24 Hours in New Orleans

The infamous Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.

This past weekend my daughters and I drove over to the east side of Louisiana to tour New Orleans. I’ve lived here my entire life and only last year went to NOLA and just saw a very tiny part of it. I knew I had to return to this hotspot for tourists in our state sooner rather than later. My 20 year old had requested last year for her only birthday present, to go to Cafe du Monde. Unfortunately, a hurricane was heading toward our area, so we had to cancel those birthday plans.

Fast forward, we had an opportunity to spend 24 hours in New Orleans as tourists, checking out all the popular venues. We started in Jackson Square, home of artists, street performers, tarot card readers, and the historic St. Louis Cathedral and more. Our ultimate goal that afternoon was to spend time at Cafe du Monde, made famous for their rich, dark coffee along with a tasty treat pictured below called beignets. It’s a sweet batter, fried to a crispy golden brown, and after being removed from the oil, it is sprinkled with a healthy dose of confectioner’s sugar. It melts in your mouth. But before we stand in the notoriously LONG line at Cafe du Monde, we checked out Jackson Square and then onto the Aquarium of the Americas, St. Charles Avenue trolley tour of homes and then coffee and beignets for an afternoon snack. For more information on visiting New Orleans, reach out to me at journeyswithelle@gmail.com.