There’s always room for one more

We didn’t realize that there is a Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. It’s not just one parade, but a series of events that start on January 6 and run through the day before Ash Wednesday. The big parade is called the Krewe of Rex. Krewe (pronounced like crew or CWRU) is the term for the organizations that run the parades for Mardi Gras. So Krewe of Rex is the king of the parades, which runs on February 17 this year.

We originally had dinner reservations for tonight at Brennan’s, the restaurant that invented Bananas Foster. But we learned that there is a parade tonight by the International Krewe of Chewbaccus, a Star Wars themed Krewe. Of all the parades that happen during this season, this one best fits our personality!

So we had to pivot. We moved our reservation from dinner to brunch. Brennan’s brunch was elegant and enjoyable. Their cocktail menu had a special section in honor of the season. Greg had an appetizer of a baked apple while Ari tried turtle soup. Amy had gulf fish for her main.

When it came time for dessert, Amy and Ari jumped at the Bananas Foster before the waiter had a chance to show us the menu. Greg ordered a bread pudding plus a long spoon to try the Bananas Foster. We told the waiter about our favorite story about bananas foster. Before Karen’s engagement party, a cousin made Bananas Foster for the family. Greg told Amy that he loves bananas foster. Amy said “I know, that’s why we had it at our wedding.” Greg got annoyed and responded with “We had bananas foster at our wedding and you didn’t tell me???”

We rolled out of brunch and walked to the St Louis Cemetery #1. We needed the walk after all that food. On Ari’s suggestion, we signed up for a cemetery tour. We heard that this was something to do and it really was interesting. Because most of the city of New Orleans is below sea level, they don’t bury bodies below ground. Instead they have above ground crypts that hold hundreds or thousands of bodies. We saw the graves of a voodoo sorceress and Homer Plessy of Plessy v Ferguson. There were a lot of crypts of important families from New Orleans and some fancy ones for paupers. There is one that is owned by Nicolas Cage, even though he isn’t from New Orleans and he isn’t dead. Yet.

After the tour we went back to our hotel. Greg decided to check out the National WWII Museum. He got lost in the museum and could have spent another day there.

We met up for the parade. It was the oddest parade that we have seen. The theme was “Rebellions are built on Hope”, but not many participants followed the theme. It was definitely a lower budget than the big floats in the big parades. The entries were all sub krewes. Anyone could get a fandom group together and have an entry. We saw everything from X Files to Muppets in Space to a pink Chewbacca. Lots of participants handed out goodies. Lots of stickers but other things too. Amy got a pair of sunglasses, Ari got a golden Wookie statue. Greg’s haul wasn’t impressive but he got more than anyone else.