Hello and welcome back!
I did a blog post discussing Day 1 and Day 2 of my New Orleans vacation, that you can find here –> NOLA Vacation Part 1 Todays post I will be taking you through my Day 3 journey in NOLA with my mom.
What you’ll read about in this post:
- Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral Church
- NOLA Garden District
- Cafe Du Monde
- Steamboat Natchez Jazz Dinner Cruise
We ate breakfast at a restaurant called Cafe Fleur de lis. Super fitting don’t you think? I’m going to be honest – it wasn’t stellar food or service. We chose to eat there only because it was called Cafe Fleur de lis but – I’d rate it a 3 out of 10 on quality and service.
Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral Church
- Location: on Jackson Square, 615 Pere Antoine Alley
- Website: https://www.stlouiscathedral.org/
- Admission: Free
- Dress Code: No requirements
- Recommend: YES
There are various activities that happen on and around Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral Church. Since we didn’t have a ton of days for our New Orleans vacation, we had to pick and choose what we did wisely. That being said, we did not schedule anything or plan to see anything specific in this area – we just knew we wanted to see the landscape and the church itself.
We had planned to see this area on a different day during our trip, but when we were in that area due to our departure for the garden district. We thought since it was such a beautiful day that we should take advantage of it and check out the park and church.
At the time, relatively early in the morning – there wasn’t a whole lot happening. There were tons of horse carriages waiting to be swiped up, not even a line at Cafe Du Monde. Of course, there were still tons of people and cars roaming about but definitely not as hectic as it will soon become later in the day.
We couldn’t go into the church at this time because we were soon going on our tour for the Garden District but, we managed to be able to check it out when we returned from our tour. It is a gorgeous church; quite spectacular. After which – we noticed all the happenings were starting to unfold and it was blazin’ outside.
Overall Reaction & Tips
- Overall pretty pleasant. I didn’t have a wild experience but I also didn’t have a poor experience.
- There are tours for the church available but I don’t think it’s necessary.
- We were able to get some decent pictures of the church and horse statue because we were there quite early. I recommend doing that.
- There was an art fair in the afternoon; we didn’t have time to enjoy this – Tip: Look into times of events happening on the square so you can pause and enjoy.
NOLA Garden District
- Date: Monday, October 28th, 2019
- Schedule: 9:00am – Meet Tour Guide at the Gray Line, 400 Toulouse St.
- 9:30am – 12:15pm – New Orleans Garden District Walking Tour
- Admission/Price: Approximately $39 per person (not including tip, no lunch)
- Tour group is small
- Booking agency: https://www.viator.com/tours/New-Orleans/Garden-District-Walking-Tour-Mansions-and-Lafayette-Cemetery/d675-3780STROLL
- Dress Code: No requirements; Dress to fit the weather and walking
- Recommend: YES
Who doesn’t want to see famous old mansions and hear old stories about how they came to be? I dare say no one. This 2 hour 45 minute tour gives you an inside look on history of the breathtaking architecture beginning in the 19th Century.
Some of the residents that live in this neighborhood with their giant mansions include but are not limited to: Sandra Bullock, Drew Brees, John Goodman and the Manning Family. Our tour guide mentioned that there have been times that the Mannings come out and sign autographs for tours but unfortunately, no one came out for our group. Can I get a refund? Just kidding.
You might know me by now that I will always be able to find a Fleur De Lis amongst my presence. Oh yeah and that mansion behind it is gorgeous too 😉 This historical building was actually turned into a school! Isn’t that fun!
To remind everyone, we were visiting NOLA at the time when Halloween was just days away so when we got to the Women’s Guild Opera House you better believe it was all dressed up perfect for Halloween celebrations.
I mean, look that those window treatments, the molding on the ceiling and the chandeliers!! You truly get thrown right back into the 19th Century in this beautiful estate!
Is it just me or were you expecting to see a bunch of flowers? Perhaps just me then. I’m not sure why I was expecting tons of flowers everywhere – probably because it is called the GARDEN District. Nevertheless, it was indeed gorgeous.
If you click on the booking agency link that I shared you will notice that the info on this tour talks about a cemetery that you would get to tour and see. This cemetery actually turned out to be the one that appears in the shows I used to watch such as The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and various other movies and shows I don’t watch that I hoped to see on my New Orleans vacation.
Unfortunately, this cemetery has been closed for cleaning and renovation for quite some time now. Thus, you could be slightly disappointed when you find that how so call ahead and check to see if it will be open because it wasn’t for us. We got to see the outside though.
While roaming through all the beautiful mansions we came across this, apparently famous, Creole style restaurant. It’s a shame we didn’t know about this spectacular eatery because we definitely would have scheduled it in.
- Location: 1403 Washington Ave
- Website: https://www.commanderspalace.com/
- Price: $$$
- Dress Code & Time: Business Attire see website for further detail, by reservation only.
Overall Reaction & Tips
Overall, my mom and I had a stellar time on this tour. We got to walk around New Orleans Garden District and see some incredibly breathtaking mansions. It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t get to tour the cemetery especially after finding out that it was the one that was filmed for my shows.
- The one downfall was it was hard to hear our guide from time to time so we missed some of the stories. So be sure to be prepared for noisy roads.
- Dress appropriately for rain or shine with walking shoes
- You only get to see inside one house (The opera house for this tour)
- Bring water
- Bring cash for tipping
Came across these fancy stepping stones that assisted in getting into carriages way back in the day. How cool is that!
Cafe Du Monde
- Location: 800 Decatur St
- There are multiple locations. The above location is the one best known
- Gift Shop Location: 813 Decatur St
- Right across the street where you can get souvenirs and box recipes of the beignets and canned coffee!
- Hours: Open 24 hours
- What we Ordered:
- 1 order of 3 Beignets
- 2 Chicory Coffees
- Price: $, 3 Beignets are approximately $3.50 before tax
- Website: https://shop.cafedumonde.com/
- Dress Code: No requirements – it is an open air restaurant so dress for the weather
- Recommend: YES
The line to for the Cafe Du Monde was actually quite empty when we first arrived to the area earlier in the morning around 9am. Unfortunately for us, we couldn’t stop for our treat at that time because we were boarding our tour bus at 9:30am. Thus, we had to postpone our Cafe Du Monde to later in the day.
Therefore due to postponing, we ended up needing to wait in a very, very long line just to get a seat then we had to wait to order and receive our beignets. Luckily, we had time to spare! You can’t see it in this picture but there was even a to-go line that people stood in!!
Isn’t my mom just so beautiful? Lord – just look how happy she looks!!
In addition, we ended up getting a box of the beignets, a can of the chicory coffee, and a white Cafe Du Monde sweatshirt that you’ll see me wearing in another post. The recipe box of beignets was the cheapest we found at their gift shop so I just recommend getting it with them!
Overall Reaction & Tips
Above all – it was 100% worth the wait and I completely understand why people wait so long just to get some beignets and coffee! If and when I have another New Orleans vacation, I will definitely make another stop here at Cafe Du Monde without a doubt! The beignets were hot, fluffy and delicious and the coffee had chicory in it which was new and just so lovely!
- Cash Only Restaurant
- Very long wait time if you go during rush times – I suggest an earlier time around 8:30am to 9:00am
- You WILL get powder on you. It is without a doubt.
- If you go during busy times, it can take the staff a bit to clean off the tables and you will notice new customers going straight to a dirty table because it is self serve seating. In this case, it will most likely have powder all over it so I would be cautious of what you decide to wear!
- On the flip side, In my opinion try your hardest to keep clean! That way it is easy to clean up before you leave, easier for a new customer to sit down and helps out the busy staff!
Steamboat Natchez Jazz Dinner Cruise
- Location: 400 Toulouse St
- Schedule:
- Monday October 28th
- Arrive at 5:45pm
- Early Seating and Dinner
- Depart at 7:00pm
- Dock at 9:00pm
- Monday October 28th
- Dinner: Freshly prepared buffet style New Orleans dinner
- Admission: ~$170.00 per person
- Website: https://www.steamboatnatchez.com/dinner-cruise
- Dress Code: No requirements, However, we did dress nice and for the weather
- Recommend: Maybe
So, I put maybe as my recommend because we didn’t actually complete this excursion. I know you may be surprised and are like ‘what?’. Unfortunately, My mom and I had an extremely long, tiring day of walking and it turns out – we got tired FAST.
Since we chose the early dinner seating we were actually done eating dinner on the boat prior to it even leaving shore. So, we quickly looked at each other and decide hey – maybe we don’t need to cruise! We then chose to remove ourselves from the steamboat and went home.
As a result, we were SO tired that we actually forgot that we also missed our Ghost & Vampire tour later that evening. Which, I was actually quite sad about considering it was very close to Halloween I’m sure it would’ve been really good.
Overall Reaction & Tips
We happened to be very tired. So I’m not going to judge it too hard.
- Definitely get there early to get a good spot in line.
- They take your groups’ picture that you can pay for later. That was nice of them.
- The dinner was exceptional! We also got to listen to the live jazz music that was playing upstairs.
- The only thing I will hit on is that I wish that the cruise itself STARTED as we were eating dinner.
- Everyone had to get there at the same time no matter what time you chose to eat (2 dinner times) so after we were finished eating we wondered if it was worth it to ride for 2hours. Thus is why we decided to get off the boat. I don’t believe we would’ve had such motivation if we had already taken off.
In Conclusion For New Orleans Vacation Day 3
Even though we had such a very long day of adventure for our New Orleans vacation. We truly did have a spectacular time visiting Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral Church, the Garden District, Cafe Du Monde and of course our unexpected evening with have a dinner cruise and a missed Ghost tour!
As always, I’d love to hear your experiences or hope that my experience helps you with your trip to New Orleans. Each adventure is so different and you truly never know what you’re going to get when you visit a new place for the first time.
I appreciate you very much for reading this post and hope that it helps you at least in the slightest way. Feel free to reach out with questions regarding my New Orleans vacation and I’d be more than happy to help in any way I can!
Take Care!
[…] New Orleans has always been a place that I’ve wanted to visit and I cannot tell you how excited I was to find out that I was being invited to go. As I come to a close on my Nola vacation I’d like you to just refresh your memory by reading (if you haven’t already done so) New Orleans Vacation – Part 1 & New Orleans Vacation – Part 2. […]