Carnival

Hermes Parade
Added by the Times-Picayune on February 20, 2009 at 10:42 PM
MICHAEL DeMOCKER / The Times-Picayune Flambeaux carriers escort the King's float at St. Charles and Napoleon as the Hermes parade rolls on Friday, February 20, 2009

Today was the day flooded with memories of the nineties when we'd make the yearly pilgrimage to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. It was a day of phone calls and e-mails from those that we traveled with and most of the years scored the two-level courtyard Suite 3216 (or was it 3612?) at the Royal Sonesta on the 300 block of Bourbon Street in the middle of it all.

They were some fun times. So today I listened to WWOZ for much of the day and relished the fond memories of the reckless abandon of my invincible years. I'd still love to spend a year living in New Orleans - a city rich in culture and history. Crime ridden, dirty, oppressively hot, corrupt - a city with character like no other I've ever seen. As the rest of the US becomes more homogenized, New Orleans remains its gritty, proud and weathered self.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Happy Lent.