New Orleans Wedding

Our hotel was on St. Charles Avenue. I kept saying "this place sounds familiar. Is it's famous?" Then I realized I was thinking of "St. Charles Place" in Monopoly. Anyway, the street was about as quaint as anything I've ever seen. There were huge, old trees that lined the sidewalks. There were street cars that went up and down the middle of the road every few minutes. Very cool atmosphere.



This is where the family of the bride and groom stayed. It's the Columns Hotel. It was also where they held the rehearsal dinner... which, by the way, had the first shrimp gumbo I've ever tasted. I'm a fan.



This was the bar at the columns. Great frickin' atmosphere.



We met this guy at the Columns Bar. He was known as the Columns Cowboy. Sorry I didn't get a shot of it, but he was wearing purple mesh shorts. He was a hilarious character. Oh, and he smelled bad.



After the rehearsal dinner we went to the French Quarter. We stayed away from Bourbon Street and headed to the Cafe Negril. It wasn't a big place, but it had some awesome music. It was pretty much the first time I've experienced New Orleans Jazz. I might be hooked. It's like jazz on steroids.



Check out this lady. She only played a few songs, but when she did, everyone paid attention. It's a dark video, but watch how she beat on this tamobourine like a mother with a misbehaving child at Walmart. She was awesome.



After the Cafe Negril, we walked to Bourbon Street and had quite possibly the most expensive beer I've ever purchased, the worst hot dog I've ever run across my lips (it takes a lot to screw up a hot dog) and, no joke, a slice of pizza that was so burned it tasted like someone dumped an ashtray in my mouth.



The next day we got up early and headed downtown to the Riverwalk Marketplace. We ate at an overpriced seafood joint that had less flavor than a piece of cardboard. The Crazy Lobster... don't get the jambalaya. I think the sauce was ketchup.



A little gamblin' was happenenin'. Just a little. ;)



After Harrah's we had to head back to the Columns on St. Charles and take a shuttle to the wedding. I'm a dummy and forgot my camera, so here's the only shot of the wedding I got. Congrats, Jeff and Erin!

The wedding and the reception were held in the same building. The food and the music were great.... more New Orleans jazz and seafood! We ate, we had beer and we broke it down a little. :)

After the wedding we took another shuttle back to the French Quarter where we listened to more jazz at the Blue Nile.



The next day was the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. This was awesome. It's food, beer and music.



We saw Bon Jovi.



This was "Living on a Prayer." Bon Jovi was good, but I feel like we shoulda listened to a few of the smaller acts and jammed out to some more New Orleans jazz.



The food was awesome. It seemed like there were miles of these vendors lined up throughout the fairgrounds. I waited until the end of the day and I ate....



...crawfish etouffee. Frickin' outstanding. I needed more.



So I order up crawfish beignets with cajun dipping sauce. Wow. These kicked ass.



After we left Jazz Fest we had to catch a cab a few blocks away. This was a common scene on the way. Bands on street corners played what may have been some of the best jazz I heard on the whole trip. Such a great atmosphere.

New Orleans may be coolest city on the planet.