February 25th. Eric opens his wardrobe for us and provides us with costumes. I get to wear the sequin jacket (a gift to his ex-wife) and receive many compliments on the clothing during the coming days. With our new attire, we are well prepared to merge with the locals and the festivities. Afterwards, we drive to downtown New Orleans. We stroll through the French Quarter and have Eric as a top tourist guide, being a 'Born and raised in New Orleans' person. He explains the history of the city in detail. For lunch, we have seafood at Station 6, an outstanding restaurant for local specialties. Then we go to our first street parade, the Hermes Parade. Until 'Fat Tuesday', there are several street parades daily. Some are large and extravagant, like Hermes or Orpheus. Others are small and the floats are pulled or carried by hand (Red Beans Parade). The large parades involve a lot of money: one must be quite wealthy to secure a spot on one of the large streetships and shower the audience with gifts, usually in the form of beads. Currently, most of the goodies are made of plastic, causing a flood of garbage: after a parade, the ground is full of beads, swords, glowing tiaras, and much more!
In contrast, the gifts at the small parades are often creative, small, and handmade. In addition to the brightly decorated floats, there are many marching bands from universities and high schools that showcase themselves. Usually, the marching band consists not only of musicians but also of cheerleaders who go ahead or dancers. But the musicians themselves also show off their dance moves. It's a grand spectacle, loud, colorful, and it's hard to resist the magic of this completely different world - immersion is the order of the day!
February 26th. Eric is attending a grand ball in the dome tonight with a friend. We drive him to the stadium and are allowed to use his car to spend the day on our own. We visit the city park with its huge live oak trees and taste beignets at the café. (Beignets are a kind of carnival pastry covered in tons of powdered sugar - delicious!) Then we find a good spot on the side of the street to watch the Endymion Parade, one of the largest parades. It's crowded, but we manage to get to the front row. Metalheads from Houston are next to us. The drummer of Superjoint and a guy who drives the stars around in the limousine and gets them "things" that rockstars consume... ;) While collecting glitter, bling bling, and toys, the metalheads and their girlfriends are not inferior to the children and fill their bags and sacks that they brought along. Today, for once, I don't catch any plastic: T-shirts and underwear are also thrown and successfully caught - souvenirs that will make it to Switzerland.
February 27th. We pick up Eric at the hotel at 11:00 am. Although he is 66 years young, the good man actually got "wasted" last night! He almost missed his favorite band, Maroon 5, because he drank too much... So we drive home first so he can rest. Later in the afternoon, Eric pulls himself together, and we drive together to the Bacchus Parade. In addition to the usual plastic, Roman catches flip-flops, two portions of kidney beans, and a portion of roasted coffee beans. Eric catches a couple of socks. Even bananas were flying!? But after about half of the parade, it's enough. Eric needs to recover from his wild night, and we go alone to a nearby Thai restaurant to have dinner and end the evening quietly.
February 28th. Today we go to the market again with a lot of handicrafts. We find a nice souvenir for home. In the French Quarter, we spontaneously visit a jazz concert. By chance, we learn about the Red Beans Parade and follow it through several neighborhoods. All costumes are decorated with beans, it is familiar, creative, and we really like it! Then we visit Laury and Greg, a friendly couple who are just as festive as Eric and store countless Mardi Gras costumes in the attic of their house! We are allowed to choose some for the next day and arrange to have breakfast with them. Then we go to the Thai restaurant again with Eric, because firstly, it's good, secondly, it's not far, and thirdly, it's open.
March 1st. Mardi Gras. Today is the big day that all New Orleanians have been waiting for a year! We get dressed up, go to Greg and Laury to drink mimosas (champagne with orange juice) and eat quiches. It's Laury's birthday, and we sing her a serenade. Then we look for a parking space near the French Quarter and visit an acquaintance of Eric's where we get another buffet and drinks. With the whole gang (many have chosen the theme 'Space' as their costume), we join a parade that moves from the outskirts to the French Quarter. We briefly lose sight of each other. Fortunately, this year's Mardi Gras is not as crowded as usual due to Covid, and we find each other again. When we arrive in the center, we dance on the street and enjoy the exuberant atmosphere. Since Eric knows many people, we are invited to two more apartments with buffets and drinks. I have no idea how wealthy one must be to own an apartment in the French Quarter... Judging by the interior design, pretty wealthy I guess! The third small apartment we visit is the home base of a dance group that starts dancing and rehearsing choreographies to certain songs. It's great to watch! We meet Greg and Laury and they invite us for champagne in the fully packed Hotel Monteleone. After more rounds in the Quarter and numerous dance performances, we end up in Frenchmen Street in the evening, where we have dinner and then go to a concert at the 'Spotted Cat'. But it's way too loud for me, so I sit outside the venue and chat with people. Then we drive back to Eric's by car, what a crazy and eventful day!
