.
I will say that you did get ';taken'; by the ';charity'; baseball cap. That%26#39;s all pretty bogus (it%26#39;s not a legit charity) but you did get a cap you%26#39;ll enjoy in exchange for $10 so I%26#39;d consider it to still be a pretty good deal.
Glad you noticed the neighborhood%26#39;s cleanliness. It%26#39;s very impressive to those of us who live here. Makes me even angrier when people throw McDonald%26#39;s cups out of their cars or empty ashtrays on the street! Grrrr...
Our Wonderful Vacation 06/10 to 06/15/07 in NOLAOh CajunWave even your major highways and byways are garbage free. You drive down the roads in NJ major or back roads and they are littered with garbage. We use prisoners to clean our roads. Or the trash just sits. NJ even fights over whether or not to pick up the dead carcasses of animals (deer) along the roads. NOLA is spotless.
NJ, trust me--you just hit us on a good day or you happened among some clean roads! Louisiana has pretty dirty roadways overall. I%26#39;m thrilled that you have such a good impression, though! Maybe it%26#39;ll rub off on others!! LOL.
With all that airline security has to put up with I am less than sympathetic when it comes to people who don%26#39;t take the time to learn the rules of flying. It%26#39;s not hard to get on the website and see what you can%26#39;t bring onboard with you. I%26#39;m sorry you felt you were treated poorly however.
Very nice trip report. Its odd about Cafe Du%26#39;monde with the cold, hard, tasteless beignets. Why didn%26#39;t you tell the waiter/waitress?
I%26#39;ve been there over 150 times and fortunately never experienced that. That %26#39;hat%26#39; sales pitch has been around for quite awhile and predates Katrina but they have nice hats I have to admit. We have found such kindness from the service industry etc. in the city when we come in and even though some of them know us as locals they are still friendly and charming and go overboard to assist us. It is truly a remarkable city and people.
Cajunyank - I%26#39;m a wuss I never complain but next time I come down I%26#39;ll try Cafe DuMonde again. I promise
Hey NJtravelor: Thank you for your informative review. I really appreciate members like you putting their review and opinions on here. I enjoyed it.
Oh NJ...I loved your trip report! But I REALLY loved your comment about our ';clean roads';!!! You definitely have that ';glass is half full'; attitude!
Hope you can make it back soon!
Casey
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