I Went to New Orleans, and All I Got Were Some Plastic Beads.

As I mentioned before, I took a trip to New Orleans last week for work. Even though my favorite part of the trip was my bike tour, I still got to do lots of other fun things. I was there from Sunday until Thursday, and with Mardi Gras season in full swing, there was no shortage of fun to be had.
SUNDAY When we got to New Orleans, traffic was horrendous. We ended up having to get dropped off on the side of the street, lugging our bags behind us because our hotel, the Intercontinental New Orleans, was on the parade route, and there was a parade that had already started. I looked a hot mess, but that didn't stop some random guy from whistling at me from his car window. Welcome to New Orleans.
Naturally, the first thing I did after getting ready was go down to watch the parade. The floats were incredible, and people were so aggressive with trying to get some beads. I've actually never been a really good bead catcher, especially when I have a camera in hand, but I still managed to catch some beads without even trying. Mind you, the people in front of me were practically bullying the people in the floats to give them beads and other goodies plus fighting with each other to make sure they got the best stuff. It was a mad house, and it was only 1 pm. There were two more parades after that, but I had to go help with work stuff, so I sauntered up to my room. 

After doing some work stuff, I went to Pat O'Brien's and had the most delicious shrimp and grits of my life. The grits were fried, and I had never had them like that before. It was so good! We also had some duck bites, which I devoured. The sauce they came with was delicious.

MONDAY I got up and got ready for a lunch meeting with the person I was giving the social media presentation with. We ate at Trenasse, which is inside of the hotel. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was, but man, I didn't want to stop eating. I had a shrimp and oyster po-boy, aka a "shoyster," and some seafood chowder soup. Both were so delicious.
Later, I went shopping at the Riverwalk. I'm not a big shopper, but I ended up buying a light jacket, two blouses, a headband, and a pair of sunglasses (I forgot to bring a pair on the trip!). I had some wings at a place called Poppy's Time Out Bar & Grill right outside of the Riverwalk. The wings were good, but not great. The service was really good though. Everyone was super nice, even though I felt like the servers were just talking to me because I was eating by myself.

TUESDAY Presentation day! I was so nervous, but everyone had nice things to say about my presentation, so I'm grateful for that. 

My presentation outfit! 

That night, was the awards night for my company, and there was so much good food! I didn't want to stop eating. 

The table decor was so cute.

Louisiana gumbo with duck, chicken and andouille sausage

Fried green tomatoes over crawfish etouffee. I don't even like tomatoes, but I still ate it, and it was delicious. 

Smoked braised beef short ribs with pepper jack grits and speckled trout meuniere

King cake bread pudding

WEDNESDAY I woke up super early in the morning for my 9:15 am bike tour. Read all about it and my delicious lunch at The Royal House and dessert at Cafe Beignet here. 
That afternoon, I went with my boss and her sister to a little restaurant called The Market Cafe. I had some gumbo, and it was so delicious. I swear, everything that I ate in New Orleans was amazing. I would live in New Orleans just for the food. After we finished eating, we did a little street shopping, and I bought the usual souvenirs I buy when I travel - a magnet and some post cards.
That night, there was a little cocktail reception before everyone went out to the bleachers for the parade. I thought that watching the parade from the bleachers would be exciting, but I actually prefer being on the ground. It was neat to see the parade from the bleachers, but you could only see it if you were in the front row. Also, they threw more stuff to the people on the ground, and a lot of things were dropped on the ground because people (myself included) suck at catching. That said, it was still fun to experience the parade from the bleachers.

My parade stash

I'm glad that I can finally scratch "Experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans" off of my bucket list. I've experienced Mardi Gras in north Louisiana, but they really go all out for it in New Orleans. 
To see my trip in action, you can also check out my New Orleans vlog:

Have you ever been to New Orleans?