Mardi Gras Zulu Beads

Mardi Gras Zulu Beads

The Crescent City

New Orleans is a southern city rich with history and culture and some of the best food and music you will ever experience. This city has nice weather that remains consistently mild throughout most of the seasons, so you can visit almost any time of the year and you will usually have pleasant weather conditions for your vacation. New Orleans always has good food and music, but if you want to visit during a specific event you have to have your calendar set. The first party kicks off during February. Mardi Gras is the largest free party in the free world. It is truly a good time. There are beautiful floats ridden by people dressed in beautiful costumes throwing all sorts of goodies and trinkets to be collected by tourists and locals, alike. You can collect beaded necklaces that range from very ordinary to beautiful pieces of neckwear. Many float crews throw collectibles for kids and adults to treasure. There is even a crew that hosts the Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras morning and they throw beautifully, ornately decorated coconuts; real live coconuts! The next event in this southern city that has just about as much tourist traffic is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Celebrated in late April and early May, this event is sure to be a winner with all of its visitors. There is something for everyone during these festivities. There is food, drink and music. The food of the locals includes seafood: stewed , boiled and fried. Red beans and rice, jambalaya and gumbo, just to name a few. There are also drinks of all kinds. There is the old town favorite called a snowball, for the kids (similar to a snow cone, but with much softer ice) and of course if you are into the “spirits” you will find those types of drinks here too. And there are sounds all around you at this festival. There are music stages that supply some of everything: jazz, gospel and of course Dixieland. During the April/May party it really starts to heat up in this part of the South, but if you think this is hot, just wait until you visit in July for the ESSENCE Music Festival. The one thing about the festival in July that helps, is that most of those events take place inside of the air conditioned convention named for one of the city's former mayors. The Ernest N. Morial convention center gained popularity during Hurricane Katrina as the place that held many evacuees who were waiting to be rescued. It was filmed on many of the news channels around the country. While planning your trip to New Orleans be sure to ask around. Maybe somebody can put you in touch with a native who can show you around or at least give you a home-cooked meal. Nothing beats a meal at the home of someone who has actually cooked for you. And please arrive hungry because your host will offer you a plate and no matter how many times you say 'no' you will still find yourself staring into a plate of something like steaming hot red beans and rice, so don't forget to pack a fork. For more information on New Orleans, Louisiana visit http://neworleansmicroblog.com and http://louisianamicroblog.com
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Mardi Gras Zulu Beads

Mardi Gras in New Orleans 2010-02-16 (Zulu Parade)