New Orleanians have serious stamina.

Finally. Here's my Mardi Gras post.

First, let me say New Orleanians are serious about carnival season. These people party for a literal month before Ash Wednesday. 60+ parades, parties, and picnics. All events include alcohol and a lot of food. Carnival is a commitment. After the big parades, 400 city workers come out to clean the streets and prep for the next parade. I have no idea how many people it takes to clean the French Quarter. I cannot believe the city is still partying by Fat Tuesday.  Here are some pictures from the Monday before Mardi Gras.  Monday is called Lundi Gras.

First, we decided to be a little touristy and go to Acme Oyster house for lunch.  Here's a car in the parking lot.

Then, we went down to the French Quarter to go to the Lundi Gras celebration on the river walk. The royalty for the Zulu Krewe is unveiled at this celebration.  There is also a ton of crafts, food, beer, live music, and amazing fireworks. This is definitely where all the locals were.

Then we walked down to St. Charles to watch the Krewe of Proteus parade.  It was such a different feeling from the parade we went to in uptown (closer to neighborhoods).  Downtown was completely overtaken by tourists.  There was this weird mix of people:  To my right was a family with a small daughter trying to catch stuffed animals and such.  To the left was a group of drunk 20 year olds wearing t-shirts with a delightful photograph of a fully nude woman with something precious in her mouth. We still had fun though.  Here are some of the floats. Disclaimer: some of them kind of suck; it's really hard to get good pictures in a crowd of thousands :)