Our second trip to New Orleans (you can read about our first trip here) was a friends trip–something we definitely need to do more of! Beyond one scheduled tour, this trip was about adventure. We were there to take our time, explore, and see what we could stumble upon, and we knew there was little chance of disappointment.
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Our Quarters
Our friends found this amazing Leah-Chase-themed AirBnB for us to stay in. (Yes, the same Leah Chase who inspired Princess Tiana. I had not heard of Leah Chase before this trip, but as soon as my friend said it, I just knew she was Tiana’s inspiration, because I could feel it in the decor. It completely captured Tiana’s essence and aesthetic. So if you’re visiting NOLA and have a child who’s in love with The Princess and the Frog, check out this spot.)
The Bar Scene
We stopped in so many bars, I couldn’t possibly remember what they all were. I enjoyed the cherry bomb, the historic decor, and the who’s-who of celebrity photos at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar. There was some country-themed bar–maybe Coyote Ugly?–where everyone starts cheering when you walk in. I don’t know if that’s a thing that they regularly do, or a thing some guests randomly started that day that continued for an hour or so, but either way, more bars need to adopt this practice. We felt like heroes walking in, and we eagerly joined in the applause as new people arrived. It reminded me vaguely of that last dreamy scene of Titanic, when Rose arrives in the afterlife and everyone is cheering and applauding because she’s finally made it–like we had finally arrived at some limbo full of friendly people who had been waiting to welcome us home. That, or maybe the photo in The Shining. Either way, it was an odd, warm feeling of entering and immediately feeling that you’ve always belonged there.
There was another bar I can no longer identify with dollar bills all over the wall, where I sat and tipsily sang BSB’s “I Want It That Way” with a guy across the room who was enjoying a contented drink with his wife and had a grand old time. (I think I’ve found my karaoke song.)
I was willing to put my motion sickness to the test to try out the Carousel Bar, but it was completely full, so we moved into the lounge at Hotel Monteleone, where I was ready to finally have my first (and what would sadly turn out to be my last) brandy milk punch of the trip. I remember at the table right next to us, there was a trio of friendly older people who gave off an almost absurd air of immense, Gatsby-esque wealth. They were all dressed to the nines and just had some indescribable refined quality about them that told me these were real, old-money types. When my brandy milk punch (which wasn’t on the menu and I had requested specially so I could be sure to have one before we left the city) came out, they were delighted and asked me if that’s what it was, and one of them recalled stories of drinking them with her grandmother as a child, and then they all decided to order them and toasted us as they arrived.
Dr. Seuss Gallery
One day we decided spontaneously to step into a gallery of Dr. Seuss art. I had no idea the kinds of things Dr. Seuss got up to when he wasn’t making kids’ books. If you were in the market for some strange Dr. Seuss items to impress your guests, check out his little-known book of nudes, or his also little-known book of World War 2 cartoons. Or, if you’re in the mood for a weird movie night, his only live-action film. Needless to say, we were spellbound by the Dr. Seuss gallery.
Voodoo
Another of our spontaneous visits was to the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. As we were passing by, we briefly debated whether to stop in, but there was a sign out front informing us it was National Voodoo Day, and of course, we couldn’t pass up the chance to stop into the voodoo museum on National Voodoo Day, so that decided it. I remember joking as we entered that maybe they put that sign out every day for unsuspecting tourists such as ourselves. So I checked, and it appears that there is a National Voodoo Day on January 10, but at the time we were there (early April of 2025), they were celebrating the first annual New Orleans International Vodou Day, which is actually a week-long celebration. Our timing was impeccable. And, not knowing anything at all about voodoo, the museum was a much more sobering and at times horrific affair than I would have expected. Definitely worth a visit to learn what it’s all about. (In particular, I was surprised to learn of the strong links to Catholicism, and horrified by the entire concept of voodoo zombies.)
St. Louis Cathedral
Somehow I never saw the inside of this oldest continuously-active cathedral in the US on our previous trip. I really don’t know how, as this is one of the obvious first stops for lovers of architecture like us, but we missed it. So we made sure to see it this time.
Audubon Aquarium
As far as I’m aware, this was my first time ever visiting an aquarium. And I had a wonderful time! This stop almost didn’t even happen because we were on our last day and only had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport.
My favorite thing was, hands-down, the penguins. Those little penguins were the cutest thing ever as they worked up the courage to dive off their rocks and into the water! There was so much cool stuff at the aquarium, but other personal highlights were the seahorses, the stingrays, and of course the underwater tunnel where you could watch the creatures swimming above you.
Also at the aquarium, there’s a little snack area where, if you’re hungry and very brave, you can try free samples of…crickets. I’m just going to be honest with you: I am not brave. I have a thing about eating bugs. Just this whole mental block I can’t get past for reasons I don’t understand. I get that I enjoy shellfish and that shellfish are just sea bugs. I get that I love shrimp and that crickets are basically just land shrimp. I still can’t do it.
My fiance, though, was very brave. He tried a ranch-flavored cricket and even enjoyed it. (They had two other flavors in addition to the ranch–another savory, and a tiny chocolate-chunk cookie, where the chunks were chocolate-covered crickets. You guys, I can’t even. Chunks were about to be blown from my direction at the very thought!)
Local Flavor
Something we need to start doing on every vacation from now on is a food and cocktails tour. We took this one, and it was such a fun way to sample an array of local flavors while mingling with strangers and making new friends, if that happens to be something you enjoy. (I very much do!) Our tour guide was excellent and took lots of pictures of us throughout the event, too!
The Weird Night Out
Our food tour ended, five cocktails in, at a little wine bar, where many of us hung out for hours after the tour had ended. One guy was having so much fun, he even called a friend to come join us.
As the night and drinks dwindled, along with my ability to stay awake, we headed for the exit, but the employees told us they had already locked the front door and we would have to leave through the courtyard. No problem, we thought, heading out the back and suddenly finding ourselves inside a massive covered and fully-enclosed courtyard with no apparent exit onto the street.
We headed towards a long, quiet hallway that ended at an emergency exit and a cart full of towels from the hotel above us. When that plan failed, we walked back down the hallway and out again into the courtyard and stood, trying to figure out where to go next.
Far ahead of us was another door, so we walked that way. Consternation and bewilderment ensued as we were intercepted by an angry security guard yelling at us to go back the way we had come. “Get back inside! Get back inside!” he yelled.
“PLEASE! PLEASE HELP US! WE’VE BEEN TRAPPED FOR AGES AND WE’RE JUST TRYING TO LEAVE!” our friend cried.
“There’s the elevator. Go back upstairs!”
Terrified, I was ready to do what he said–even though we couldn’t go back inside, we hadn’t come from the elevator, and we weren’t staying in this hotel.
“We don’t live here!” our other friend desperately tried to explain as we found ourselves gathering in the elevator to nowhere.
Somehow we realized how ridiculous we were being and clambered back out of the elevator before the doors could fully shut. The security guard, on the other side of the door between us and freedom, caught sight of us and came back for round two. This time, somehow, we were able to explain the situation to him. He lightened up considerably and went back through the door–which opened onto a stage in another bar called The 21st Amendment where a live band was playing–and halted the proceedings so we could all exit as awkwardly as you might imagine onto the stage in front of the mystified audience and out the door on the other side.
Once outside, we began laughing hysterically and made our way into the bar right next-door, where we couldn’t stop joking about the Bizarro World we’d just been through, and how the mirror on the wall between the bar we were in and the one we’d just come from had three mystical golden keys in the center of it, and now our friend was back outside drunkenly chatting up the security guard, and maybe we’d never really made it out of Bizarro World, after all.
Because the ChatGPT/Studio Ghibli trend had just begun that week, I had it Ghibli-ify the whole bizarre to-do for us.
We left that area quickly thereafter and found ourselves on Bourbon Street amid even more craziness. As we tried to decide where to go next, we spotted a sign that said “HUGE ASS” in front of a tunnel of colored lights, and our friends wanted to find out what it was all about. They would be right back, they said, before approaching the person with the sign. We lost sight of them then, and they never returned. It did look like a wonderful next adventure, but I was in desperate need of sleep, so we left them messages and walked back to our B&B.
In the morning, upon reviewing my photos of the otherworldly tunnel, I found the evidence of them heading beyond the person with the sign and towards and then through it, and couldn’t help but giggle at this last sight of them before our separation.
Music and Magic
On our final night, when we were in search of one last hurrah, we decided to check out Cafe Lafitte in Exile, said to be the oldest gay bar in the country. This turned out to be some of the most fun of the entire trip. As soon as we arrived for what we thought we be just one quick drink and call it a night, they informed us that each Sunday night, they throw napkins in the air during “Love is in the Air”, and it was happening in one hour after a countdown of fabulous music videos, and would we care to stick around for it? We shrugged and decided, sure, it’s only one hour away, why not?
As the hour went on, our excitement mounted, along with that of everyone else in the bar. You could really feel the buzz of anticipation. Everyone was getting sillier and more carefree as we rang in the start of the new business week. Eventually they went around passing out big stacks of little bar napkins to everyone.
And then, WOW–the moment finally came, and I’ll tell you, it was beautiful. It was magical! As the napkins rained down upon everyone in slow motion and perfect coordination against the musical backdrop, there was nowhere else I wanted to be. I know nothing I say can really do it justice; you kind of just have to have been there. So if you happen to be in New Orleans on a Sunday night…head to Lafitte’s. When they ask if you want to participate, just say yes.
If you liked this post, you might enjoy our adventures in Michigan, beginning in Saugatuck and going up into Holland, Petoskey, and Mackinac Island. Or perhaps Montana , Virginia, or New England are more your speed.
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