Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans

“Parades: The whole experience of the floats, the marching bands, the throws - it was wild! From a European point of view, the amount of trash was shocking, and the fact that throwing coconuts etc. is permitted baffled me completely. My favourite parade by far was the Bacchus parade. All parades were very impressive (we don't have anything near as big where I live), but this one blew me away even more than the others, with the lights and the moving decorations.”

“Mardi Gras was both everything I had hoped for and nothing like what I expected. We’ve all heard of the festival being a scene with women flashing for beads and I totally expected the streets (especially Bourbon Street) to be filled with half-naked drunk people. What I found instead, were elaborately dressed festival-goers of all ages celebrating, laughing and expressing themselves through music, art and dance.”

“It is official. I survived my first New Orleans Mardi Gras. I am sore from walking, I have a mound of beads on my kitchen table and I am sick of King Cake, but I'm feeling good. Ever since this Carnival season started, I have been so curious about how the actual Mardi Gras day was going to go. While my own Mardi Gras experience wasn't perfect, it was fascinating to be in New Orleans for the city's legendary party.”