New Orleans! (And Pensacola, FL)

dazyabbey

Not a honeymoon but I am SUPER excited. We will be going down to Pensacola for about 3 days for my friends wedding. Then we are (the bride&groom and My hubby and I) going to New Orleans for about 5 days.

I have been to NOLA before, and so has my friends fiance. But my husband and my friend have never been. So I am super excited to show them how awesome NOLA can be and the history and beauty of the city.

One of the things I want to do is go to the WWII museum and Mardi Gras World and probably a Plantation or Swamp Tour. Few things I missed last time. Also there are the obvious things like Cafe Du Monde and Pat O'Briens. I can't wait to have some great Banana Foster (My Favorite!!) and some Crawfish. We are going to be staying on St. Charles in the Garden District (Free Parking and the street car stops in front of our hotel). Any other suggestions on what to do? For newbies and for a couple of people returning?

 

Also anything for recommendations in Pensacola. We will have about a day and a half free of wedding related things so anything down there to do?

AprilH81

The WWII museum is awesome...  I hosted a work event there and it was just amazing.

I did a DIY plantation tour of Oak Alley and I think the "Laura" plantation.  They were both active plantations at the same time but they are vastly different and it was very interesting to see them both.  We just drove ourselves up and back, but there are tour companies that will take you to both.

Cafe Du Monde is amazing and cheap.  Once you go to the original for the atmosphere there is a satellite location inside the Riverwalk mall that is a lot less crowded.  

Emeril Lagasse has several restaurants in New Orleans, I tried NOLA one time and it was fantastic and not too terribly expensive from what I remember (higher than normal, but not crazy expensive).  http://www.emerilsrestaurants.com/nola-restaurant

Have fun!

dazyabbey

ohhhh I will check that out. I was wanting to take the newlyweds out for dinner one night so that might be perfect.

Were the Oak Alley and Laura plantation part of the same package? I am going to check with the other couple and see if they want to do a tour with us. If they do then we will have transportation, if not, we will have to get a tour company to take us.

nikib0210

I would recommend going to Magazine Street for an afternoon - lots of cute shops and restaurants. There is a place called Sucre that has awesome desserts. (Magazine is just a few blocks away from St. Charles Ave. - between Louisiana Ave. and Washington Ave. is a nice little strip with antique shops, bars and whatnot. I'm assuming you are staying somewhere on St. Charles Ave., you could take the streetcar to one of the cross streets and walk over to Magazine.)

For restaurants, some of my favorites are: Jacque Imo's, Dick & Jenny's, Herbsaint, and Brigtsen's. 

firsttimersluck

I live in Pensacola! Just moved here with the Navy a half year ago.  

I would suggest a few things

Foodwise:

McGuires < ----- THIS IS A MUST. If you only get to eat out once, go to this irish pub. It's soo much fun. Order an Irish wake. It's incredible and the booze is A LOT but hidden, so they actually only allow 3 per person. The 2nd one will make you feel awesome. haha

Popular places for the best of the gulf seafood are

-Fish House

-Hemmingways

-Atlas (fish house/atlas are right next door and they have a nice outdoor bar that plays music or has bands) 

-Jaco's or Nick's Boathouse are two restaurants right downtown Pensacola that have beautiful outdoor seating to hear and feel the ocean breeze. Both have great food and good service. 

Things to do: 

-Paddleboarding is big here. FO (Fitness On Board) does SUP rentals down at the beach at the Margaritaville hotel (also a fun hotel to stay at) and they offer classes. I'm a big fan of SUP yoga.

-Ft. Pickens is on Pensacola Beach, at the very end. REALLY cool to wander and read the history of the area, if you enjoy military/US history at all. Plus it's beautiful views of the ocean and surrounding area

-Naval Air Station Pensacola is open to the public and has the Aviation museum. I haven't been yet, but it's the "thing to do on a rainy day" here. People are crazy about it. They do a breakfast and a movie on Tuesday, I believe, in the Imax. There is also a cool lighthouse and a couple old forts to wander on base. You might get lucky and see the Blue Angels practicing

-Palafox street is the street to work on a Friday or Saturday night. It's the cute downtown street with great bars, pubs, restaurants. One friday a month is Gallery Night where they close the street off to cars, live music in the streets, booze, food, good stuff Definitely a to-do if you happen to be here when there is one! 

AprilH81

dazyabbey said:

ohhhh I will check that out. I was wanting to take the newlyweds out for dinner one night so that might be perfect.

Were the Oak Alley and Laura plantation part of the same package? I am going to check with the other couple and see if they want to do a tour with us. If they do then we will have transportation, if not, we will have to get a tour company to take us.

I think they were both offered by a few tour companies, but we had a car so we drove ourselves.  I think they were on the same road a few miles from one another and about 30-45 minutes from New Orleans.  If you have a car it will be much cheaper to do it on your own, plus the added flexibility of being able to stay longer at one or the other if you wanted to.

 

A quick search found these tours that look like they do both plantations in one trip.  I have not been on any of these so make sure you do your research first.

http://www.graylineneworleans.com/plantation-tours.html

http://www.neworleans.com/tours/shop/oak-alley-and-laura-plantation-tour/

http://plantationadventure.com/tour_details.php?tid=2

dazyabbey

I think Cafe Du Monde was exactly what it is supposed to be, so I guess I wasn't disappointed.

Magazine street was okay. We did walk down it last time we were in NOLA.

 

But now I have lots of stuff for Pensacola and for New Orleans. :-)

I am excited!!!

Hobie625

I love, love, love New Orleans.  I used to live in Houston and really the only thing I miss is that I'm not within driving distance to NO anymore. 

I'd suggest a day or half a day at the Audubon Zoo.  Audubon Park itself is large and beautiful; you could even picnic there.  The animals and exhibits at the zoo are amazing but what I really loved was the architecture of the old buildings. 

The Columns Hotel on St Charles is a nice place to sit and have a drink and enjoy the atmosphere. Have a Pimm's Cup.  Yummy!

One other area I'd suggest it the Marigny neighborhood, which is northeast-ish of the French Quarter.  It's got some great jazz bars and it's not nearly as busy as the French Quarter and Bourbon Street.  You can walk there easily from the Quarter though.

Other quick thoughts are The new Orleans Museum of Art, near City Park, or a drive across Lake Pontchartrain!  Have fun!

dazyabbey

I have been to Audobon Zoo. It really is great! Not as awesome as our zoo here in Omaha but really good (I love our zoo!). I liked the Swamp part. They had a pretty cool dinosaur exhibit when we were there.  Last time we ended up walking to the zoo from the Audubon Park and didn't realize it was THAT big. Wow. I don't know if the rest of the people we are with are into Zoo's but if they are we will check it out again. My husband can go either way. He isn't really into them but would go if we are going and would enjoy it. But he probably wouldn't go out of the way to visit one.

 

I will have to check out that neighborhood though. One of the things I want to do is check out some neat Jazz places.