I love getting away during Christmas break but it’s one of the most expensive times of the year. So, every year, my husband and I research places to travel during Christmas that won’t “break” the bank.
When my husband first broached me on the subject of going to New Orleans for Christmas, I was dead set against it.
I had been there twice before with the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and I didn’t love it. I felt like it was very run down and there wasn’t much to do. And besides, I’d rather sit in the sun and watch the beautiful blue water in the Caribbean.
But I decided to let him persuade me and the four of us, my husband, two adult children and I flew via Delta Airlines to New Orleans, Louisiana.
We arrived in town on Sunday. My husband and son jumped out of the cab before we got to the hotel and walked over to the stadium to see the Saints vs. Falcons. My daughter and I took all the luggage to the hotel and then had a nice relaxing lunch, went shopping a bit and had spa appointments at the hotel.
We stayed at the Hotel Monteleone at 214 Rue Royale in New Orleans. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas with gorgeous trees in the lobby covered with white ornaments. The rooms were nice too. They weren’t big, so, I’m glad we got two rooms. But, they were nicely southern style decorated.
That night, we went caroling at Jackson Square and pushed our way into the hundreds of people who stood at the square with candles in their hands and a Christmas Carol song book. The caroling was done by the choir at the church across from the park. They sang old favorites like Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, White Christmas and Holy Night. It was really an amazing experience.
In the morning, we went to Cafe Beignet to have the classic New Orleans Beignet. Quite frankly, I didn’t see the difference between that and a Zeppoli. It was very greasy and I’m glad I only had a bite.
After that, we waited for the tour guide for the Graveyard tour, which, if you’re coming down here, I would highly recommend. Barry was our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable about the area and told us lots of tidbits about his life during Katrina. The graveyard was fascinating. We saw the grave of Gussy (Plessy vs. Ferguson – Separate but Equal case) and Marie Laveau, the VooDoo Princess.
At night, we went to Arnaud’s for dinner. It was a very nice restaurant in the heart of the French Quarter. We each had something different. We started with Oysters and Escargot. The Escargot wasn’t as flavorful as I would like, but they were certainly fresh. Two of us order Filet Mignon’s prepared different ways – one with oysters and the other with mushrooms. The food was good but the dessert was incredible but none of the portions were large.
The Celebration in the Oaks was worth seeing for the Christmas experience in New Orleans. The light show took place in City Park and you could either see them by going on a train through the park or you could walk through the park. We opted on walking and I’m glad we did, except that when the evening was over, I had to throw out my pants because they were torn and stained from the dirt and mud.
The next day, we went to the Mardi Gras World where we actually saw how artists make these elaborate floats for 12 days of Mardi Gras where there are 50 parades going on. It was quite impressive. The fun part of the tour was when we got to dress up in costumes and take photos before the actual tour. We saw a short film about Mardi Gras and tasted a piece of cake (one of the pieces had a “baby Jesus” in it. The person who had the “baby Jesus” had to throw a party that year. None of us had “baby Jesus” in our cake.). Then, we went on our way to view the artists and see some of the completed works. I would highly recommend going to Madri Gras World as part of a New Orleans Itinerary.
That night, we went to Muriel’s for dinner. Muriel’s is known as a haunted place. So, when we sat in the room waiting for our food and a ghost tour came by, I made a scary face out the window and the people on the tour jumped. The food was much better here than Arnaud’s. We ata prix fix meal of $40 for 3 courses or $48 for four courses. I started my course with a butternut squash soup, followed by a citrus salad (which was incredible), followed by flounder stuffed with shrimp. I had gotten a sweet potato tart but returned it for amazingly delicious bread pudding.
When we were all stuffed, we headed over to Rock n’ Bowl. Talk about going back in time! The place is a little outside of the French Quarter so you need to take a taxi to get there. It had a large dance floor, live band and lots of lanes. After a game, I threw out my back and was out but the rest of the family played another game. (I won’t brag about our scores. I’m just lucky I made double digits in the first round!)
On Christmas eve, we went to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas which was right on the Mississippi River. What a great Aquarium and worth going to! We saw so many varieties of fish, along with seahorses and eels. But the highlight for us was the parakeet area. As soon as we walked in, my son was bombarded with parakeets. They were all over him. I was surprised he didn’t walk out with one!
The traditional Bonfire tour was definitely a highlight on this trip. Apparently, every Christmas Eve, locals from across the area, go to a levee about an hour or so outside of the city, build bonfires and then at exactly 7 pm light them up! Some of the bonfires had fireworks in them which made them explode. It was an incredible sight to see and the best part was, it was family oriented. It made for a great Christmas eve!
Christmas day nothing was open. It was even hard to find a breakfast place. My family and I went for a mile run along the waterfront. I reached my 500th mile run for the year and then we searched up and down the streets for a place to eat breakfast. Our hotel was booked so we were limited. When we finally found a place, it took them over an hour to get our breakfast and then a long time to get the check.
We decided to take the trolly car through the city after breakfast. It was interesting to check out the garden district and then walk around Tulane University. We circled back, went to the hotel for a bar appetizer and then went to dinner at Galvez, a Spanish restaurant which had a great view of the Mississippi River however, the food wasn’t very good and the service was terrible. I know it was Christmas but there weren’t many people in the restaurant and it took us almost an hour to get butter for the bread. The food and drinks followed.
After dinner, we did what everyone should do when they visit New Orleans, we went to Preservation Hall to see one of their bands. Wow, it was sensational. Talk about amazing Jazz! And, we ended up meeting Ben Jaffe, owner of the place and tuba player in the main band. What a nice guy! First question we asked, “when will you be back in NYC?”
And talking about famous people, as I was walking down the street, I bumped into Grandpa Elliot who appeared on Playing for a Change. I watched his video numerous times and listen to the album a lot so for me, it was thrilling to meet him on the streets of New Orleans.
The last day, we took a Segway tour around the city. It was certainly an interesting experience and a few times I almost crashed into the person in front of me. What I liked about this tour was that it took us to parts of the city we didn’t explore on our own like Treme and Frenchman’s Street. It was worth the $60 to do it but you could do the same tour on your own with a guide book and spare your feet. (A word about Segway – WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES!)
I didn’t want to go at first but it turned out to be one of my favorite vacations so far and I’m glad I went during Christmas week. All of the Christmas festivities added to the unique and fun experience.
