New Orleans is AWESOME! Friday night we walked around Bourbon Street. It was CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many drunk young people walking around with an open container. They were yelling and staggering around, it felt just like Chico!

We looked in some of the really cute shops for Mardi Gras paraphanalia. We bought a bunch of beads to give to the grandkids. We found a really neat shop called Razzle Dazzle where you're greated with a silver tray of Razztinis. Raspberry sorbet and vodka - wonderful. I bought myself  a tiny Mardi Gras hat and Christmas ornament and got another Razztini for the road!

We then made our way to the St Charles grand stands to watch the parades. Once we found the stands we were told it would be a couple of hours before the parade got to us. Jim decided to go back to Bourbon Street to take some pictures while I jus happily sat and visited with everyone else in the stands. Two hours later I was beginning to worry about Jim. Just then he came hobbling into view with his hand bandaged and bloodied. Turns out he tripped on a barracade and fell right in front of a bus! Several people (including a cop) rushed to help him up. The cop said Jim needed to go to the first aid tent but Jim said no he had a parade to go to. The cop told Jim to look at his hand, you need to go to the first aid tent. Jim said he was pouring blood from the back of his hand. Jim did not tell the cop he thought he had broken his ankle. So EMS fixed him up and Jim limped back to the stands. Two of the people I was sitting with are RN's and they were all worried about the fact that his hand was still bleeding. They were stuffing napkins under the gauze to help absorb the blood. They kept saying he needed stitches. But OH NO, not Jim.

 

 In spite of Jim's imjuries we had a great time. You can't imagine how much fun it is to have the floats go by and they're throwing all this stuff at the crowd, Mostly it's beads but there are speciality items like head bands, decals, shoes, bags, balls, etc. You scream, wave your arms and jump up and down trying to get the floats attention so you can get something cool. I can't imagine what the mass of people screaming and waving looks like to the riders on the floats.

The first parade was Krewe of Hermes, they have been around since the 1930's. Their floats are brightly decorated. The second parade was Krewe d' Etat.Their floats are always decorated in a satirical theme. Most of the Mardi Gras Krewes have a Monarch as their leader. But d' Etat has a Dictator. It was fun to see the difference in float decorations. By the end of the second parade most of us had a TON of beads and other goodies. It was clear by then that Jim was pooped and we needed to leave.

 

The next day it only took one look at his foot to know he needed to see a doctor. He refused. I said "no parade unless you go to the emergency room." After a ton of xrays the docs decided he had a ruptured Achilles Tendon and a lung infection. They splinted his leg and gave him a walker. They told him to see an ortho in the next few days. This Wednesday he sees the ortho. Here's his ankle.

 

 

We missed the Saturday parades and we will miss the parades tomorrow. I just hope he doesn't need surgery.