My friend from high school, Heidi, had come in after midnight and apparently her body is programmed to wake up at 7am- thus we all ended up waking shortly after. While she went on a run to find the expo, the rest of us made our way for coffee and a place to have a "New Orleans" breakfast.
We got coffee from a local chain called "PJs Coffee" ~ in my imperfect opinion, it was comparable to starbucks (and of course better prices) While in PJs we asked a couple who said they were frequent visitors to the city if they had any recommendations for breakfast (and they had to have good bacon haha) They said they were headed to Stanleys which was in the square across from the chapel. So we walked for quite a while and did reach the chapel, which was gorgeous.
I wish I would have taken a picture, but there was awesome Artwork along the sidewalks leading up to the chapel and as you were leaving- next time I go to New Orleans I'm definitely going to purchase some. We walked around looking for the address to Stanleys, but there was nothing there (did Katrina close it down?)
Decided to go to one of the few authentic Creole restaurants - Cafe Montrel. I'm not a fan of seafood, so a lot of the Creole food I couldn't eat but was satisfied with their bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and toast. I just LOVE breakfast food.
Afterward we walked around the riverwalk, which is absolutely gorgeous, and just enjoyed the amazing weather!
Heidi and I
Heidi still needed to go to the expo, so I agreed to tag along while Becca and Mike hit up the casino. Expo on saturday was INSANELY busy- ugh I hate slow moving crowds, so this was a nightmare for me. Luckily Heidi didn't want to linger around as much as I did the day before, so we were out fairly quick.
Met back up with B and M and went to check out the most haunted hotel in New Orleans- Monteleon. We were originally trying to stay here, but it was all booked up, figures.
had a drink at the bar- even napkins were fancy
Carousel bar- even moves around like an actual carousel!!
view of the city from top deck of hotel
their heated pool on top deck!
amazing how perfectly still he stayed
Lunch was decided to eat at Royal House for lunch. Small, but gorgeous. If you love seafood, especially oysters and crawfish, you will LOVE this place.
Afterward Heidi really wanted a Hurricane, so we went back to Pat O Greens and had some drinks while listening to the dueling pianos.
I stopped after one beer, but everyone was getting boozed so we carried on to a karaoke bar- Cat's Meow. I watched as everyone got drunker- Heidi even got on stage a few times to dance with the other singers
Heidi is one in blue
As much fun as everyone else was having, I was MISERABLE. With all the walking around we had been doing the past 2 days, my knee was punishing me. Finally after 1.5 hrs at the Cats Meow, I told the crew I was going back to hotel to rest. I walked back to the hotel, sat and stretched in the hot tub, then iced while watching tv until everyone came stumbling in 4 hours later. We got all our gear prepared for the morning and then lights out!
Great pics! I love dueling pianos...looks like you had so much fun. Darn knee injury.
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