Weekend in New Orleans

When you get an offer to go to New Orleans the answer is always, “Yes!”.

David’s boss called him Tuesday evening and asked if we’d like to attend his daughter’s wedding in New Orleans on Saturday. It was a small, destination wedding and several had been unable to attend at the last minute. The food was paid for and since David had helped when they suddenly found themselves without a wedding venue and also in need of a location for a bachelor’s party/dinner, they invited us.

 

We left from Dallas on Friday, arriving in the Crescent City early afternoon. I’m always happy to see this site:

We checked into the Hotel Indigo on St. Charles – nice place – and after I’d changed clothes and freshened my makeup we caught the streetcar to the Quarter. It was a lovely, warm evening and the sky was magnificent. Looked just like a painting.

We walked from the end of the streetcar line into the French Quarter and had dinner at The Gumbo Shop. David had a bowl of chicken andouille gumbo and I ordered the crab cake appetizer. We both had small house salads. Because we had eaten fairly light we were able to share bread pudding for dessert. Yum! Bread pudding is probably my favorite dessert.

We had plans to meet up with David’s boss and the bachelor party at 9 p.m. but had some time to kill. We caught the last couple of songs from Mark and the Pentones at The Funky Pirate:

Then we went next door to Tropical Isle to see our friends Bryan and Debi of Debi and the Deacons. Pam, the owner of the five Tropical Isle venues and The Orleans Grapevine restaurant was there. Pam went behind the bar herself and made our drinks and then took this picture with us:

At about 9 p.m. we left to meet up with the wedding folks. On the way I had to stop and take a picture of this beautifully decorated balcony:

We moseyed on down to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop:

I think I took this one as we were going to catch a cab back to our hotel:

Saturday we ate lunch at The Trolley Stop Cafe near our hotel. We dressed early for the wedding and took a cab to the Quarter. The wedding was in the ballroom of the Bourbon Orleans hotel which happens to be across the street from The Funky Pirate. We enjoyed about an hour of music before the wedding.

The wedding was truly lovely. The vows they wrote and read to one another were very touching. I think my favorite part of the ceremony, however, was the music. I never would have thought of using “Come Thou Fount” as a wedding song but it was perfect. It happens to be my favorite hymn and I especially like the Sufjan Stevens version the guitarist played. The congregation joined in on the last verse and it couldn’t have been sweeter.

And then the best part…as soon as the ceremony was over the bride’s father stood, blew a whistle and the band began playing just outside the room. We all followed the band down the stairs, where we were each handed a glass of champagne, and out the front door of the hotel. We second lined through the Quarter to Decatur and then to Jackson Square. We loaded up on buses which took us to the reception at the Eiffel Society (constructed from pieces of a restaurant which used to perch atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris) back on St. Charles near our hotel.

The reception was very nice – delicious food, wine, music… David and I sat with the owner of the company he works for and his lovely wife. I had met Jack many times but hadn’t met his wife before. What a nice woman. We had a very nice time with them.

The party then moved to the Poseidon Bar next door. David and I spent most of our time there chatting with the bride’s sister, a wine connoisseur by profession, who introduced us to Maker’s Mark 46. I now have a new favorite whiskey.

The party broke up around midnight. We hadn’t eaten much at the reception so we went to Igor’s near our hotel to get burgers. It happened to be open mic night which was rather entertaining.

Sunday, we met up with a friend for lunch at Surrey’s. It was a 40 minute wait for a table but that seems reasonable for a restaurant which serves bacon bread pudding:

We met up with the wedding party and family at Saints and Sinners mid-afternoon. The groom is from Green Bay and since the Packers were playing, they all went there to watch the game. We visited for a bit but it was so hot in there that we eventually bailed out and headed for Tropical Isle. Which was nicely air conditioned. Yes, we needed air conditioning mid-December. That is MY kind of winter weather.

We hung out upstairs for awhile, chatting with the bartender we know. Then went downstairs when Rhythm and Rain started their show. Here’s a picture Rain took of the three of us:

We ate dinner at Johnny White’s which is catty-corner from Tropical Isle. David had jambalaya and I had crawfish étouffée. It was a beautiful night and perfect weather to eat outdoors on the balcony.

After dinner we headed back to Tropical Isle and spent the next couple of hours listening to Debi and Deacons. We usually stay until their show is over but we were pretty tired and called it a night a little after 11 p.m.

It’s always hard to say goodbye to New Orleans but we had to leave Monday. We did decide, however, that it is a little easier when we have only been there a few days. After our usual 10-11 day visits it is heart-wrenching to leave. It’s like we have become part of the city and it has become part of us.

Goodbye, New Orleans. We will see you again in April. Unless I finagle a way to visit for Mardi Gras!