Once Again, The Carnival Closed Down

I realized today that the Harwood Herald could go out and announce to everyone that they could find out more about my Mardi Gras Trois...and I don't have the blog up yet. That would be a little upsetting. So here we go...photo heavy. If you want more photos check out my facebook.

The only non-"big weekend" parade I went to was Krewe de Vieux, which parades through the French Quarter (all other big parades go up St Charles or Canal) KdV is a politically satirical parade that themes their floats around local events in New Orleans
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As some of you might know, my oldest friend, Ramona, came to visit for the "big weekend", which to me means the Thursday before Mardi Gras, when Muses parades, until, well, Mardi Gras, but R left on that Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and parades were canceled Thursday night, which meant we watched four parades on Friday night, culminating in Muses, which is the largest all-female krewe. The prized throw from Muses is a decorated shoe, and they are almost always given to guys--in fact, this is about the only parade where guys score more throws than girls, which pleased my friend Trevor, who also came to visit for that weekend.


We tried to catch Saturday night's parade, Endymion, but since it reverted back to its traditional Mid-City route, it took hours and hours to reach Canal Street, and after a day of exploring Audubon, taste-testing po-boys, and checking out bars near the parade route, well, it didn't happen. After R left Sunday, T and I checked out Thoth, one of my favorites. Thoth parades further uptown than most other parades, so that they can visit the Children's Hospital and other locations where people are unable to view the parades. Because of this Thoth throws lots of plush animals (plushies), inflatables, and plastic toys. They also like to aim through windows of houses along the parade route (occupants seem resigned, so they must be compensated for damages). I don't know the people in this photo, but I liked that guy's seat atop the roof. I caught the boa I'm wearing in this photo.


Monday for me was a recovery day. I was exhausted from hostessing, going out every night, not sleeping due to the increased amount of snoring in my sleeping space...so I slept and slept in preparation for Tuesday, Mardi Gras. Which turns out to be the only day of the year that New Orleanians get up early. I don't know...maybe they don't go to sleep. I was making my coffee and Baileys (it's Fat Tuesday, you know) to take with me uptown when I heard a commotion outside my door, a ringing of bells and loud shouts. I opened the door to a parade of skeletons, dancing, clanging cymbals, ringing loud bells. Then I went uptown for Zulu, the African-American Krewe. Zulus prized throw is the coconut, as you can see my friends Will, Mary and Ben holding in the photo. But Zulu took an extended break and we wanted to see Rex, the parade that closes the Carnival season, so we headed back to the boys' house right across from the parade route. Rex has beautiful floats that were based on a river theme this year...but not so good throws. They're traditionalists and only throw beads in green, purple and gold.
So now it was only about 10:30 in the morning...we headed back to the boys' house for a brunch and some socializing, but mostly we all felt like, "What now? What do we do now that Carnival is over? I still don't have the answer to that question!

Some might wonder what New Orleanians do with all their throws. Well, besides storing them in the attic, adding them to care packages, decorating our homes and leaving them on street corners, we get creative. This chain of Rex beads kept Herb the plant safe in blustery weather.
My Mardi Gras ended with a trip to Bourbon--this photo is from about 4:30pm. The perks of being adored by a production engineer for Shell is that I got to tag along to two parties, one at Acme Oyster Co and one on a balcony at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. At Acme we truly celebrated Fat Tuesday, with grilled oysters and plenty of fried seafood. The balcony was a blast, much more fun than anticipated. We had fun dangling beads over the edge to tempt the pedestrians, who walk around with their necks craned upward. We left around nightfall, when people were starting to get a little too crazy and some on our balcony were becoming obnoxious.

So that was my Mardi Gras, part trois. And then I proceeded to contract the post-MG death flu as well as a sinus infection. Such is life.