Getaway 2013: Day Eleven (Mardi Gras)

On Tuesday morning…actual Mardi Gras day…we actually decided to take things easy and head away from the day’s festivities. We wanted to check out the Garden District with it’s big ol’ mansions and such, so we put on our walking shoes and took a different turn out of our hotel.

Of course, you can’t be in New Orleans on Mardi Gras and NOT see a parade, so we still ended up in the midst of party time. :)  This time instead of being in the frat house street party, we followed a different route and were with more locals and found the streets lined with the infamous Mardi Gras ladders.  Local families know how to watch a parade!

These last few parades had some of the best beads and throws, which made getting anything so difficult!!  Everyone was really focused on their catches!  (I really didn’t need any more beads anyway!)

After snagging rice and beans, and a Bloody Mary for breakfast we finally made our way off the parade route and into our destination area…the Garden District.

Mostly it’s just a nice area of town with lots of expensive real estate and pretty houses.

I think my next home needs some pillars and a wrought iron fence.

 

We eventually needed a rest break and found the first and only Starbucks we saw in New Orleans, where I added a mug to my collection.  (Sadly one of the ugliest city mugs ever…so many beautiful sights in NOLA and this is what they use for the mug? Meh.)

We then continued on to visit one of New Orleans’ most famous cemeteries…Lafayette No. 1.

New Orleans is above sea level, so all of their graves are above ground.  This makes for some of the coolest looking graveyards.  We missed out on taking a guided tour, but this one is open to visitors every day.

 

The grey skies added a little something to the ambience here.

It was nice to visit an area outside of the French Quarter and see a quieter piece of New Orleans.  After the cemetery we hoofed it back to our hotel for a much need afternoon relax session.

Later on we got ready for dinner and decided to hop in a cab to check out Frenchman Street.  This is where we had hoped to find a nice little bar to hear some jazz or Cajun music, but because it was Mardi Gras what we found was chaos!  Eventually we landed ourselves at the patio bar of a restaurant where we shared an alligator po'boy and listened to a jazz quartet while watching costumed tourists dance and wobble about.

As we were walking towards our hotel and close to calling it a night, we decided to stop for a final beer at a hole in the wall Irish pub and ended up discovering a fabulous acoustic duo.  We spent the rest of our evening here away from the crazy crowds and really enjoying the music.  Not exactly Zydeco but we were happy!

{Next post: Our final day, and a fabulous lunch!}