new orleans trip (days 1 and 2)

flew in on wed, feb. 11.
got checked into the Hilton Riverside and ate dinner at the hotel's (expensive!) restaurant. good meal but i think i was too tired to appreciate it. had a yummy creme brulee for dessert.

thursday, feb. 12.
T attended his TechAdvantage classes. we met for lunch at the Riverwalk (a little mall connected to the Hilton). there's a pretty decent food court in there and we ate a salad, pizza-by-the-slice and pizza roll thingys. i splurged and got a mango smoothie from haagen daas too. yum!

entering Riverwalk from the street side:


outside on the Riverwalk (on the other side of the building):


while T went back for more TechAdvantage classes, i treated myself to my first ever mani/pedi. i had never before had a pedicure. my tootsies were in some pretty desperate need of attention too! and the only other time i've had a manicure was a few weeks before my wedding. it was good to be pampered a bit. i would have preferred going to a spa, but didn't know where one was or how much it would cost. there was a nail salon at the Riverwalk and so i decided to just get 'em done there.

my pretty toes (picture taken after we got back home):

that evening i got all dressed up in skirt and my strappy heels (i just had to show off my newly polished tootsies!) for a TechAdvantage reception. we literally walked in, looked around and left. too many people, too small of a space and not much for "real" food. so we went for a walk (with me still in my heels!) to the French Quarter which is only a couple blocks away, but we ended up walking a lot farther since we didn't know where we wanted to go for dinner. (a plan would have probably been wiser...)

ended up here:

and had one of the best meals of our entire trip! i chose their chicken marsala. it was delicious! for dessert we shared a piece of cheesecake. sooo good!

we chose to enjoy our meal out on the balcony. the locals thought we were nuts. it was a tad chilly, but not cold. and since we'd come from below zero weather, 60 degrees was nice.

after dinner, we walked a few more blocks till we found Jackson Square, and then headed back to our hotel. (by then, both of us had severely sore feet!)

on the way back, T took this pic of the mississippi river--notice the real steamboat on the right side (the Natchez), and a nicely lit-up bridge just upstream from our hotel:

we got back to our room and my left foot even had a small bruise where one of my shoe's straps comes around by my toes. yikes! so, the next time i decide to try and walk around town with high heels on, i hope my hubby reminds me of the pain i endured in new orleans because of my vanity!