You definitely can’t do Louisiana without doing the French Quarter of New Orleans!
When we first got there we went into the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park in the French Quarter. We had to get our stamps in our passport!
We then walked over to Jackson Square! This was quite easily my favorite part of the French Quarter. It’s such a beautiful square centered right in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. Bit of trivia – it is the oldest cathedral still in use in the United States. It’s beautiful and it was neat to show the kids all of the beautiful stained glass windows inside.
We then headed over to Café du Monde for some beignets. These are pastries absolutely COVERED in powdered sugar. The floor is just littered with sugar and I think that Jacob nearly burst when he saw them come to the table! They were delicious!
We then walked down to the old U.S. Mint where they have the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park. It was a really neat building and they had some fun things to look at.
Afterwards, we headed to the French Market. It was hot and the kiddos were definitely getting a little hangry! They were not really interested in anything except food and getting out of the heat. But we did pick up some shirts for everyone and Sarah picked out a mask that was adorable.
We were then on the hunt for some food. We had planned on going to one of the restaurants just off of Jackson Square but it was WAY too fancy for the kiddos! I had luckily packed some sandwiches and so we decided to just eat them in the square and we would find some food later.
We were all hot and tired and felt like we had seen all that we wanted to. Mark felt like we needed to at least walk down Bourbin Street a little though – just to say we did. Let’s just say – I was not impressed. We only walked about two blocks and that was definitely enough. It was dirty and gross and pretty much smelled like a combination of cigar smoke, urine, and trash. Yuck.
We headed back to the car to go and relax at the hotel.
After our hot day in the French Quarter we headed back to the hotel to cool off in the pool! This was Benjamin’s first time in the pool – he had more fun than it seems!
I love these rascals.
