The balconies were packed, and so were the streets!
As we entered Bourbon Street, we had no beads.
Collecting beads on Bourbon Street:
We were happy with our "take" in beads. In addition to the ones we have around our necks, our shoulderbags were stuffed full of them--so weighted down that it hurt our shoulders to carry them back to the hotel.
Bourbon Street is aptly named but we decided to call it "Boob"on Street because of all the flashint. Mott, Helen, and I collected lots of beads despite flashing only smiles.
Mardi Gras parades each last 1 ½ to 3 hours, and one parade follows another for days on end. Each parade features marching bands and spectacular floats.
Wandering Bourbon Street and attending parades is not all there is to do in New Orleans, of course, which is why it's a tourist destination all year round. The history, science, zoological, and art museums and parks can keep anyone busy for days, but my favorite sites are the things that are uniquely New Orleans: the voodoo museum, cemeteries with above-ground crypts, beignets at Cafe du Monde, and the ghost tours, voodoo tours, and vampire tours. Sadly, vampires seemed less in vogue on this trip to New Orleans than in our past ones. This surprised me since the Twilight series and other vampire-based media have become very popular. I guess much of the appeal of being a vampire in New Orleans left when author Anne Rice moved away. (Her Vampire Chronicles predated the Twilight series by many years.)
Riding the street car and checking out the boutiques and restaurants make this a great city to visit, but what made this trip markedly different from our other trips to New Orleans was that it was Mardi Gras -- an especially crazy time with some fun-loving people. We saw two middle-aged, overweight transvestites in drag and make-up, leaning against a brick wall which turned out to be the front of their house. In New Orleans, this scene isn't unusual so most passersby didn't even glance their way. Since the transvestites were just “chillin’,” we stopped to talk with them. One of them was partially bald and both of them had scruffy whiskers on their faces and necks, stubble poking through their powdered make-up. As they stood wearing short, smocked pinafore dresses and braided wigs, with their red lipstick and rouge, they gawked at the other revelers and commented, "Man, there sure are a lot of weird people here during Mardi Gras." And they didn't intend the comment to be ironic. Actually, these two did seem almost everyday-normal compared to lots of the street-partiers, some of whom were completely nude but painted all over...and I do mean all over. Let's just say I wouldn't bring children here, unless they are adult offspring.
Thanks to my friend Rita, who recommended the World's Best Ham at Mother's:
We also went to Brennan's for breakfast -
Our waiters seemed to enjoy setting things on fire:
Our "flaming" waiters made cherries jubilee and bananas foster...not sure which dessert they are preparing in this photo.
Now fast forward one year, to February 2012. We couldn't return to New Orleans, so we celebrated Mardi Gras with a small dinner party. I made a voodoo doll tree with the voodoo dolls I'd bought in New Orleans last year.
These are close-ups of some of the voodoo dolls:
We named some of the voodoo dolls after people we know. The one above with the googly eyes is the "Georgi" voodoo doll, and the one below is the "Fred" voodoo doll since the designer's label looks as if it is carrying a doctor's bag.
By the way, the design company for most of these voodoo dolls is the Jamie Hayes Gallery.
Besides decorating a voodoo doll tree, we set the table with confetti, doubloons, masks, Mardi Gras beads, and candles (of course).
For dessert, we had a king cake from Haydel's bakery in New Orleans.
My daughter found the tiny plastic baby hidden in her piece of cake:
The remaining king cake awaited us at breakfast, but Mardi Gras was over and Lent had begun.
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