We celebrated with bananas foster French toast and pancakes topped with vanilla ice cream -- ice cream! -- at Stanley's on Jackson Square.
Then on to an exhibit next door at the Louisiana State Museum called "Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond," which deepened our understanding of the impact of the 2005 storms -- Katrina and Rita. The exhibition also explained how failures in civil engineering -- including poorly constructed levees -- contributed to the devastation and loss of life.
After yesterday's visit to the beautiful Aquarium of the Americans and spending time poking around the Carribbean reef and penguin exhibits, today we were in search of something quintessentially New Orleans -- something we could find only in this city. We scored huge with a trip to Mardi Gras World.
The "attraction" is basically a 250,000-square-foot warehouse where a company called Blaine Kern Studios designs and manufactures hundreds of Mardi Gras floats and the "props" -- all the 3-D elements -- that adorn them. After we watched a video on Mardi Gras and the history of Blaine Kern Studios, we were pretty much let loose in the warehouse to wander amongst all the floats and figures crafted in Styrofoam, fiberglass and paper mache: flowers, animals, storybook characters and larger-than-life celebrities. Monkeys, tigers, dragons, gorillas, a swan and a giant panda. Star Wars Tie Fighters and the Batmobile. The Hulk, Yoda, Elvis, the Three Stooges, Big Bird, a Pokemon, Bacchus, Che Guevara and that guy Sam Jackson played in "Pulp Fiction." Hundreds and hundreds of them, all eight-, ten-, 15-feet tall.
The design and construction of 500 Mardi Gras floats -- Blain Kern Studios builds them for 16 Krewes, or clubs -- is a year-round business, and in one corner of the warehouse, we saw artists hard at work, sculpting a butterfly princess out of Styrofoam, putting the last touches of paint on a 12-foot-tall New Orleans Saints football player and reworking an old prop into something new for the coming year. Our tour guide explained that their staff works right up to the day before Mardi Gras, and starts up again on the day after for floats for the coming year.
We learned that there are about 50 krewes -- each with a distinct history and theme -- that organize and plan their own parades. Members pay dues -- anywhere from $50 to $1,500 and up -- to belong to a krewe. The clubs, which are run as nonprofit organizations, stage spectacular balls and other fundraisers to finance their floats. A basic build-out -- a wooden box over a chassis -- costs about $50,000 or $60,000. After the floats are decorated with props, they can cost $250,000 or more each. Each krewe can have a maximum of 28 floats in their parade. The krewe members ride on their floats, and masks are mandatory, according to Mardi Gras parade ordinance.
I was fascinated to learn that most floats are equipped with bathrooms, which are essential for krewe members who are stuck on the float eating and drinking -- and drinking -- and tossing cups, doubloons, beads and all the other "throws" -- and drinking -- for six- or seven-hour stretches.
It was a long, hot walk to get to Mardi Gras World, but this unique New Orleans experience was well worth the trip.
Lunch was on the Mardi Gras World patio, overlooking the Mississippi: red beans and rice and a 32-ounce Abita beer. Perfection.
It was a hot, hot day and we were all dragging by about 3 p.m., so we headed back to the hotel for more birthday celebration. As is the custom in our family, Clare had to follow a trail of clues that led to her stash of presents. This particular treasure hunt took her all over the hotel -- she even had to ask Scott, the valet parking guy, for a clue that I had planted with him in advance -- until she ended up at the Bell Desk with a claim ticket that she turned in for her bag of gifts.
Since they were in on the birthday surprise, the front desk staff later sent a tray of cookies, a cupcake with a birthday candle and glasses of milk up to our room. Clare was tickled.
For dinner, we ended up at the Court of Two Sisters restaurant, at a table in a leafy courtyard strung with thousands of tiny lights. Once again, Clare was treated to a special dessert with a birthday candle.
After dinner, we had family game night back at the hotel: a rousing round of National Park Matching Game, in which Mommy. Creamed. Everybody.
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