Honeymoon part one: new orleans, Louisiana

When CJ and I were thinking about where to go on our honeymoon we knew that we wanted to go somewhere that had plenty of good music. We met playing music in Wind Orchestra in college and decided that traveling overseas was not the best plan for us, so we decided to go to New Orleans, Louisiana. CJ had been there before on a tour with the ONU jazz band, but I had never been.

Our AirBnB was amazing! We had a shotgun home to ourselves with lovely hosts who lived on the other side. They welcomed us to their home, gave us a tour and then we hung out on the patio and popped a bottle of champagne. ​

We were just a short walk away from the French Quarter and some great places to eat. Most days we took an Uber if the walk was over 40 minutes, we mostly walked everywhere on our trip. ​

Day 1: Travel/Bourbon Street

The first night after we checked in and visited with our hosts, we ventured down to Bourbon Street and stopped at Fritzels. We sat and listened to music for 2.5 hours and enjoyed all the classic New Orleans drinks. CJ’s professor knew the owner of Fritzels so we talked to her for a bit before heading to a restaurant for a classic Po Boy before getting to bed.

Day 2: Voodoo Tour, Garden district & steamboat natchez

The first full day we were up early and went to the Bywater Bakery. We were so happy to explore the neighborhood and grab a really good pastry and coffee before starting our Cemetery and Voodoo Tour. Our tour guide was a local adjunct professor. We toured with about 25 people or so around the French Quarter and through St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. We saw Marie Laveau’s house and and grave, learned why the graves are above ground and saw where Nicholas Cage bought a plot to be buried.

By the time we had toured everything we were starving. We stopped at Maspero’s so we could try classic Louisiana food. CJ got pasta jambalaya and I got muffaletta. We had fun just people watching and visiting over our lunch.

We took an Uber from the French Quarter to the Garden District so we could walk around and look at all the beautiful houses of the neighborhood. We saw lots of houses that were unreal to think that people actually live there. We also saw the street cars in action. Before we came, we bought a three day RTA pass that covered bus fare and street cars, but the schedules weren’t frequent enough to make the pass worth it if you were traveling on a tight schedule.  It was a nice thought, but not worth it in the long run. ​

Our dinner plans were pretty special. We took a dinner cruise on the Steamboat Natchez down the Mississippi River. The Natchez is the only authentic steamboat still on the Mississippi. We had a buffet dinner of classic New Orleans food-we tried a bit of everything. We walked around the deck and watched the sunset, before listening to the Dukes of Dixieland on the top deck. We got to check out the engine room and see the pistons move with the rotor and learn more about the boat. The music was definitely our favorite part. ​

Our feet were so tired by the end of the day, but we made one last stop at Cafe Du Monde to try the famous beignets. The line was crazy long for a table so we went to the lesser known to go line and ordered beignets and hot chocolate. We took them and watched them make the beignets behind the scenes through a viewing window and then found a bench to enjoy our treats! This was one of our favorite treats-so funny to see the aftermath of our sweets.

day 3: destrehan plantation & bayou tour 

The next day we slept in and rested our feet before going to the Bywater Bakery again to get our game plan for the day ahead. We started by visiting Jackson Square. We looked at the artwork vendors and listened to street musicians before getting ready for our Plantation and Bayou Tour. ​

We took a bus with Grayline Tours to the Destrehan Plantation where a tour guide showed us the history of the plantation. The plantation originated as an indigo plantation then was well known for its sugar cane crops. When slaves were freed the Destrehan Plantation became a home and school for free men to learn how to adjust to life skills like reading, writing and trades. The plantation was breathtaking. The oak trees were so tall and draped with Spanish moss. ​

We hopped back on the bus and went to our Bayou tour. We got on our swamp boat with Captain Tom. His first language at home is french and he is just what you would imagine your swamp tour guide to sound like. We cruised down the bayou and he pointed out different size alligators, turtles and cemeteries along the way. We ran into an alligator who wanted to play. Captain Tom took a stick with a rope and threw it in the water and an alligator swam up to the boat. He stuck a crawfish on a stick and the crocodile came right up to the boat and ate it. The ride was unreal and really fun! ​

The day pretty much was filled with tours so by the time we got back to the French Quarter it was dinner time and CJ and I were hangry. We did not have the patience to wait in line for an hour plus for places in the French Quarter. We walked around trying to find a place to eat (hand grenade drink in tow) and couldn’t find anything that wasn’t a long wait. We decided to finish our drink and Uber back to our AirBnB. Not far away was this restaurant called Bratz Y’all!  This was the most authentic German place we have been to since each of us had been to Germany. We both ordered Schnitzel and beer radlers with a pretzel and cheese of course. We were so full by the end of the night, but we only had a five minute walk home. ​

The next morning we woke up in time to pack up everything and do a quick video tour of our cute place. We were on the road again for Pt. 2 of our Honeymoon (coming soon.)