Day 49 - Baton Rouge to New Orleans: Mardi Gras Parade

Bayou Segnette State Park is near New Orleans, but far enough to be a quiet location.
We were going to skip New Orleans because we had already been here 17 years ago. But what the heck. Laissez les bon temps rouler ! (Let the good times roll!) It's the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. Today there are three parades scheduled, one in the afternoon and two in the evening.
We park the rig in a hurry. We want to make it to the French Quarter before the start of the walking parade by the Krewe of Cork. It's all about wine.
There is a phone app that tells you where the parade is advancing in its itinerary.
We situate ourselves on a curve to have a long look of all the participants. This is so much fun!

After dinner we are ready for another parade. This one is going to be bigger with real floats. We buy tickets to get a seat on the bleachers. We wait a couple of hours from the scheduled time start time.
Finally they come. It's a cacophony of people screaming, blaring music, and engines revving. There are cowboys on horses, exhausted girls in glittering outfits, high school bands wearing the funkiest outfits, and then the floats. The crowd goes crazy, because that's when we get the beads.

We heckle them with 'HEY!'... and here comes a shower of trinkets. We get necklaces, rings and tiaras with flashing lights. The tiaras even have settings for three different blinking modes. We get stuffed animals, plastic hand slappers, wands, hula hoops, small backpacks with surprise gifts, and then beads ...and more beads in all kinds of colors and sizes. Sometimes they throw a whole bag of beads and it makes a big noise when it falls on the metal bleachers. I want the necklace with the biggest beads. I reach to catch one and it bangs on my pinkie finger. It's another girl's loot. Necklaces fall on the ground and break. The trinket plastic wraps, discarded on the street, twirl in the air like a mini tornado, going up high toward the skyscrapers.
We are not impressed with the floats. They all seem shaped the same and pretty commercial with  statues of animated film characters like Buzz Lightyear. Only the colors are different. Were they all made by the same people?



At 11 pm both parades are done. We walk on the street and it's a total mess. There is plastic, beads, discarded cans and bottles. It's a total mess. Bill and I are in shock, like when you drink a lot and then you regret it when you feel sick.
We take pictures and videos. We can't believe that the city of New Orleans in the year 2019 allows this to happen from January 6 to Mardi Gras, several times during each weekend!
We wonder down to Bourbon street. Lots of drunks with giant drinks in plastic cups.
I can't get past the waste. I am disgusted and I can't get over it.
On the way to the car, we see a crew of 50 street sweepers following a couple of sweeping machines. All will be cleaned up by morning.

We read more about this issue. It has been known for a long time and it's getting worse. There is even a documentary on the exploited young girls in China that work in the bead factory.
According to this article, the city has already sent 620 tons of debris to the landfill this year alone, and it's not over yet. Last year, the Mardi Gras period produced 1,300 tons.
I feel bad. I want to recycle my beads. There is an association that does just that.

Day 48 - Baton Rouge: Houmas House

I wanted to see the Mississippi river and touch it with my own two hands.
One of the things listed to see in google trips was the plantation Houmas House or Burnside Plantation, and it was on the river. The alternative was the Capitol Building. Not this time... I wanted to keep breathing fresh air, and it was a gorgeous day.

It was an easy 40 minutes drive to Burnside. We had to run through the gardens to make it to the tour on time. Our docent, Bobby, was wearing a costume of the era and she was followed by two large male turkeys, that were strutting while spreading their tail feathers to the max.

The current mansion style is Greek Revival, two-and-a-half stories high and is surrounded by 14 monumental Doric columns on three sides, and a widow's walk on the roof top. It was stunning with the gardens as a perfect setting.
The tour took us through several rooms, showing the luxurious life style. There are several art works including one Paul Gauguin and one recent work by George Rodrigue of two aunt relatives.

After the tour we took a stroll in the gardens and we met the turkeys' caregiver, and lucky for him, he lives in a cabin within the villa grounds.
The garden includes secular live oaks surrounding an oval pond with swans. Squirrels are chasing each other up oak trees and on the lawn. Flocks of birds swoop down and land on the lawn. Sculptures are placed on every turn of the pathway in dramatic postures to emphasize the beauty. It is an idyllic place. I was imagining myself living in the house and having a life of leisure.

The docent had mentioned that the owner loved to have at least three drinks a day of Mint Julep. We asked what it was and she suggested that we order one at the Turtle bar. We were in the mood. The drink contains mint syrup, mint leaves, citrus bitters and whole lot of bourbon.

Needless to say, we got drunk in the cozy living room of the Carriage House restaurant. We had to stay and wait it out. So we had dinner with a bowl of gumbo. Everything was perfect.
On the way out, I had to run up the levee to see the Mississippi... Mississippi one...Mississippi two...Mississippi three... here I am staring at a vast body of water. Lights are twinkling on the other shore. It is sunset. I immerse both my hands into the muddy water.

At the beginning I did not mention that I had read the wiki on Houmas House, to get the details, to be precise on dates and names. I wanted to give a picture of how I truly felt that day, in a daze of happiness. It's not that I was not thinking about the elephant in the room, in this case the slaves, it's just that I was content with the docent's brief comment that the owner was magnanimous and freed all his slaves before the civil war and let them own parcels of land including their cabins...He was a good guy, nothing to see here, let's move on.
I also did not mention that I gasped when I read online that the sugar baron of this house owned approximately 750 slaves on the premises, and a total of 2200 slaves when counting all the other properties that he owned. 2200! Not a mention in the tour other than the two words that I wrote above.
It's like going to visit Mauthausen and never mention the Jewish people...In a reply to a negative review, the current house owner advises the reviewer to visit other venues, where one can see the life of the slaves. This location caters to the entertainment business. In this house they have weddings. It's hard to get over something like this. The history is not told. I have a hard time finding any information from the internet.
It's very frustrating. It's lack of respect for those who suffered and died, it's a missed opportunity to teach the new generations that this has happened and certain things cannot be taken lightly. People do behave badly when they are not educated.