Even though we didn’t have to, I woke up at 7:15. The scheduled wake-up was not until nine. I took extra time in the shower, read a book of poetry Brendan just bought me and ate breakfast on the terrace. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was 65 degrees and sunny while I ate breakfast. Everyone else slowly started to make their way out of bed, and we left the house at 9:30 to walk to Boot’s, a bar all the Tulane students go to. Dan led the way and said that he was showing mercy on us since Mardi gras usually calls for people starting the drinking process at 7 a.m. A round of bloody mary’s later, we were ready to walk back to the house to meet up with a few stragglers. We sat around talking for awhile before finally deciding to drive to lunch. The locals chose the Parkway Bakery and Tavern. They’re famous for their po’boys, which is a type of sub sandwich everyone in New Orleans raves about. It was created by Bennie and Clovis Martin of Martin Brothers Coffee Stand and Restaurant in the 1920s. Bennie and Clovis said, “What are we going to feed those poor boys” thus the new “Poor Boy” sandwich was invented to help feed the striking streetcar conductors. I ordered the restaurant’s most famous po’boy, a home-cooked hot roast beef with gravy. I honestly didn’t think it was that amazing. The staff was friendly, and the atmosphere was fun, but I would give my food about a “c” rating. The best part was that we got to wear goofy hats like what you get at Steak’N’Shake. After lunch we drove back to the house to hang out for awhile before calling one of the Zeta Psi pledge brothers to drive us downtown. The eight boys and I bravely went to explore the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street was trashy – majorly trashy. I felt so awkward and out of place. There are literally people lifting their shirts everywhere for beads. All I could think about was how degrading that is for their character. I mean, sure, everyone likes to have a good time, but to lower yourself to lift your shirt for penny beads…No thank you. I don’t think the boys were quite as put off by the situation as I was, but for my sake, we cut out of there fairly quickly and walked to Jackson Square, which is also part of the French Quarter. I was immediately back to enjoying myself. There were families walking around, people painting pictures, people reading tarot card and palms and a million other festive activities. We also got to see the oldest Catholic Church in the United States. It was absolutely stunning. I got my face painted in pink, orange and yellow in front of it. Brendan, Dylan and I then explored more of the square before we met back up with everyone at the Mississippi River. The river was really polluted, but it was neat to see it up close. We then walked to stake our spot for the night parades. Brendan and I detoured at Wendy’s to eat some salad and frosties. When we met back up with everyone, it seemed like it had gotten 20 degrees colder. It was ridiculous. The parade reached the downtown area around 6:15, and Dan, Brendan and I were the only ones who wanted to stand and watch it. The downtown area was so much more relaxing than the uptown area we were at for shopping cart day, and the people on the floats threw way more beads towards the end of the parade. Dan explained to me that the parades are split into “krewes,” and the krewes are responsible for picking the themes, the floats, etc. All of the floats are made by professional artists who work on them all year. In order to sit on a float and throw beads, you have to pay $900, and that’s excluding the ball. The money essentially pays for the beads you throw. During the night parades, we also saw flambeaus for the first time. Flambeaus used to be the only source of the light the parades had, but now they’re more of a tradition. They’re people who hold slicks with gas tanks on top; the gas tanks drip down into little flame canisters where the flame has been lit, and they stay lit because of the constant flow of fluid. Throughout the duration of the parade, we caught so many beads that I wore at least 40 necklaces, and between the three of us, we filled up two heavy duty reusable grocery type of bags. Each bag probably weighed no less than 30 pounds. Brendan also caught a Frisbee he sold for $3, and we got some really unique necklaces, including one with rubber ducks on it. After the second parade concluded around 10, we walked for a little bit and then caught a taxi back to the house. I was completely beat by the time we walked in the door. I watched the boys play video games for a little while, chatted and then said good night while everyone else went out to pull an all nighter before the final day of Mardi gras. These southerners really know how to party hard.
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