New Orleans

Thursday, 1/21/16 – Travel day from Pensacola to New Orleans.  After driving through what looked like shipyards, we arrived at Ponchartrain Landing RV and Marina.  The campground was on a major canal running between Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi River.  We were told there was Bingo tonight and a great restaurant, so Tom and I planned to go.  The rain started, then the lightning and thunder, then much more rain.  We walked in the rain to the area where they held the Bingo.  It was in a restaurant on the second level of the building.  We had spinach and artichoke dip and chips and drinks.  It was delicious.  The Bingo was free.  The rain came down so hard on the tin roof, that we could not hear the caller.  Tom won a candy bar and I won nothing, but it was fun. 

Friday, 1/22/16 – Tom and I went into New Orleans.  First stop, Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, next to the convention center.  It was a big complex of warehouses where they build floats and store props for the many Mardi Gras parades.  First we wandered through the gift shop and took some pictures of the props there.

Costumes for a prior Mardi Gras

Costumes

a prop

We watched a short video as part of our tour which explained Mardi Gras.  There are 56 Krewes (membership clubs) that build floats for the parade, usually with a general theme.  Therefore, there are 56 parades throughout Mardi Gras, which started on 1/6/16 and lasts through the big day on 2/9/16, which is ‘fat Tuesday’, the day before Ash Wednesday.  Actually Mardi Gras translated from French means Fat Tuesday.

We all dressed up in Mardi Gras costumes and got a picture.

Dressed for Mardi Gras

Then, the guide took us into the warehouse.  They were currently building floats for Krewe Orpheus, which is 1 of the 3 super krewes (largest).  Orpheus has a general theme of flowers.  The floats were done very well, but nothing like the Rose Parade, as the flowers were all made of cardboard, styrofoam, or fiberglass. 

a man working on top a float

flowers up close

We toured the fabrication area and saw how they start with an artistic drawing of the prop.  Then they cut out several layers of styrofoam and glue them together.  Then the artist sculpts the piece, and the next set of artists cover it with paper mache’ to smooth the edges.  Sometimes they spray lacquer paint for a shiny appearance, and sometimes they just paint.  The large props are amazing.  The floats are put on a trailer base and built up with plywood.  They are usually pulled by  horses and carry a generator for lights.  Here are some of my pictures of the floats.

Egyptian theme

turtle on front

Aladdin float

Nemo float

 

putting a prop on the front of a float

They keep all the props, and sometimes re-use them slightly from year to year and repaint to make into a new one.  Therefore, all the props are kept there in the warehouse.  Here a lot of props we saw in the warehouse. 

tree prop

King Kong prop

Lady Monkey prop

Book prop from last year

OZ prop from last year

Tom with a snake prop

The guide explained to us that this warehouse was only one of 18 warehouses they have, 17 here in New Orleans and 1 in Spain.  Blaine Kern also makes props for other companies, like the cow you see on ‘Chick a Fill’ billboards.  They even build for Disney on occasion.  It was a great tour.  We really enjoyed it.

Tom and I left for the French Quarter.  We parked and immediately headed for Café Du Monde on Decatur Street, a coffee and pastry shop well known for their beignets.

 A beignet (pronounced ben-yay) is a square puffed up pastry and deep fried (like a donut), then covered with powdered sugar.  What’s not to love?  The place was really crowded with people.  They are open 24/7 and are jammed all the time.  We both had an order of beignets (3) and hot cocoa (since it was so cold).  Speaking of the weather, we had a very big thunderstorm last night.  The wind was so strong, we were afraid that the slideout covers would tear, so we brought the slides in during the night.  That meant that there was no room for the dog beds, so they had to sleep with us.  Anyway, today the wind was still with us.  The temperature was about 41 degrees, but the wind chill made it feel like about 30 degrees or less.   We walked  around several blocks and into many shops.  Here are a couple of pictures of the décor for Mardi Gras in the French Quarter.

a corner wreath

railings decorated for Mardi Gras

more decor

 We bought a couple of small things, but got so cold, we had to leave.  Here is the mask store.

the Mask Shop

Back at the RV, we went to the campground restaurant and had fried shrimp and crab cakes for dinner – Yum – it was delicious!

Saturday, 1/23/16 – It is still cold, but the wind died down and the sun came out, so it is much better than yesterday.  Tom and I headed back into the French Quarter for a tour, dinner, and a parade.  We heard from more than one person that the parade tonight, which is Krewe du Vieux (pronounced crew do-voo), is the most fun.  It is definitely not family friendly and the theme title is “XXX”.  A lot of satirical political floats, and some just downright raunchy.  It is the first parade with floats to start Mardi Gras, and it is the only parade that comes down through the French Quarter.  All the big parades go down Canal Street or the wider streets uptown.  We didn’t want to miss it.  Of course, we had to start our day with beignets and cocoa at Café Du Monde (they were just as good as before).  Then we caught a pedicab to the Voodoo Lounge on Rampart Street for the start of our tour.  We signed up for the ‘Saints and Sinners, the Dirty Little French Quarter’ tour for some history of the seedy beginnings of New Orleans.  It was a walking tour of about 1 ¼ miles (about 1 ½ hours) around the French Quarter.  I made it the whole way with my canes.  We heard about how New Orleans was a dumping ground for criminals, outcasts, homeless, etc. in 1718.  The French Quarter was settled first. in 1718.  It is about one square mile in size.  The first actual establishment that went in was the Opera House.  Of course, Inns, restaurants, bars, and brothels, grew up around the Opera House.  Music however, was always a main staple of the city.  Over the years, the city changed, but kept it’s debauchery character, Bourbon Street in particular.  Prostitution, which was legal back then.  It became a problem in the Quarter, so the mayor (whose name is Story) decided to clean it up.  When he did, the prostitution business only moved north to the northern border of the city where prostitution flourished, and it was now called Storyville (which infuriated the Mayor).  There was a very famous madam named Jose Arlington who our tour guide said they made a movie about, but I have not found it yet.  We stopped at two historical sites, The Preservation (a museum of Jazz music), and Pat O’Briens (the pub that invented the ’hurricane’).  We didn’t go in, but here are pictures of each.

The Preservation

Pat O'Brien's pub

All in all, the tour was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be.

I almost forgot about the pirates.  Jean LaFitte and his brother, Pierre, came to New Orleans to make money by stealing and laundering money.  His business in ‘Pirates Alley’ got so big it blocked the alley next the to church, so the church let them deal behind the fence beside the church (on church property).  They would pass money and goods through the fence.  Our tour guide said that was where the term ‘fencing’ came from (I don’t know if I believe him). 

After the tour, we walked back toward Decatur Street.  We stopped in the Market Street Café, next to the golden statue of Joan of Arc, for something to eat.  It was about 3:00 p.m. I had popcorn crawfish, and Tom had a Louisiana sampler consisting of Jambalaya, Gumbo, Beans & Rice, and Mufaletta.  He said his was really good.  Mine was great.  We ate slow so we could spend the maximum time inside where it was warm, but it was still only about 4:15 p.m.  The Krewe du Vieux parade was scheduled to start at 6:00, and at our location it would pass us between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m.  Tom went back to the car and got my wheelchair so I could sit down to wait.  Then we walked down Decatur Street, toward the car, to find a spot for the parade.  We stopped next to a young couple who offered a space for us and offered us wine from their wagon.  The young husband even offered Tom his chair.  They were locals and had a lot of information about the parade for us.  They said this was the only parade they came back to repeatedly, which is what we heard from other locals.  It was 4:30 and we had at least 2 hours to wait in the cold.  We talked to them for a long time until two women in their 50’s asked if they could stand and wait with us.  We said “of course”, and began a conversation with them.  They, like us, were tourists, but from Florida.  I really enjoyed talking to them.  Before you know it, the parade started.  Mardi Gras had officially began! 

The floats and the signs made fun about most all of the presidential candidates – some were very funny.  Also, there was a lot of talk about the current mayor about taking down a memorial to Robert E. Lee in town.  I understood that he was not very well liked by the crowd.  There were also floats about illegal aliens.  All the paraders were dressed in alien costume.  The rest were mostly ‘XXX’ rated, but all done in fun.  I remember one float that was called ‘One Nightstand’, where all the paraders were dressed up like nightstands with lampshades on their heads. It was rather short, but we waited only about 10 minutes and a second parade came through.  I don’t remember their name, but the costumes were colorful.  No pictures from the parade as my camera does not do well in the dark.  We were happy to go back to the car and turn on the heater.

I think we ended this ‘Big Trip’ on a positive note, as this night was our last official tour.  We only have a stop in Texas to visit family, but for the most part, we are on our way home.  All three of us are a little tired and a little homesick.