Nikki again, straight from I-85N, two hours outside of
Athens, GA where we’re headed for New Years Eve. This eight hour drive has been
broken up by a stop at both Sonic and KFC, so needless to say, we’re still
full. Our long stint in New Orleans was everything we hoped it would be and
more!
We arrived on the 29th around 5 and settled into
Morgan’s Tulane apartment (thanks again, Moe!) after our longest drive of the
trip. We switched out of sweatpants and into more presentable clothes, and
waited for my friend Rachel (we met in Sydney, she lives 2.5 hours outside of
NOLA, hi Rach!) to pick us up. We drove down to the French Quarter and waited
in a relatively long line for a delicious place recommended to us called the
Gumbo Shop. It was, in fact, quite delicious, and a conversation was had
regarding me bathing in said Gumbo. Linds got crawfish ettoufee and Rachel got
red beans & rice. We fit in so well here. After dindin, we walked all
around the Quarter and saw a long line at the 24-hour Café du Monde, multiple
voodoo/tarot card/palm reading tables, and most importantly, a bustling Bourbon
Street, even on a Sunday night. The Saint’s had just won a game and tourists
and locals alike were celebrating properly. After grabbing a hot chocolate and
baileys from a very peculiar bar called Nepoleons Itch (‘nuff said), we
strolled along the street weaving in and out of drunken fools and laughing at
overhead conversations. We spent a good chunk of time in the Quarter and
eventually made it back to the apartment in one piece.
Rise and Shine was at 9am. We made it back to Café du Monde
just in time to get the perfect spot in the enormous line. Luckily, that place
is huge and the line moves relatively quickly. Also, luckily, street performers
were there to entertain and keep our minds off the fact that we were not yet
stuffing our faces with fried dough covered in powdered sugar. But don't worry.
That time came. And it was glorious. Lindsey and I were modest and split three
between the two of us. We washed it down with café au lait and hot chocolate,
gave our seats up to the next group of hungry tourists, and began our daylight
stroll back around the French Quarter. The artists had their art hung up all
around Jackson Square and we stopped to look at everything. We must have gone
into quite literally every boutique and art gallery, buying a few goodies here
and there. The next time we looked at our clocks, it was 2pm and we had no idea
where the morning had gone. We decided 2pm was a good time to eat again, so we
got back to the car and drove to our predetermined lunch spot.
This spot is called Parkway Bakery & Tavern, and is the
place where the Obama’s get their po’boys in NOLA, so it made the most sense
that we do it as well. In addition to free parking, this place had the most
fantastic golden fried shrimp po’boy I’ve ever had, and I think I maybe have
had a bite of one before in my 21 years of life. No but really, it was awesome
and messy and everything I dreamed it would be the night before. We left
Parkway happy and full, so everything went as planned. We drove from there to
Magazine street which is the cutest little street that took a minimum of $150
from our wallets in the form of unnecessary additions to our closets. It was
great. After robbing us of our life savings, we decided to go to Oak street
where we were told there was more to buy. Fortunately/Unfortunately, we didn’t
find Oak street as charming, as there was less to spend our money on. We
decided, if theres nothing here to buy to put on the outside of our bodies, we
might as well sit down somewhere and buy something to put inside of them. So,
that’s exactly what we did.
We found Camillia Grill, a diner with a single counter that
snakes through the entire restaurant, and ordered Gumbo, a Cheeseburger, and
fried mac & cheese bites, because Morgan suggested them and it didn't
matter that we still weren’t hungry. Something to note is that we were at a
diner and didn't order milkshakes because we have self control sometimes,
okay?! We finished our grease bowls and then, because it was not even 8pm,
decided it was the right time to start our night on Bourbon. Whats kewl about
NOLA is that its never too early OR too late to start having a good time in the
Quarter. Linds started her night off with a ‘Hurricane’ Daiquiri (cherry/fruit
punchy/alcoholy) and got it to go in a *~classy~* Styrofoam cup for easy
sippage while walking around. I found a ‘to-go’ window, and grabbed a ‘Hand
Grenade’ (appley/alcoholy) for the road! (walking, of course) It was then that
I decided ‘To-Go’ Windows in New Orleans are God’s way of picking favorites and
declaring that NOLA is the winner of all cities. (COME ON BOSTON, STEP UP YOUR
GAME!) The rest of the night consisted of waltzing in and out of various jazz
bars listening to random bands play random songs for random strangers. We shook
our groove thangs and had a great time with our plastic & Styrofoam to-go
cups. You also need to know that we got Mardi Gras beads, but you don't need to
know what we had to do to get them…
By the end of the night, we were pretty much ‘Nawlin-ers
and, in my opinion, you couldn't tell us apart from the locals. We had a lovely
seat on a bench overlooking the MIGHTY MISSISSIPI RIVER and pondered life.
After the 3 seconds of life pondering, we sang songs from our 5th
grade choirs. This concluded the night before we headed back to the apartment.
We hopped in the car this morning before 10am and got on the
road towards UGA, where we will celebrate 2014 in style at our friends frat
house. YAY!
Talk to ya next year, followers!
*drops mic*
