March 4-March 11, 2000
New Orleans, LA

View outside the BnB. All those beads were obtained after one parade (Thoth).	Our BnB room. The fan was useful for sleeping at night.	Our BnB room. The door leads to a screen-enclosed balcony where I smoked in the morning.	All the beads that I collected after all the parades. The hat came in handy to avoid sunstroke.
The St-Charles streetcar line. Oldest active line in America. Slow as hell. Public transit is a nightmare during Mardi Gras. Everything is closed until they clean up all the trash from the street.  We still saw beads in trees along the streetcar line days later.	Zulu parade float. Please note that the crowd is insignificant when compared to the hotspots along the parade route.	A marching band in the Zulu parade. They take their marching bands seriously in the US. Note the people on the rooftops.	St-Louis Cathedral, in the heart of Jackson square. It's flanked by Spanish colonial buildings and makes up the oldest portion of the French Quarter.
Balcony on Royal St. Beyond the insanity of Bourbon St., the French Quarter is lovely and many balconies are decorated as such.	Tomb of Marie Laveau, a voodoo priestess, in St-Louis #1 cemetery.	St-Louis cemetery #1. The family tombs are actually natural incinerators. People entombed are reduced into a pile of ashes after a year and then the next family member can be broiled.	Louis Armstrong park.
The band at the RnB blues club on Bourbon. A great place to hear blues, but the beer is really expensive. Somebody say yeah!	The Creole Queen, a steam paddle-wheeler on the Mississippi.	The paddlewheel of the steamboat Natchez. Roughly 15 tons. It is propelled by 2 huge steam-driven cylinders.	The Bayou Segnette. The lush grass carpet is actually a fresh water marsh. Notice the moss hanging from the cypress trees.
A gator we saw at the bayou. We were only a few feet away when we took this shot.	The central fountain at the Audubon Zoo, one of the 5 best zoos in the US. Go there to see the albino gator and the Jaguar jungle exhibits.	A snoozing male jaguar	HMCS Athbaskan, a Canadian Navy destroyer that we almosttoured. It was docked at the New Orleans port.
A shack on the bayou. Somebody actually lives there. No conveniences, a hellish commute and scary neighbours. Uh-huh...	Bayou Bob, our guide, harassing a blue crab.	Myself, in Jackson Square, at night.	Michel, in our BnB room, looking rather f'up :)
Another balcony on Royal St.