Shruti & Evie Visit NOLA.

The condo welcomed its first house guests this weekend with Evie and Shruti making the long, 10-hour trek down 55-S from St. Louis to spend the 4th of July holiday weekend here in NOLA. While Shruti had been here once before for a wedding weekend, Evie had never been to the city. A bit of pressure on my end to make sure they (1) had a good time and (2) experienced the city. Daunting, but I was up for the challenge.

Taking the streetcar downtown!

While we didn't take any tours that we talked about doing (haunted history tour of the quarter, Preservation Hall, cemetery tour, etc.), we DID tackle many parts of the city. Shopping on Magazine Street, brunch with friends of theirs in mid city, trivia at Dat Dog, dinner at my cousin's, happy hour at Cure, live music at Dos Jefes, good Mexican food at Juan's, brunch at Surrey's, seeing White House Down, snowballs at Sal's, and a day-long excursion to the French Quarter rounded out their extended weekend trip down south.

hand grenades on Bourbon

By far, one of the best parts of the trip was our visit down to the Quarter on the Fourth. We spent the afternoon enjoying hand grenades on Bourbon street, a walking tour of Jackson Square and the French Market, po-boys at Royal House, and drinks at SoBou and Good Friends with Peter, Jared, and Caleb. We headed down to the river for the dueling barges fireworks show and then back to Bourbon to the Bourbon Pub. By the time we made it home close to midnight, I am convinced we walked more miles than I care to count. But it was definitely worth it.

 

BLT-Oyster Po-Boy from Royal House. Delicious.

Aside from the rain which dampened our Friday, the weekend turned out to be one for the memory books. Shruti and Evie had a wonderful visit and I greatly enjoyed being able to show them my hometown, introduce them to my friends and life here, and show them why so many people have a love affair with this city.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! Cheers.