How We Saw New Orleans In Two Days (And What You Should See If You Go)

I am pretty sure we squeezed every ounce of New Orleans adventure that we possibly could out of 48 hours in the city. I landed in New Orleans at 1:23 PM on Wednesday, and left for the airport at 12:50 PM on Friday - it felt like a strangely relaxing whirlwind! I am so glad we took the chance to have a pre-baby getaway to a place that was brand-new to both of us.

More on where we went and what we did below, but first, pictures.

DAY ONE

I am pretty much a mountain girl, and rarely spend this much time in the city...so while I think my urban photography skills could use some help, this whole trip gave me a great chance to practice!

Here's what we did the first day:

-Arrived in the afternoon at Hotel Monteleone, which was so pretty! It also is home of the Carousel Bar, which is a rotating bar - we didn't get anything there, but it was cool to see it.

-Derek finished his conference class, and we set out to explore the city! We walked to Jackson Square and saw the oldest operating cathedral in the US.

-We also found some pretty doors to take pictures in front of. So many of the streets were so picturesque! If I lived there I would be hunting for good photo spots all the time.

-Stopped at Bourbon Street - that would be the picture where I am not grinning. It was so gross! Nothing pretty about that street at all, unlike the rest of the French Quarter.

-Went to the Palace Cafe for dessert. Derek got the bananas foster, which they made right in font of us! I got the lemon pie. Both were excellent!

-We also grabbed dinner, just at the Marriot because it was most convenient that night. We discussed baby names!

-Went back to the hotel and crashed at like 8 PM, home time. I was so tired from traveling.

DAY TWO

What we did on the second day (our only full day):

-Got some coffee at French Truck Coffee. I loved that place! It was clean and pretty, and they played oldies. I already waxed poetic about it on Instagram, see more there.

-Walked back to the hotel and waited for my tour bus to arrive while Derek went to the conference. I booked a city tour with Cajun Encounters, and it was definitely worth the money. The tour guide (forget his name, looked like Ashton Kutcher) was one of the better tour guides I've ever had. I wouldn't have seen nearly as much of the city without it, and I learned so much!

-The tour stopped by one of New Orleans above-ground cemeteries. It was creepy and interesting, because the reason they bury that way is not what I expected. Much too gruesome to describe here for all my posterity to read, but comment if you want to know and I'll explain.

-Other things I saw on the tour: Creole millionaire's row, Creole neighborhoods, Jackson Square again, the Tomb Of The Unknown Slave (which was interesting but so sad), the Garden District, and of course the cemetery.

-The tour also took us to a cafe called Morning Call, and we got free beignets and coffee as part of the tour! Score! These were actually my favorite beignets from when we were there.

-After the tour I went to a buffet for lunch (a little intimidating walking through the city by myself, it is so busy there). The food was okay, but the desserts were amazing! Every dessert I got in New Orleans was fantastic.

-Went back to the hotel and waited for Derek to get off from the conference. This was when I washed my hair - a turning point in the trip, because I washed out all my good products from home, and my hair responded way differently to the humidity without my products!

-I had intentions of sitting by the pool, but it was actually raining that afternoon, so I sat at one of the covered tables on the pool deck and started narrowing down our list of baby names and looking up meanings. Derek and I really wanted to use our time alone on this trip to get a short list of names for our girl!

-We decided to go ahead and book a riverboat cruise! When Derek got out of his class, we got dressed and walked over to the river (we might have stopped and bought some maple fudge on the way). It was a jazz dinner cruise on a steamboat called the Natchez, and it was an excellent decision to go. The music was amazing, the views were so pretty, and the the steamboat horn was so deep and cool-sounding. We got back when it was dark, and the city lights were so pretty!

-We took a pedi-cab back to the hotel - good because our feet were hurting, scary because our driver was nuts! I thought we were going to tip over! But hey, a 15 minute walk only took her about 3 minutes, so she was efficient!

DAY THREE

What we did on day three:

-Got more coffee at French Truck Coffee. I miss that place!

-Walked over to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and orange juice.

-The humidity was out of control that morning! My hair was wet by the time we got back to the hotel, but we stopped at several gift shops and a gallery on the way back (partially to escape the heat!). I practiced more photography in the city. We bought pralines for the kids, and a Christmas ornament with Santa riding an alligator.

-The gallery we stopped at had these unique paintings - the artist layered the pain on really thickly, so it had a 3D effect, I wish you could see it better in the picture, it was pretty cool!

-At this point Derek had to leave me again, and I took another shower before packing up my things. Derek had already packed and gone, because his flight left several hours later than mine, and he and some of his co-workers were going to do a swamp tour that afternoon! I have to admit, I was a little jealous of the swamp tour. He got to feed alligators! And hold a baby alligator!

-After washing my hair, I went to lunch at Mr. B's Bistro, right across from our hotel. I had the gumbo and the molten chocolate cup cake. Oh my goodness. It was so good! I gushed to Derek in a text about it, so he and his coworkers ended up stopping there too before they flew home. It was just really good. In my book, you pretty much HAVE to go there if you visit New Orleans.

-The airport shuttle picked me up, and home I went! I was sad to leave, but my hair was not sad. I worked on middle name pairings for baby while I waited for me plane.

I am so glad Derek and I got to explore New Orleans as much as we did, and it was a great time to reconnect (and think of some names!) before our little girl arrives in less than three months!

So if I was to make recommendations for a quick trip to New Orleans:

-Take a tour. They are definitely worth the money, and you see so much more that way!

-Jackson Square was really pretty, definitely walk over there.

-Eat at Mr. B's Bistro. It's a must.

-Try to find somewhere to listen to some jazz music! We did the riverboat, but I'm told Frenchman Street is a good place to go too.

-Bring your good hair products if you have even a slight hint of curl/wave! Your hair will thank me for this one, trust me.

-And get some beignets somewhere! It's kind of a New Orleans requirement, I think.