Day 4: Nola Livin'

Here I am outside of Nero Cafe wearing a Relay For Life Shirt. Shout out to all who participate in this event nation-wide and a special shout out to participants in RU's Relay For Life and my team, Superstorm Sandies.

First things first, I grabbed some food from Nero Cafe. Kept it simple.

Garden Salad and French Onion Soup.

After brunch at Nero Cafe, I went on over to one of the famous cemeteries of New Orleans - The St. Louis Cemetery. I went on over to #1 and got to observe a bunch of the different graves.

It was quite a sight because all of the graves are above ground and there are many famous politicians and entertainers buried in these cemeteries.

The entryway 

Some of the graves

Look at the height of them - some tombs bury entire families inside.

After the trip to the cemetery I went over to Bourbon Street and caught some mid-day live music at Famous Door.

Band jamming inside of Famous Door on Bourbon Street

I heard a lot of talk about Erin Rose's "famous" Frozen Irish Coffee, so I decided it was imperative that I tried one. 

Let me tell you something, the drink was delicious.

It was basically like a coffee-flavored milkshake (with alcohol in it of course).

There aren't too many places that serve Irish Coffee in a frozen form, but Erin Rose is one of them, and they do a great job with the drink.

Outside of Erin Rose

The delicious, Frozen Irish Coffee - garnished with coffee grinds

Since I took my Frozen Irish Coffee togo, I brought it on over to the Food Network acclaimed, Cafe Beignet.

Cafe Beignet was featured on The Food Network's, "Best Thing I Ever Ate." I wanted to test out their opinion to see my opinion matched up. 

The atmosphere of the cafe was pretty cool - it was outdoors and there was a live jazz band playing but back to the subject matter: THE BEIGNETS.

They were delicious, I must say. Definitely better than the ones I tried previously at Morning Call Cafe - the cafe inside of City Park.

Mmm Hot & Fresh.

Powdered Sugar Oblivion.

After devouring my tasty snack, I walked around a bit more and explored the French Quarter. 

A stumbled upon a pretty comical sign...

This was outside of a bar...

Oh, New Orleans. There is never a dull moment.

After walking around for a bit, I decided it was time to eat again so I hit up a taqueria that came highly recommended to me from local New Orleans' folk.

The place is called, Felipe's.

Plate of Delicious Mexican Food From Felipe's

I'll admit, Felipe's was a great recommendation. The food there was very authentic and flavorful. 

After filling up on Felipe's, it was time for some music - AWOLNATION at the House of Blues!

House of Blues in New Orleans - The Original

Before the show, we went into the bar and restaurant area. The way the venue is set up is pretty cool. There is an outdoor courtyard where there is a little stage that is fitting for open mic events, and then there is the restaurant and bar area behind that. 

On the other side there is the venue for the large-scale acts along the likes of AWOLNATION.

AWOLNATION

The show was absolutely fabulous. AWOLNATION put on a fabulous live show and I was entertained the entire time. I would highly recommend seeing them perform live if they are ever local in your area.

Emulating The Blues Brothers

After the concert, we went on over to a high-end bar called, Victory. The bartender there was great - you told him what flavors you liked and he mixed you up a fine cocktail. 

Great way to end an awesome day.

Day 1 - Nola Livin'

Here I am, at the Philadelphia Airport wearing a t-shirt from Peru. I figured I'd start off my new adventure with a shirt from one of my most recent adventures. 

Here I am right after I touched down in New Orleans!

Right after my arrival to New Orleans, I went to the first hostel I will be staying at called, India House.

(Pictures of the hostel soon to come).

Then I went to a restaurant called "Bayou Beer Garden." They had some great bar food. I got a buffalo chicken wrap and an order of disco fries.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not the biggest fan of fries, nonethless disco fries, but these things were amazing! There were bits of roast beef in the gravy that made the dish. 

Here's a pictures of the beer I had: Abita Strawberry.

Abita is the local beer of New Orleans. There are many different drafts and flavors. Right now, the Strawberry flavor is in season. It was fruity, but not too sweet - making it a wonderful celebratory arrival drink.

After my Strawberry Abita, I tried an Abita Amber - that is the most popular draft. It was tasty, but then it was time to go out and venture a bit around the city.

I wound up wandering in the direction of Frenchmen Street - home to some AMAZING live music.

Here's a picture of some street performers I saw along the way.

I'm not sure if you can tell from that picture, but there is a man laying on a bed of nails, followed by another bed of nails ontop of him, followed by a man on top of that and then topped off with a lady standing on slippers with nails pertruding out of them. 

Yep - that was... interesting.

The rest of my night was spent checking out various different night clubs along Frenchmen Street.

Apple Barrel was an intimate club with a population of primarily older folk. There was a three-piece blues band playing. 

Note: The guy's face in the bottom left hand corner of this shot was unintentional.

Here is the three-piece blues band jamming inside of Apple Barrel.

After the Apple Barrel, I made my way over to another nightclub called, The Spotted Cat. This place was a bit bigger and had a more vibrant, young-adult populated crowd. 

There was a five-piece jazz/blues band playing at The Spotted Cat that consisted of a trombone, saxophone, trumpet, upright bassist and percussionist. They sounded amazing.

Here is the inside of the well-known nightclub, The Spotted Cat. 

Note: The wooden cat in this picture is indeed, spotted.

That about wraps up my first night in the great Creole City. 

WHO DAT?!