Carnival Parades Galore!

Because of the jet lag, Becky and I woke up around noon-ish. The late rising; however, provided a great opportunity to eat lunch at the Gardens Cafe with Chad and Suzy, two students from Colorado. Beyond that, we also ate BBQ hot dogs in the hostel's garden with some Canadians as well!

It was soon time for the King Thoth parade! Each parade during Carnival is associated and organized by a specific krewe. The Krewe of Thoth started in 1947 and was named after the Egyptian god of wisdom. We stood on the main street, St. Charles, with hundreds of families. When a band came by, everybody would watch in silence; when a float arrived, everybody jumped up and down screaming like crazy for beads! It was hilarious to watch this for hours on end.

The King himself!

At the end of the parade, I won a boa, while Becky proudly displayed her spear. John Woodbridge texted me that he was in Nola as well, so we headed down St. Charles to meet him. Right away, we joined him and a group of Southern folk from Atlanta.

The fabulous goodies we received from The Thoth Parade

The nicest people in the world are arguably from the South! Beyond the gentle accent which I loved so much, people were extremely polite! In other cities where one would say "Excuse me," people would just move out of the way; here in the South, people would respond, "Of course! Not a problem!" Southern hospitality!

We watched the nighttime Bacchus parade where Ben Myers and I competed for beads! I caught a million that day, but sure enough, I couldn't get anything during the competition. Haha.

The parade is named for Bacchus, the Greek god of wine. The Krewe of Bacchus broke Carnival tradition by having a Sunday night parade that was bigger and better than any other floats during Carnival.

With the drivers of the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile! Seriously!

Becky and I ate at Italian Bistro on Magazine and then headed back to the hostel. When calling around to bars, I asked when they would close. The responses I heard were, "Whenever" and "When the people leave." Haha, oh Nola!

After I called John to see what he was up to tonight (to which he responded, "I'm hanging out with you!"), jumped in a cab to St. Joe's Bar down Magazine. The second we met up, we started a two-and-a-half-hour laugh! Good friends, beads, nice people, parades, what more do you need?