Day 34 - Getting in the spirit

So one of the huge things down in this part of the world is Mardi Gras. Traditionally it is a carnival running from Epiphany (6th January) until Shrove Tuesday (or, Fat Tuesday if you take the literal translation of Mardi Gras from French). The centre of the Mardi Gras world is New Orleans, but Baton Rouge gets in on the act pretty well too.

There is way too much history and things going on for me to go through it in detail, but suffice to say it is a world renowned phenomenon - and one I was lucky to get a tiny taste of tonight. One of the guys from work invited me to come down and watch tonight's parade (there are 8-10 of the course of the last few weeks running up to Mardi Gras) and take in a bit off the atmosphere beforehand. 

Muffuletta

We hit up a place right in downtown called Jolie Pearl for some pre-parade baked oysters (with bacon and brie) and a muffuletta, which did the job magnificently. I also managed to grab a frozen White Russian on the way in as well so it was a good Friday night all round!

After the food we found a spot on the road for the parade to come through. One of the big things about these parades is the "throws" that are distributed from the various floats. These are often strings of multi-coloured beads and other assorted little trinkets but (as my head can attest) heavier things can be thrown too and a swivel-head is needed. The slight blemish on my forehead was caused by me spotting an incoming frisbee a touch too late.

But it was so much fun. The atmosphere at this one was pretty chilled as it is quite a small one in the grand scheme of things. Still, 25-20 floats came past and it took a good hour for the whole thing to get through. It was a great way to start off the weekend and my first real experience of Baton Rouge in the evening as the week winds down. 

I've no real plans for Saturday/Sunday so will see what they bring. But whatever happens I have next week's big Saturday parade in the diary. It is supposed to be a bit more risqué so will definitely need my head on a double-swivel this time! Who knows what might be coming!

The Bling and the Bang

Till tomorrow,

Tom