Home sweet home, finally
Jul. 5th, 2011 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee34New Orleans was a smashing success. We got there in the early afternoon and went immediately to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
The traveling exhibits were of African art and Madeline Albright's pin collection, both of which I found fascinating. Emma especially enjoyed the African art exhibit and the museum's permanent collection of glass and porcelain. At one point during the Renaissance Gallery, she turned to me and said, "Why is everybody naked?" We tried to explain the reasons why painters choose to paint nude subjects, but she just shook her head and said, "That just strikes me wrong." I told Josh that just as soon as we got to my parents' house she was going to tell everybody she saw a bunch of naked people in New Orleans. LOL
Then we checked into our hotel, Wyndham Garden Baronne Plaza. I would definitely recommend this hotel to y'all. It's a bit pricey, but we got a great deal on hotels.com. The hotel is just one block off Canal and just a few blocks from Bourbon Street and the river. We walked to everything we went to except Commander's Palace and NOMA. It's a bit of a hike all the way to the French Market but not too bad even with a kidlet in tow. Also, the hotel staff were really helpful with good recommendations for places to eat and etc.
That night we ate at Drago's on Poydras (although I've been to the one in Metairie, and it's just as good) where we had charbroiled oysters and raw oysters, and I ate mussels in white wine sauce. Yum.
The next morning, we took the concierge's advice and had breakfast at Daisy Duke's Express on Carondelet not far from our hotel. This is a great place to have breakfast. It's in the business district so it's not crazy busy or full of loud music. Everything is super, super clean and very reasonably priced. This is a gem we'll continue to visit when we go back to New Orleans.
This was our museum day. First we hit the Insectarium on Canal, easily the coolest museum I have ever been to. Emma was in hog heaven. Every five minutes, she was tugging on one or the other of us and telling us we just had to come look at this or that. Not only did this place have an impressive collection of both live and preserved bugs, the level of interactivity was astounding. So many things to touch and do and participate in. Every square inch of this place is covered with information and facts. My favorite part was probably the butterfly garden which is filled with thousands of butterflies and sports a gorgeous koi pond.
FYI: I would recommend doing what we did and buying the Audobon Experience tickets. They let you do the Insectarium, Aquarium, IMAX, and Zoo within a three day time period. We didn't do the zoo at all, but these tickets were still cheaper than buying one for each thing.
For lunch, we went to The Crazy Lobster which is right on the river across from Harrah's. Josh and I shared the steamed seafood bucket--potatoes, corn, shrimp, crawfish, clams, mussels, crab and lobster. Yum, yum. I know I've been home when somebody gives me a big ole bucket of seafood loaded with crab boil and that night I have to struggle to get my rings off. LOL
Then we went to the Aquarium where Emma died and went to heaven. She wants to be an oceanographer, and she reads about the ocean extensively, so she could identify a significant number of the fish and rattle off little factoids about them. They've added a new exhibit, Parakeet Point, where you can feed parakeets. You buy a little popsicle stick covered in food and then hold it out for the parakeets to land on. My stick broke when three parakeets landed on it and started fighting over the food. The funniest thing was Josh, though. He was wearing a patterned shirt that the parakeets apparently loved because like seven or eight of them landed on him and started nibbling at his shirt. The handlers said they'd never seen the birds react like that to anyone. I was positive he was going to get shat upon, especially when one of the birds landed on his head, but thankfully that was not so. Emma dubbed him the Parakeet Whisperer.
Next on the agenda was IMAX Deep Sea 3-D. Now, I have to be completely honest here. 3-D has never done a thing for me. I wear glasses, and I just don't think 3-D works all that great for people with glasses. Since you have to fit a second pair of glasses over the ones you're already wearing, a glare comes in over the top that makes the picture not as good. Also, I find most 3-D extremely gratuitous and distracting. It usually doesn't advance the story in any way or add anything to what you're watching. One movie I did like 3-D in is Coraline, mostly because the 3-D was used in unconventional ways like to show an object receding rather than exploding forward at your face. Of course, I am one of those rare people who lament the loss of old school flat animation where people draw things by hand instead of animating them with computers, so you should probably take my opinions on this matter with a grain of salt. :)
However, I can say unequivocably and without a doubt that the IMAX 3-D is exactly what 3-D should be. I have never seen anything like it. I can totally get behind 3-D this cool. Usually 3-D is a bit fuzzy for me, but the picture was absolutely crystal clear. No glare from my glasses. And Jesus Christ were they able to make the picture come like two inches from your face. There's this moment in the beginning where they show you a field of jellyfish that's off in the distance and then you get closer and closer and closer until they're popping up at the end of your nose. Because I am pitiful and get motion sick at the drop of a hat, I actually got a bit nauseated during the whole thing and had to close one of my eyes LOL. But on the whole, pretty damn cool.
That night we went to Commander's Palace, one of the oldest restaurants in New Orleans and probably the fanciest. It's in the Garden District, so we took a cab rather than walking. Since Katrina, they have relaxed their dress code (it used to be jackets required), but the guys still wore jackets and the ladies dressed up. (Josh's fraternal twin cousins and his aunt also accompanied us to New Orleans.) Emma had on her Easter dress, and she just looked precious. They sat us in the best seat in the house on the second floor at a table right in front of a bay window that overlooked one of the Garden District homes. The service was phenomenal. We had a team of waiters just doting on us. It's the best service I've ever had at a restaurant. Just amazing. They were all tickled pink with Emma who chose to have the cheese plate for her dinner (three different cheeses--two sheep and a blue--honeycomb, Fuji apples, and three huge pecan biscotti) instead of the more child-friendly meal (which does not appear on the menu) that they offered to make her. When she was done, we let them wrap it up for her even though we were going to have to toss it because of no fridge in the hotel. She was thrilled with her tinfoil swan. LOL
Their menu changes weekly, and it currently doesn't refect exactly what we ate, but most of what we got is listed there.
Appetizers: Shrimp and Tasso Henican, Cucumber and Crab Tian, Foie Gras Jubilee
Soups and Salads: Turtle soup (to die for! creamy! sherry! OMG), Stone Fruit Salad, house salad
Entrees: Pork Tenderloin, Pecan Crusted Gulf Fish, Veal Chop Tchoupitoulas, and mine isn't listed on the menu but it was heirloom tomatoes swimming in this gorgeous and slightly spicy slightly vinegary tomato broth
I can't even remember what everybody had for dessert. I had a glass of Madeira LOL in addition to the 3 glasses of wine I'd already had (all different). Josh had two Crescent City Coolers which are very citrusy and refreshing (and stout!).
Friday was the shopping day. After another breakfast at Daisy Duke's Express, we walked the Quarter. This was Emma's least favorite part. It was hot, and while she had a good time that morning, by the afternoon she was kinda done. I also hadn't realized how many places you can't get into when you have a kid. When Josh and I have come before, we'd just walk around until we got tired and then go in somewhere and have a drink and sit until we're ready to go again. We had to kinda hunt around for places that would you let you bring in kids, which basically meant only places that serve food.
We bought some awesome shit. Emma got an antique coin from James H. Cohen and Sons. She was fascinated in that shop. She kept picking out like 2000 year old coins that were way out of our price range but settled on some sunken treasure instead. We got two custom terracotta tiles from Airus Gallery as gifts from friends. I got some bubble bath from the second oldest perfumer in New Orleans (Bourbon French Parfums)--smells exactly like an orange peel with none of the bite and no sugar. So yum. I also bought some silver articulated crocodile earrings from Bijounola although I can't find them on the site.
My latest post notwithstanding, the week at Mom and Dad's was pretty good. It's awesome to be home, though. :)
Upcoming: the birthday haul post plus the post of burning questions
The traveling exhibits were of African art and Madeline Albright's pin collection, both of which I found fascinating. Emma especially enjoyed the African art exhibit and the museum's permanent collection of glass and porcelain. At one point during the Renaissance Gallery, she turned to me and said, "Why is everybody naked?" We tried to explain the reasons why painters choose to paint nude subjects, but she just shook her head and said, "That just strikes me wrong." I told Josh that just as soon as we got to my parents' house she was going to tell everybody she saw a bunch of naked people in New Orleans. LOL
Then we checked into our hotel, Wyndham Garden Baronne Plaza. I would definitely recommend this hotel to y'all. It's a bit pricey, but we got a great deal on hotels.com. The hotel is just one block off Canal and just a few blocks from Bourbon Street and the river. We walked to everything we went to except Commander's Palace and NOMA. It's a bit of a hike all the way to the French Market but not too bad even with a kidlet in tow. Also, the hotel staff were really helpful with good recommendations for places to eat and etc.
That night we ate at Drago's on Poydras (although I've been to the one in Metairie, and it's just as good) where we had charbroiled oysters and raw oysters, and I ate mussels in white wine sauce. Yum.
The next morning, we took the concierge's advice and had breakfast at Daisy Duke's Express on Carondelet not far from our hotel. This is a great place to have breakfast. It's in the business district so it's not crazy busy or full of loud music. Everything is super, super clean and very reasonably priced. This is a gem we'll continue to visit when we go back to New Orleans.
This was our museum day. First we hit the Insectarium on Canal, easily the coolest museum I have ever been to. Emma was in hog heaven. Every five minutes, she was tugging on one or the other of us and telling us we just had to come look at this or that. Not only did this place have an impressive collection of both live and preserved bugs, the level of interactivity was astounding. So many things to touch and do and participate in. Every square inch of this place is covered with information and facts. My favorite part was probably the butterfly garden which is filled with thousands of butterflies and sports a gorgeous koi pond.
FYI: I would recommend doing what we did and buying the Audobon Experience tickets. They let you do the Insectarium, Aquarium, IMAX, and Zoo within a three day time period. We didn't do the zoo at all, but these tickets were still cheaper than buying one for each thing.
For lunch, we went to The Crazy Lobster which is right on the river across from Harrah's. Josh and I shared the steamed seafood bucket--potatoes, corn, shrimp, crawfish, clams, mussels, crab and lobster. Yum, yum. I know I've been home when somebody gives me a big ole bucket of seafood loaded with crab boil and that night I have to struggle to get my rings off. LOL
Then we went to the Aquarium where Emma died and went to heaven. She wants to be an oceanographer, and she reads about the ocean extensively, so she could identify a significant number of the fish and rattle off little factoids about them. They've added a new exhibit, Parakeet Point, where you can feed parakeets. You buy a little popsicle stick covered in food and then hold it out for the parakeets to land on. My stick broke when three parakeets landed on it and started fighting over the food. The funniest thing was Josh, though. He was wearing a patterned shirt that the parakeets apparently loved because like seven or eight of them landed on him and started nibbling at his shirt. The handlers said they'd never seen the birds react like that to anyone. I was positive he was going to get shat upon, especially when one of the birds landed on his head, but thankfully that was not so. Emma dubbed him the Parakeet Whisperer.
Next on the agenda was IMAX Deep Sea 3-D. Now, I have to be completely honest here. 3-D has never done a thing for me. I wear glasses, and I just don't think 3-D works all that great for people with glasses. Since you have to fit a second pair of glasses over the ones you're already wearing, a glare comes in over the top that makes the picture not as good. Also, I find most 3-D extremely gratuitous and distracting. It usually doesn't advance the story in any way or add anything to what you're watching. One movie I did like 3-D in is Coraline, mostly because the 3-D was used in unconventional ways like to show an object receding rather than exploding forward at your face. Of course, I am one of those rare people who lament the loss of old school flat animation where people draw things by hand instead of animating them with computers, so you should probably take my opinions on this matter with a grain of salt. :)
However, I can say unequivocably and without a doubt that the IMAX 3-D is exactly what 3-D should be. I have never seen anything like it. I can totally get behind 3-D this cool. Usually 3-D is a bit fuzzy for me, but the picture was absolutely crystal clear. No glare from my glasses. And Jesus Christ were they able to make the picture come like two inches from your face. There's this moment in the beginning where they show you a field of jellyfish that's off in the distance and then you get closer and closer and closer until they're popping up at the end of your nose. Because I am pitiful and get motion sick at the drop of a hat, I actually got a bit nauseated during the whole thing and had to close one of my eyes LOL. But on the whole, pretty damn cool.
That night we went to Commander's Palace, one of the oldest restaurants in New Orleans and probably the fanciest. It's in the Garden District, so we took a cab rather than walking. Since Katrina, they have relaxed their dress code (it used to be jackets required), but the guys still wore jackets and the ladies dressed up. (Josh's fraternal twin cousins and his aunt also accompanied us to New Orleans.) Emma had on her Easter dress, and she just looked precious. They sat us in the best seat in the house on the second floor at a table right in front of a bay window that overlooked one of the Garden District homes. The service was phenomenal. We had a team of waiters just doting on us. It's the best service I've ever had at a restaurant. Just amazing. They were all tickled pink with Emma who chose to have the cheese plate for her dinner (three different cheeses--two sheep and a blue--honeycomb, Fuji apples, and three huge pecan biscotti) instead of the more child-friendly meal (which does not appear on the menu) that they offered to make her. When she was done, we let them wrap it up for her even though we were going to have to toss it because of no fridge in the hotel. She was thrilled with her tinfoil swan. LOL
Their menu changes weekly, and it currently doesn't refect exactly what we ate, but most of what we got is listed there.
Appetizers: Shrimp and Tasso Henican, Cucumber and Crab Tian, Foie Gras Jubilee
Soups and Salads: Turtle soup (to die for! creamy! sherry! OMG), Stone Fruit Salad, house salad
Entrees: Pork Tenderloin, Pecan Crusted Gulf Fish, Veal Chop Tchoupitoulas, and mine isn't listed on the menu but it was heirloom tomatoes swimming in this gorgeous and slightly spicy slightly vinegary tomato broth
I can't even remember what everybody had for dessert. I had a glass of Madeira LOL in addition to the 3 glasses of wine I'd already had (all different). Josh had two Crescent City Coolers which are very citrusy and refreshing (and stout!).
Friday was the shopping day. After another breakfast at Daisy Duke's Express, we walked the Quarter. This was Emma's least favorite part. It was hot, and while she had a good time that morning, by the afternoon she was kinda done. I also hadn't realized how many places you can't get into when you have a kid. When Josh and I have come before, we'd just walk around until we got tired and then go in somewhere and have a drink and sit until we're ready to go again. We had to kinda hunt around for places that would you let you bring in kids, which basically meant only places that serve food.
We bought some awesome shit. Emma got an antique coin from James H. Cohen and Sons. She was fascinated in that shop. She kept picking out like 2000 year old coins that were way out of our price range but settled on some sunken treasure instead. We got two custom terracotta tiles from Airus Gallery as gifts from friends. I got some bubble bath from the second oldest perfumer in New Orleans (Bourbon French Parfums)--smells exactly like an orange peel with none of the bite and no sugar. So yum. I also bought some silver articulated crocodile earrings from Bijounola although I can't find them on the site.
My latest post notwithstanding, the week at Mom and Dad's was pretty good. It's awesome to be home, though. :)
Upcoming: the birthday haul post plus the post of burning questions
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 02:13 am (UTC)P.S: You should come chat with meeeeee if you have the time.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 03:09 am (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 06:01 am (UTC)Tomorrow?
no subject
Date: 2011-07-07 09:05 pm (UTC)I will prob be able to get on about 8:30 my time for a while. I'll look at the queer fest doc you sent me and send you my feedback whether we're on at the same time or not. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 02:47 am (UTC)Now I just have to get through the final push, because it's due tomorrow. I'll finish the draft today (tonight for you) and send it through ASAP, but if you don't see it in time I'll probably just post as-is (well, technically as-will-be).
You rock *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 03:24 am (UTC)I don't know if it's my connection or if gmail is just being a bitch. This happens periodically. Everything else will run like a dream but I can't get on gmail.
*sigh*
I will keep trying.
But I know that what you've got is A-fucking-mazing.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 03:33 am (UTC)I can't belieeeeeeve I finished it :DDDD
no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 02:32 am (UTC)Everything sounded delicious and amazing. I want Emma's cheeseplate, hahaha. I'm glad you had a great vacation and saw lots of things! Signed, the creeper who left you 3 voicemails
no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 03:10 am (UTC)I shall return your calls forthwith, my lady. LOL
We have much talkage to accomplish.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-06 03:12 am (UTC)Next time you to go NO, tell me and I'll meet you there. :)
I imagine their breakfast/brunch is so damn good it'd make you slap your mama. I have a huge huge huge huge huge fondness for breakfast foods (especially of the meaty variety), and I know I would love it.
A meal I had in Paris is my top meal, but Commander's Palace goes in my top five meals of ever.