Day One: Falling In Love With New Orleans

I’ve always heard of New Orleans as being a magical place that I needed to come and visit, but I’ll admit I was a bit biased as my only thoughts of New Orleans were that it was a great party city. As I mentioned before in my Dressy Chic post, I’ve been trying to get to New Orleans for years but I’ve never made it. This previous year I felt this overwhelming pull to make plans to visit New Orleans and I actually had it on my “To Do list” for 2015. I believe in a saying “Words give things Power”, and so imagine my surprise when I received an invite to come and be a guest of the New Orleans Convention and Visitor Bureau for three days of Culture, Food, and Fun. As I have so much to share, I’ll be doing two follow up post to accompany this one. While I will probably never be able to completely describe in words my captivating experience I hope that in some way I convince you that New Orleans should be on your list of places to visit in the near future.

One of the first things I did after checking into my hotel and grabbing a classic Shrimp Po’ boy from a little placed called Commerce was to go on a walking Tour of the French Quarter. The things that astounded me the most about New Orleans was that everyone who lived there had such a strong pride for the city’s history. The little history that I did know of New Orleans stemmed from what I’d learned in the history books and from what I’d seen portrayed on TV. New Orleans is a true melting pot made up of descendants from France, Spain, Germany, and Haiti. During this tour, I learned that New Orleans was unlike other city’s during 1800 and 1900’s. There was no divide between the classes as they all lived amongst each other and slaves had Sundays off.  The family businesses weren’t automatically passed on to the men of the family, but to the smartest child. This allowed for women to run businesses as seen with Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, who was responsible for the design and construction of the famous Pontalba Buildings in Jackson Square, in the heart of the French Quarter.

As you walk the streets of New Orleans you’ll recognize the history of the cultures in the buildings as they transition from ornate customs of the French to the hacienda styles of the Spanish. It’s not out of the ordinary to see over the top decor or  fancy crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings as well as talented big brass or smaller  bands playing in the street.  What I liked about New Orleans was that it was mostly a walkable city and there was an abundance of small shops that grabbed your attention as you turned each corner.

Living in the heart of New Orleans has to be absolutely amazing. Many of the homes housed business establishments on the first floor which is why you’ll see balconies lining the streets. This is also great for Madi Gras as you can just sit on the balcony and enjoy the parade.  Let me also add I did not realize how big of a deal Mardi Gras was to the people of New Orleans. I became overwhelmed listening to people plan their days worth of costumes and finding out that being Mardi Gras Queen could cost a big chunk of change and almost caused one businesswoman to bankrupt her family business as she was Mardi Gras Queen over 25 times! Germaine Cazenave Wells Mardi Gras Museum is located in the Arnaud’s restaurant located in the French Quarter.  This Museum houses all of the dresses on Mannequins that are made to look like Germain Wells. I’ll admit I was fascinated by the complicated and intricate design of the dresses, but also a bit creeped out as I felt like the Mannequins eyes were following me. 

 Stay tuned as I have so much more to show you. The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau took us on an adventure! Also, I’m going to share with you how you can eat like a King in New Orleans and only gain 2lbs, well I maybe can’t really guarantee that but it happened!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of New Orleans Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. The opinions and text are all mine.