Bloggers Mark McPhillips, ‘20 and Daniella Maney, ‘20 embarked on a road trip this summer with their friend Samuel Piller, ‘20 before coming back to Conn. We will publish a series of posts about what they experienced along the way.... (Read Post 1)

This morning was similar to yesterday’s in that it was a bit of a disappointment...Dani, Samuel and I did not rise until noon!

To be fair, we did not really go to sleep until around 4 a.m. Anyway, that did not stop us from having an exciting day in New Orleans (NOLA), Louisiana. Before we left our room, Dani had done some research on the famous French Quarter located in downtown NOLA. I also recalled that “Coven,” the third season of “American Horror Story,” was filmed there and we decided we should visit some of the iconic set pieces.

We left our hotel around 1:30 p.m. and made our way into the French Quarter, where we were lucky enough to find a parking spot pretty much right away. After we parked, our first destination was food-related. Dani had heard of the famous Louisiana po-boy and we made it our mission to find this town staple. We found a restaurant called NOLA Po-Boys that looked as though it would fulfill our desires. We each ordered a fried shrimp po-boy (an 8-inch hoagie with tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and special sauce). This sandwich was one of the highlights of our day. Man, it was so good! We agreed that if (and when) we come back to NOLA next we will definitely get another.

After our po-boy excursion, we continued to explore the French Quarter. Before too long, we noticed a sign for Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo. Marie Laveau was a Creole practitioner in New Orleans who was prominent in the 19th century; she is one of the city’s oldest celebrities. She is also featured on the third season of “American Horror Story” in an arc that details her complex history as a self-proclaimed Voodoo priestess. So, naturally, we decided to stop in because it was a part of one of my favorite shows. The shop had a lot of Voodoo paraphernalia, including tarot cards, candles, spell books and Voodoo dolls. It was not actually used in the filming of the third season but its rich history inspired the characterization of Marie Laveau onscreen.

We had our Voodoo fix and we were ready to move on to the next event. We only had about an hour left until our car’s parking meter was up so we just explored as much as we could. I found another Voodoo shop to hit but it was closed, which was a little sad. It did not put a damper on our fun too much, though, because we got back to our car and set out to drive to the “American Horror Story” mansion! The Buckner Mansion in New Orleans was built in 1856 and serves as both a historic landmark and a filming location for the third season of “American Horror Story.” We drove about 20 minutes and found a parking spot in front of the mansion. The three of us got out to take pictures and then hurried back into the car to make our dinner reservation at New Orleans Creole Cookery.

We arrived at the restaurant and our eyes immediately shifted to some of the NOLA favorites on the menu: gator bites, jambalaya and seafood-based gumbo. We each ordered one of these items and shared them between us. The dinner was delicious but between the po-boys earlier and this Louisiana-inspired feast we were about ready to call it a night.

After dinner, we went back to our hotel and just relaxed after a long day of being classic tourists. We got ready for bed and said goodnight to a day well-spent in New Orleans.