When bestie says “lets jump on a plane to New Orleans” you jump on a plan to New Orleans.
The number one thing I learned this trip? Mardi Gras is an entire season. Prior to this visit, I assumed Mardi Gras was simply Fat Tuesday. That’s day before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent in Catholicism. I was wrong!
In actuality, Mardi Gras begins around a month before Fat Tuesday. As a result, I had the good fortune to bear witness to the joy and chaos of Mardi Gras parades, a few metric tons of beads, and of course, the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. Mind you – all entirely unplanned for.
Fresh off the plane, our taxi driver found himself unable to turn down one of the many one-way streets needed to take us to our hotel. The reason? It turns out it bordered a parade route in the Warehouse District, so the road was blocked from traffic. As any good taxi driver does, he backed up half way down the street and dropped us off a half block away from our hotel. No problem.
We set off exploring right away. That was how we discovered it was a parade that had been blocking the road. We just happened upon the parade route, where I proudly picked up my very first Mardi Gras beads off the street, convinced we missed the only parade. Little did I know!
Upon looking into it further, we discovered there were parades just about every day or every other day throughout the Mardi Gras season. We made plans to check out the Krewe of Druids and the Krewe of Alla. It was so much fun! They threw coins, cups, plushies, and of course, plenty of beads! My favorites were the fancier glass beads, of which we collected many, and the couple of medallions we received. I came home with enough beads that I think I’ll give those out to Patrons as little travel goodies.
“Happy Mardi Gras!” was something everyone wished to one another the entirety of the trip. People were so nice! There’s really something to that southern hospitality. I never thought I’d find myself in New Orleans on Mardi Gras, but after checking out Bourbon street mere days before Fat Tuesday, I think that was a fair assessment. I don’t imagine I’ll ever spend Fat Tuesday on Bourbon Street – it was tremendously crowded for a just a weekday afternoon – but everyone was dressed to impress and feeling great! People of all walks were out and about.
And believe it or not, I did not see any titties! (Perhaps just a Fat Tuesday thing?)
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