Mardi Gras Madness

DON'T stop the madness!I loved it! It was a fun, crazy, time-of-your-life, raucous experience. Yay! we finally experienced our first Mardi Gras 2020!! In New Orleans, annual Mardi Gras festivities begin up to a month in advance so celebrations actually began in January and continued until Fat Tuesday which is "Mardi Gras" in French. We attended as many parades as we could in 3 days. The well-celebrated Mardi Gras carnival season were fun and were enjoyed in cities and towns all around Louisiana, from north to south, east to west. We learned that no two parades celebrated simultaneously so you can attend all and not miss a single one.Mardi Gras is always on the Tuesday (before Ash Wednesday). The day before Mardi Gras is known as Lundi Gras. Between sightseeing tours we watched different krewes parade down Poydras and Tchoupitoulas and St Charles Streets. Multi-colored beads in the air at Mardi Gras are thrown from floats to parade-goers and we were eager to be in the midst of this year's celebration! I've even seen them throw a whole bag of beads... and my Mom caught one... one bag! LoL! So much fun trying to catch them. Catch them from the air... don't pick beads off the ground, we weren't supposed to. Rule #1. Only amateurs pick them up, unless, they are some crazy beads. Cups are always my favorite, they flew off the floats in large quantities, they were easy to catch and they have the krewe's name on them. Kewl! My favorite and the very best throws are the signature and customized throws from the king and/or queen and their court's floats. I also got a couple of coin-like souvenirs called "doubloons" commemorating various Mardi Gras Krewes and also custom beads unique to the Krewe, oh, and a rubber ball (glow) too.It wasn't just the floats that were entertaining but we also enjoyed seeing the marching bands from different schools all across New Orleans. I understand that they were also out there to compete for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. There were some 80+ parades during the Mardi Gras season and we were able to watch these large float parades.February 22 - Krewe of TucksFebruary 24 - Krewe of Proteus (French Quarter)February 25 - Krewe of Rex and the Krewe of ZuluThere was heavy police presence. People of all ages were there to celebrate. I've seen kids trying to catch some souvenirs too! Bourbon Street was another thing. Yes, we did go there. Caught some beads -- flashed my braces! It was unfortunate that two people died this year during Mardi Gras season. Safety is always an issue. Enjoy and have fun but be extra careful!Review #1711