Destination: NOLA (New Orleans LouisianA)

The bridge going to NOLA

Our cute, comfy and cheap hostel

Lunch time/Happy hour

Bourbon Street is alive!

Dressed up people throwing beads from a Bourbon St. balcony

Nadine and I stole a selfie with a highschooler in the marching band

People of Bourbon Street/Mardi Gras (one was in a parade, one wasn't)

Oh the creativity..

The Mississippi river

Sian, Nadine, Flora and I - check our bead count!

Wonderful jazz at Fritzel European Jazz

Tirsdag aften blev det besluttet at jeg skulle en tur til NOLA, og fredag morgen et par timer før solen stod op var vi (Flora, Nadine, Sian, Thomas og jeg) på vej med en fyldt bil på vores 7 timers køretur vestpå :-) 

Det var weekenden før weekenden før Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, som er den 'rigtige' festdag.  

Mardi Gras er den sidste dag før fasten, og hedder derfor "Fat Tuesday", fordi der skulle fyldes godt med kalorier på inden fasten. 

I dag bliver Mardi Gras mest associeret med fest i lange baner, musik, optog, og perlekæder!

En tur til NOLA under Mardi Gras, var den ENE tur som jeg vidste længe før jeg tog herover, at jeg absolut bare skulle opleve! Man kan jo altid flyve til New York, eller Miami, men når man bor blot 7 timer fra New Orleans, og ligefrem kan tage turen på en weekend - så skulle det gøres!

Vi boede på et hyggeligt hostel lidt udenfor centrum. Jeg har aldrig boet på hostel før - tro det eller ej - og havde nok en ide om at man altid endte med at bo med en flok backpackere med sure tær - men det var i stedet en positiv oplevelse, og der var fin morgenmad inkluderet - som først blev pakket væk kl. 11.30 (vigtigt!).

Efter ankomst mødtes vi med fire andre GRSP'ere på en restaurant i Bourbon Street hvor der tilfældigvis var Happy Hour :-) 

Derfra var det parader og perlekæder hele eftermiddagen, og vi sluttede aftenen på en lille jazz klub med noget fremragende musik. 

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Tuesday night it was decided that I was going on a trip to NOLA, and Friday morning a couple of hours before sunrise we (Flora, Nadine, Sian, Thomas and I) were on our way with a full car for our 7 hour drive West :-)

It was the weekend before the weekend before Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, which is the actual holiday. 

Mardi Gras is a celebration of the last day before the fast/lenten season, and this is why it is called "Fat Tuesday" because people needed to stock up on calories before fasting. 

Today, Mardi Gras is probably mostly associated with lots of partying, music, parades and beads!

A trip to NOLA during Mardi Gras was the ONE trip I just knew long before going over here, that I really wanted to experience! You can always fly to New York or Miami, but when you live just 7 hours from New Orleans and you can make it there and back in just a weekend - it had to be done!

We stayed in a really cute hostel about 20 minutes from the French Quarter and Uptown. I have never stayed in a hostel before - believe it or not - and I guess I had an idea that you would always end up staying with some group of backpackers with really smelly feet - but it was actually a really nice experience, and we had a good breakfast included every morning (until 11.30 - awesome!).

After arriving we met with four other GRSPs in a restaurant on Bourbon Street that just happened to have happy hour :-)

From thereon it was all parades and beads all afternoon, and we finished off in a small jazz club with some amazing music.