Taking it easy in the Big Easy – Part 3

Day 3 in the Big Easy started off with:

Haha, well actually it started off with FREE continental breakfast at the hotel.  Thennnnn the Maker’s Mark (for Jarrod anyway… I think that stuff tastes like nail polish remover).

After breakfast and some meandering through the French Quarter

Then we stopped at Primo’s for some snacking:

Primo’s got horrible reviews online, but we were dying for some bruschetta and they happened to have it on the menu so we decided to ignore the reviews.

I love how all the bars and restaurants down here are open to the streets.  Most of the buildings have huge windows that you can open up and it makes you feel like your are in a courtyard instead of inside the building.

I should also mention that the whether has been AMAZING the whole time we have been here.  80+ degrees, sunny, and no humidity.  GLORIOUS!

I’m so glad we ignored those reviews on Primo’s!  Take a look at this beauty:

Jarrod said it was the best bruschetta he ever had.  I don’t know about the BEST, but it definitely was REALLY friggin delicious.

We also ordered a small margherita pizza:

This was tasty too—just needed a little hot sauce!

After lunch we had some time to kill, so we popped a squat across the street from Jackson Square to watch some street performers.

These guys were actually REALLY good!

And they drew quite the crowd!

It’s crazy what these guys can do with their bodies.  I can’t do a pushup let alone hold my whole body up with one arm and spin it around like a helicopter while simultaneously bouncing up and down:

Me and the BF in Jackson Square:

After lunch, we headed to our French Quarter & Cemetery tour (which I purchased on Groupon a month or so ago).  The tour only cost us $10 a piece, and it was a self-guided walking tour that lasted 1.5 hours.  SCORE!

While walking around the French Quarter a random man shouted out Jarrod “Man you big as an Avatar!  Look at that big ole white boy!”  Neither of us have seen the movie (so we’re not quite sure how Jarrod reminded the guy of an Avatar), regardless we both busted out in laughter at the man’s explanation (as did the group of people walking behind us).  Only in New Orleans 😀

You may be wondering why the heck we wanted to go on a cemetery tour on our vacation.  No, it’s not because we are nearing on Halloween.  It’s because New Orleans cemeteries are uniquely interesting:

Since the city is located below sea level, all of the deceased are buried ABOVE the ground.

What’s even more interesting is that family members are added to the tombs over CENTURIES.  We passed many tombs where the first family member was buried in the 1800’s and over the years more and more family members were added (even as most recent as 2004)!

Jarrod and the tour guide:

The tour guide told us that this is the tomb Nicholas Cage built for himself:

Even though this tour was REALLY cool, we both felt odd smiling for a picture in front of a tomb (hence the grimace on Jarrod’s face) 😛

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for our daily afternoon nap (we’re like a bunch of old farts, I swear!).

We were having a lot of debate on where to go for dinner, but settled on Margaritaville.  I know, I know…  Jimmy Buffet is one of Jarrod’s unstated idols, and neither of us have ever been to Margaritaville, so off we went.

We wanted to push ourselves a little out of our comfort zones, so we opted for the Crab, Shrimp, and Mushroom dip for our appetizer:

It came with delicious garlic bread for dipping.  I thought it was actually really good (Jarrod wasn’t quite so keen on it, but he was fully satisfied with the bread).

For dinner we went with the Jambalaya:

Jarrod said this was the best meal he had to date in New Orleans, and I agree it was DELICIOUS.  And yes, that is seven (count them) seven pieces of garlic bread that we wolfed down during dinner 🙂

After dinner we strolled over to Bourbon Street and stopped on the backside of Jackson Square to snap a photo of the shadow casted on the backside of the building:

While on Bourbon St this time, we hit up several bars including Club 524, Krazy Korner, and the Bourbon Street Blues Company (again!).

On our walk back to the hotel, we both concurred that our favorite parts of New Orleans were everything we had seen OUTSIDE of Bourbon Street.  Bourbon Street is definitely fun and full of crazies, but it is a little too commercialized.  We both just prefer the old-world charm of NOLA over the flashing neon lights of Bourbon Street.  I do wish we had an extra day in LA to visit the districts outside of the French Quarter, but alas that will have to wait til next time!