Monday night my buddy and I met up with some of his law school friends and headed down to the French Quarter for dinner and a night out. We walked around the quarter a bit taking in the sites. First things first, adult beverages... I had my first hurricane (good lord). For those of you who knew me "way" back in my early college days, I am still nervous walking around with an open container;). I admit my first impression of Bourbon St. reminded me of the Red Light District in Amsterdam. We went to Coops Place for dinner. Naturally, I got the Jambalaya, my first authentic New Orleans meal. Needed a good base for the night;) After dinner we walked down the way and stopped at Cafe Du Monde. What a great new Orleans experience. What I believe to be a true French style cafe. We had a coffee and beignet's, a must have from what I am told. They were delicious.
After our little pick me up at Cafe Du Monde we headed to another of Justin's law school friends place. He lives right in the quarter and has an amazing place! What I would imagine a classic French villa would be like. Building in the front almost right on the street and a courtyard out back. The court yard is what made it, there was a fire pit, a table, a brick wall. haha We ended up at a friends place, close to the parade route. The parades started early in the morning, 830AM early.
The signature parade Tuesday was the Zulu parade. We were up early and out the door in plenty of time. We walked down the street and got a great spot right across from a radio station, they kept the music going. The Zulu parade was the first parade and very impressive. I immediately saw the obsession with the beads. People pushed and shoved to position themselves in the perfect spots to receive beads. Members of the parade would throw beads off the floats. There were cheap beads, just a plane band, single color. There were nice beads, complex beading with pennants. There was also huge beads ones, soft ball size beads, those were fought over. The item that was fought over the most however, were the coconuts. Everybody wanted a coconut. They were painted, some of them were real, some of them were fake. I didn't get one...
I would compare the parades to tailgating at a college football game (go HOKIES!). The only differences being, the party/tailgating never ends (you can drink during the parade/game), and you more or less have to pay to got to the bathroom. There are port a lu's around, but not near where we were, you needed to buy a beer to use the bathroom. After the parades were over we headed back threw our things in the car, ate a pizza and were off the Bourbon Street! To see it at its prime.
Bourbon street on Fat Tuesday was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was amazing, all walks of life were there, drunk, dressed up, not dressed, on drugs, young, old, fake, real, I saw it all. After a few hours I would not have been surprised by anything. Now I honestly might be able to say I have seen it all, but we all know that's not true. We drunkenly stumbled to a few different bars checking out the crowds, ended up at a place called Fat Cats right on Bourbon Street. It was a karaoke bar, playing all the drunk classics. We ended up paying to get upstairs to use the balcony. One thing about the French Quarter that I really love is all the balcony's. On Fat Tuesday the balcony's were used to throw beads down at the passer byes and lets just leave it at, every one had to work for them:). After our balcony activities were over we went to a piano bar to grab a quick bite and listen to a battle. I think it was actually my first time at a dueling piano bar. Somehow after that we made it home...It was an experience I will never forget.
Wednesday was a too say the least a much needed recovery day. We went out for lunch around noon, I dropped my buddy at law school and then took a nap, a three hour nap.. I think the most I accomplished was connecting my devices to the internet.. That evening we did go to a birthday celebration at a really good local pizza place. They served good ol Chicago style, deep dish pizza, too say the least I was a fan.
I promised myself Thursday would be more productive! I needed to see the city!
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