Halloween's Just Better In Ole New Orleans

This weekend, New Orleans was THE place to be.  It was Halloween, of course, which meant a parade (you can't have a holiday in New Orleans without a parade, beads, and booze).  Halloween is a major gay event--it's the Gay New Year, sort of, so the gay bars were packed, too.  Then there was VooDooFest (mostly alternative music, with HUGE crowds) AND the Saints/Steelers game in the Super Dome.  The French Quarter was crawling with people not only dressed up for the game--something they do every home game--but tons more ghouls, witches, werewolves, Scottish kilt-wearers, toga-wearers, GEICO pink piggies going "whee whee whee!", devils . . . Oh my god, it was better than freakin' Mardi Gras!

I mean, where else would you find a giant VooDoo Doll on someone's balcony?  We parked the car at the French Market end of the French Quarter and proceeded on our way towards Bourbon Street.

First stop was the Mojo Lounge for lunch and a bottle of Abita Amber.  I had a sandwich consisting of sliced tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella cheese, dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar on toasted sourdough bread.  As a salad, these ingredients come together as Insalata Caprese.  As a sandwich at the Mojo Lounge, it's called a Mazel Tov.  Huh?

Along the way, there were lots of beautiful wrought iron balconies with plants and vines.  This one was especially spectacular.  Such lush greenery at the end of October!  We were wearing t-shirts and jeans and wished we'd worn shorts. 

 Miz "I Heart Everything" recently wrote about SuperHippie's incredible van and that reminded me of the little VW bug I'd seen several times in the Quarter.  There it was, parked in front of The Abbey (a total dive bar)!  Very cool zodiac plaque on the back and a ton of little silver plastic gators.

 Unfortunately, it appears that the car had been severely vandalized.  Now the owner sits next to the car all day long selling postcards of the car as it USED to look, trying to raise  money to redecorate.  I can't believe all the stuff that was scraped off--it was packed with Mardi Gras beads, shells, Mardi Gras doubloons and other cool toys.  I hope the vandal burns in Hell!

Here we are at the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann, sort of the line of demarcation between the straight and gay parts of Bourbon.  I think this is Lafitte's Bar--there's also a gay bar called Lafitte's In Exile since apparently the straights in Lafittes decided they didn't want the gay crowd.  I'm sure it's MUCH more fun in Lafitte's In Exile!

Here are a bunch of revelers on the straight side.  See those yellow pieces of cloth?  TERRIBLE TOWELS!  Which means the balcony was full of STEELER FANS.  AAACK!

The bikers are always a fun crowd even though more than two roaring bikes causes way too much noise in the narrow streets of the Quarter. 

(The bike chained to the pole is pretty quiet, though).

Can you believe it's October and not Mardi Gras?!

While at the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann I snapped a photo of this gay bar on one side of the street with the giant spider on the roof:

and then pivoted 90 degrees to the other side of the street and took this photo of the other gay bar with skeleton angels flying above the balconies!   

I loved these poles--they were decorated for Christmas with tinsel and lights but it looked like that giant gay spider had woven its web all over Santa's stuff, leaving a bunch of baby spiders behind!

Oh, and P.S.

Saints 20 -- Steelers 10!!!!!