Jean's ongoing story of our trip....
Another lazy start and then we all headed over to the Mardi Gras museum which turned out to be quite a surprise. I had always been under the impression that the floats were made by the Krews - and was impressed at the level of professionalism and innovation they showed. It turns out however that each Krew member pays between $500 and $1500 to join their particular choice of Krew. The Captain decides on the theme of the float and then they approach this place where we visited to discuss the designs etc. Once decided upon, the floats can take up to a year to make!
The really expensive floats are made from fibre glass - costing up to $1500 per foot or at the other end of the scale, paper Mache floats can cost about $100 a foot. Neither of them work out particularly cheap. I was also surprised to learn that the Krew members buy their own beads, mugs etc to throws to the spectators.
There were some huge displays from past years to see, some of them very intricate with moving parts and many lights and we got the chance to dress up in some of the costumes for a photo shoot. It turned out to be a worthwhile trip.
After lunch, Debs and I had a short wander round the gift shops and then later we took a taxi down to Bourbon Street - the tourist spot. We've been there before so knew what to expect and there are certainly some sights to see.....
The really expensive floats are made from fibre glass - costing up to $1500 per foot or at the other end of the scale, paper Mache floats can cost about $100 a foot. Neither of them work out particularly cheap. I was also surprised to learn that the Krew members buy their own beads, mugs etc to throws to the spectators.
There were some huge displays from past years to see, some of them very intricate with moving parts and many lights and we got the chance to dress up in some of the costumes for a photo shoot. It turned out to be a worthwhile trip.
After lunch, Debs and I had a short wander round the gift shops and then later we took a taxi down to Bourbon Street - the tourist spot. We've been there before so knew what to expect and there are certainly some sights to see.....
We caught this street act...pretty amazing-
We had gone to specifically see a Blues singer named Bryan Lee who was performing, live and free, in Co-Co's Bar.
He was brilliant and we had a great night. (Note- John has been a long time fan of Bryan Lee--known as the Braille Blues Daddy and this was the first time we've ever been in NOLA when he's been playing- what a treat!)
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