Our Happy, Horrific, New Orleans New Year (part 2 of 3)
The whole bittersweet story.
If you missed part 1…
We bore witness to tragedy. We also bore witness to love and joy, security and celebration. As with all of life, the beautiful and the terrible coexist. Light and darkness blend at dawn and dusk. The sweetness of sugar and the bitterness of coffee together awaken our senses.
If life wasn’t so darn good, losing a life wouldn’t hurt like it does.
Here is the whole bittersweet story, from my perspective—of our happy, horrific, New Orleans New Year. (I’ve included links to restaurants, landmarks, and bands for those wanting travel recommendations for NOLA.)
Part 2…
New Year’s Eve - Tuesday, December 31, 2024
On the final day of 2024, after a lazy morning, we sauntered out into the warmth of the Louisiana sunshine. In Jackson Square, we again took in the sounds of street musicians and the work of artists lining the square.
First on the agenda: a beignet breakfast. Cafe Du Monde, the place for beignets, was easy to find with its green and white awnings. The line of people snaked along Decatur Street, but we were soon seated in the bustling open-air setting. The café au lait (coffee and chicory with hot milk) perfectly complemented the square French donuts buried under a mountain of powdered sugar. (Note: black clothing is not recommended!)
When we finished our sugary brunch, people were lining up for the 2:00 p.m. Sugar Bowl parade. We found a table in another open-air restaurant—The Market Cafe—that looked out onto N. Peters Street, along the parade route. We ordered some refreshing drinks, alligator bites, and boudin balls.
While we anticipated having a perfect view of the parade, the people standing between us and the road were at least four deep by the time it started. Chloe and I joined them to see better and catch some goodies. We loved all the bands, especially the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, and chuckled at the crazy middle-aged lady dancers (like the “Pussy Footers” and the “Milk Shakers,” LOL. 🤭). I’ve never seen a parade that threw out more “stuff” than this one. We caught all the gold, green, and blue beads we could, but avoided those black and red ones (Georgia Bulldogs’ colors).
After the parade, we strolled around Jackson Square again, checked out the St. Louis Cathedral, and enjoyed more street musicians, before returning to our room to freshen up and change into our New Year’s Eve festive attire.
We wanted a more subdued atmosphere this evening, so we got a Lyft to Frenchmen, a street with restaurants, bars, and live music, but less raucous than Bourbon Street. We settled in at Bamboula’s, where we enjoyed the Giselle Anguizola quartet, playing classic swing music from the 1930s-40s. For dinner, we placed three orders for jambalaya and one for gumbo, and again, we were not disappointed in Louisiana’s spicy fare.
Earlier in the day, a local had told us to watch the fireworks in the square at 9:00 p.m., so we made our way back to the area and found a table in Café du Monde on the river side. We ordered our second round of beignets and café au lait for the day and waited for the show. But by about 9:15, we realized we’d been given the wrong information. The fireworks were at midnight, which, of course, made more sense.
With over two hours to kill, we searched out and found New Orleans’ “Touchdown Jesus,” a statue of the Savior—arms open wide—enlarged through lights and shadow, on the back side of the St. Louis Cathedral.
The next logical place these four Irish fans landed was Pat O’Brien’s (an Irish pub crawling with Notre Dame fans). We found an empty corner table and enjoyed some drinks in the outdoor courtyard until it became too cool for comfort. Making one last visit to Bourbon Street, we spent our last minutes of 2024 back at the Tipsy Trumpet where, like the night before, we heard Maddie Pebble play.
Then, shortly before midnight, we planted ourselves in Jackson Square, counted down the final seconds as the Fleur de lis—NOLA’s “Times Square Ball”—dropped, shouted “Happy New Year!”, and watched a fantastic fireworks display.
Our hearts (and tummies) were full with the sights, sounds, and tastes of our day in the Big Easy. We turned the page to 2025 with all the hope and promise a new year can hold.
We had no reason to expect anything less.
