Down on Bourbon Street...
Feb. 21st, 2006 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeNew Orleans was more fun than any Christian nation should allow! Too cold, but such a good time!
I left early Friday morning--when I left, NYC was pretty warm (in the 50s) and New Orleans was REALLY warm, well into the 60s. When we arrived at our hotel, I immediately changed into shorts and a tee-shirt. Our hotel (LaSalle on Canal Street) was great--quite close to the Quarter and very reasonably priced with decent amenities (rooftop terrace, elevator, wireless and a public computer in the lobby). We dumped our stuff and went out walking through the Quarter, primarily to get something to eat. (Damn, airlines have their passengers on the Nicolae Ceauşescu austerity program these days--absolutely no food whatsoever unless you fork over the bucks. Not even peanuts!) While walking down Bourbon, we were delighted to see a parade, for the Krewe of Cork*, a wine-drinking krewe.
You gotta love a krewe whose sole purpose is to promote wine-drinking!
They were mostly in costume, walking through the Quarter with their (full) wine glasses--the glasses must have been plastic, because although you are allowed to drink openly on the streets in the Quarter, you can't have glass. Krista and I got some really beautiful beads--they have wine bottles in them, and the bottom part has the krewe logo.
Some of the costumes were gorgeous--they looked like fairies. One woman who was dressed quite elaborately blew glittery fairy dust at me (at my request) so I was gilded for the rest of the afternoon! A lovely omen to start off the weekend!
After eating, Krista and I went back to the hotel and changed, as it was getting a little chillier and went back to the Quarter. We started off at the Old Absinthe Bar, this extremely old...uh, bar, whose walls are covered with TONS of business cards.
We had a couple of not-very-good lemon drops there, and then set off into the night. We were walking down the sidewalk when two fratboys asked us to join them, and the 4 of us went to the Cat's Meow, a karaoke place. While there we met some older guys who, as it turned out, had gone to W&L (class of '88)--when they found out we'd gone to Sweet Briar, they asked us what year. We exchanged a glance and told them '89 and they were stunned. Krista and I got hit on a lot this weekend by younger men. Heh! At the Cat's Meow, they were running their 3-for-1 special--3 Coronas for $.4.25 (*faints*).
I signed up for a song, but it was one of those places where the karaoke host sings every other song, and I didn't feel like waiting for an hour to sing. So we got our beers to go, and walked around the Quarter looking at these amazing old, old houses with their wrought-iron balconies. Oh, New Orleans just breaks my heart, it is so beautiful.
I shot this the next day--there were some gorgeous balconies in the night light, but they didn't come out so well...
We peeked into several stores--the nice ones were already closed for the day but Krista wanted to check out a lot of tickytacky shops for tee-shirts and such. She really liked the one that said
I Want to Be Barbie--
the Bitch has Everything!
I liked the ones that said
I Survived Hurricane Katrina
and All I Got Was a Cadillac and a Plasma TV.
We flirted for beads--now I have to explain that the whole "you show 'em, I'll throw 'em" (i.e., the "tits for beads" equation) is strictly a French Quarter/tourist thing, and does not apply to Mardi Gras in general (there are many kids at these parades and you would be in a world of trouble if you started flashing someone on St. Charles Avenue--dem cops is mean in New Orleans). And really, you do not have to do that--I got plenty of beads on Friday with just a smile and a wave. In fact I saw very few women flashing--I did not, as I do not wish to end up on a "Girls Gone Wild" video, and as I said, I didn't need to. But the bead game is tons of fun--as the evening goes on, people will appear on the balconies with beads, dangling them, and crowds will gather below, hoping for beads. You would stop in the crowd, make eye contact with a guy who has beads--he of course is hoping you'll take off your shirt, you smile but regretfully decline, and smile sweetly with a hopeful expression and usually he'll relent. It worked almost every time.
We got beignets at this cute lil' al fresco place on Bourbon that had all sorts of comfort food, PLUS live jazz/blues. My feet were really starting to hurt at that point (I sound like an old lady but I have terrible arches) but Krista convinced me to go to Pat O'Brien's, a wise decision. We went there and ordered hurricanes--she made me laugh because the waiter put them down while Krista was facing me, talking to me, and she turned around and IMMEDIATELY knocked them over. It was right out of a movie, it was such perfect slapstick--the waiter looked as though he were suppressing an annoyed reaction but as Krista said, it's foolish to put down a drink that close to someone who isn't looking at you.
Mother's Milk
Anyway, after that we went back onto Bourbon, trolling for beads again--one guy on a balcony from whom I was trying to get beads pointed to me and gestured for us to come up. We did--it was the second floor of a bar/club called "The Frat House" that had just opened that weekend (we met the owner later). The bead game is even more fun when you're on the balcony! We had all these guys hoping for beads from us--I commented to Krista that it was all very medieval, with us giving ribbons, as it were, to cavaliers. Some guys would throw up beads to us--I got some nice ones that way, and the owner gave us some Jagermeister beads. Every now and then I would run out of beads and then I'd go back into the street to get some more. We were up there on the balcony for quite some time--chatting with other bead-throwers, hanging out--this was all quite lovely and we were basically sober, until the owner distributed shots of Jagermeister which, foolishly, Krista and I drank. HOLY crap. That shit is strong. We were finished after that and left 20 minutes later, our livers whimpering in submission.
*Mardi Gras primer: Mardi Gras in New Orleans is driven by social clubs called "Krewes"--there are all different kinds (some selective, some based on ethnicity/race/gender/where you live, even gay krewes) but generally each krewe hosts a masked parade (open to the public) and a ball (sometimes open, sometimes invitation only). So there are many parades throughout the Carnival season (which officially starts January 6 and lasts through Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is so-called because medieval households had to get rid of all the fattening foods like eggs and meat (Carnival translates to "Flesh, farewell"), in order to prepare for the penitential Lenten season--so you eat all the yummy foods the day before! This is why pancake suppers are traditional for Shrove Tuesday--you can use up your eggs). Some krewes mount their parades on wheels with floats, so you refer to them as "rolling." Eg., "what parades are rolling this weekend?" Some krewes walk.
King cakes (so-called for Three Kings--MG kicks off Jan. 6, Epiphany, when the 3 Kings visited Jesus in the manger) are another charming New Orleans custom--they are round cinnamon coffee cakes decorated with the Mardi Gras colors (purple, green and gold) and a little plastic baby baked into them. Whoever gets the baby has to bring the next King cake to the office, or the church, or wherever the "party" is.
I left early Friday morning--when I left, NYC was pretty warm (in the 50s) and New Orleans was REALLY warm, well into the 60s. When we arrived at our hotel, I immediately changed into shorts and a tee-shirt. Our hotel (LaSalle on Canal Street) was great--quite close to the Quarter and very reasonably priced with decent amenities (rooftop terrace, elevator, wireless and a public computer in the lobby). We dumped our stuff and went out walking through the Quarter, primarily to get something to eat. (Damn, airlines have their passengers on the Nicolae Ceauşescu austerity program these days--absolutely no food whatsoever unless you fork over the bucks. Not even peanuts!) While walking down Bourbon, we were delighted to see a parade, for the Krewe of Cork*, a wine-drinking krewe.
You gotta love a krewe whose sole purpose is to promote wine-drinking!
They were mostly in costume, walking through the Quarter with their (full) wine glasses--the glasses must have been plastic, because although you are allowed to drink openly on the streets in the Quarter, you can't have glass. Krista and I got some really beautiful beads--they have wine bottles in them, and the bottom part has the krewe logo.
Some of the costumes were gorgeous--they looked like fairies. One woman who was dressed quite elaborately blew glittery fairy dust at me (at my request) so I was gilded for the rest of the afternoon! A lovely omen to start off the weekend!
After eating, Krista and I went back to the hotel and changed, as it was getting a little chillier and went back to the Quarter. We started off at the Old Absinthe Bar, this extremely old...uh, bar, whose walls are covered with TONS of business cards.
We had a couple of not-very-good lemon drops there, and then set off into the night. We were walking down the sidewalk when two fratboys asked us to join them, and the 4 of us went to the Cat's Meow, a karaoke place. While there we met some older guys who, as it turned out, had gone to W&L (class of '88)--when they found out we'd gone to Sweet Briar, they asked us what year. We exchanged a glance and told them '89 and they were stunned. Krista and I got hit on a lot this weekend by younger men. Heh! At the Cat's Meow, they were running their 3-for-1 special--3 Coronas for $.4.25 (*faints*).
I signed up for a song, but it was one of those places where the karaoke host sings every other song, and I didn't feel like waiting for an hour to sing. So we got our beers to go, and walked around the Quarter looking at these amazing old, old houses with their wrought-iron balconies. Oh, New Orleans just breaks my heart, it is so beautiful.
I shot this the next day--there were some gorgeous balconies in the night light, but they didn't come out so well...
We peeked into several stores--the nice ones were already closed for the day but Krista wanted to check out a lot of tickytacky shops for tee-shirts and such. She really liked the one that said
the Bitch has Everything!
I liked the ones that said
and All I Got Was a Cadillac and a Plasma TV.
We flirted for beads--now I have to explain that the whole "you show 'em, I'll throw 'em" (i.e., the "tits for beads" equation) is strictly a French Quarter/tourist thing, and does not apply to Mardi Gras in general (there are many kids at these parades and you would be in a world of trouble if you started flashing someone on St. Charles Avenue--dem cops is mean in New Orleans). And really, you do not have to do that--I got plenty of beads on Friday with just a smile and a wave. In fact I saw very few women flashing--I did not, as I do not wish to end up on a "Girls Gone Wild" video, and as I said, I didn't need to. But the bead game is tons of fun--as the evening goes on, people will appear on the balconies with beads, dangling them, and crowds will gather below, hoping for beads. You would stop in the crowd, make eye contact with a guy who has beads--he of course is hoping you'll take off your shirt, you smile but regretfully decline, and smile sweetly with a hopeful expression and usually he'll relent. It worked almost every time.
We got beignets at this cute lil' al fresco place on Bourbon that had all sorts of comfort food, PLUS live jazz/blues. My feet were really starting to hurt at that point (I sound like an old lady but I have terrible arches) but Krista convinced me to go to Pat O'Brien's, a wise decision. We went there and ordered hurricanes--she made me laugh because the waiter put them down while Krista was facing me, talking to me, and she turned around and IMMEDIATELY knocked them over. It was right out of a movie, it was such perfect slapstick--the waiter looked as though he were suppressing an annoyed reaction but as Krista said, it's foolish to put down a drink that close to someone who isn't looking at you.
Mother's Milk
Anyway, after that we went back onto Bourbon, trolling for beads again--one guy on a balcony from whom I was trying to get beads pointed to me and gestured for us to come up. We did--it was the second floor of a bar/club called "The Frat House" that had just opened that weekend (we met the owner later). The bead game is even more fun when you're on the balcony! We had all these guys hoping for beads from us--I commented to Krista that it was all very medieval, with us giving ribbons, as it were, to cavaliers. Some guys would throw up beads to us--I got some nice ones that way, and the owner gave us some Jagermeister beads. Every now and then I would run out of beads and then I'd go back into the street to get some more. We were up there on the balcony for quite some time--chatting with other bead-throwers, hanging out--this was all quite lovely and we were basically sober, until the owner distributed shots of Jagermeister which, foolishly, Krista and I drank. HOLY crap. That shit is strong. We were finished after that and left 20 minutes later, our livers whimpering in submission.
*Mardi Gras primer: Mardi Gras in New Orleans is driven by social clubs called "Krewes"--there are all different kinds (some selective, some based on ethnicity/race/gender/where you live, even gay krewes) but generally each krewe hosts a masked parade (open to the public) and a ball (sometimes open, sometimes invitation only). So there are many parades throughout the Carnival season (which officially starts January 6 and lasts through Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is so-called because medieval households had to get rid of all the fattening foods like eggs and meat (Carnival translates to "Flesh, farewell"), in order to prepare for the penitential Lenten season--so you eat all the yummy foods the day before! This is why pancake suppers are traditional for Shrove Tuesday--you can use up your eggs). Some krewes mount their parades on wheels with floats, so you refer to them as "rolling." Eg., "what parades are rolling this weekend?" Some krewes walk.
King cakes (so-called for Three Kings--MG kicks off Jan. 6, Epiphany, when the 3 Kings visited Jesus in the manger) are another charming New Orleans custom--they are round cinnamon coffee cakes decorated with the Mardi Gras colors (purple, green and gold) and a little plastic baby baked into them. Whoever gets the baby has to bring the next King cake to the office, or the church, or wherever the "party" is.
