Today is Fat Tuesday! In honor of Mardi Gras, here are photos taken last year in the great city of New Orleans. Click photos to enlarge.
(Pictured above and below) Costumes for sale or rent are displayed in a New Orleans shop window.
A dress fit for a princess.
Mardi gras masks.
Gold and silver fleur de lys in many variations.
Alligator heads at the farmers' market.
"Alligator" jerky.
Ice-cold thirst-quenchers.
Palms for sale.
A Tarot card reader and passers-by admiring art pinned on a fence.
Street performers.
Mardi gras beads bedeck this balcony.
Saints country.
Christmas all year round.
Wrought-iron grillwork and greenery.
Reading on a balcony.
Green shutters.
Beads and flags.
A balcony weighed down with greenery.
Green is a popular choice for shutters in the French Quarter.
White pumps (thankfully, after Labor Day) dangling from a balcony.
Wrap-around balconies.
Les fleurs.
Grillwork, plants and flags.
Grillwork and green shutters.
Turquoise shutters enhanced by plants.
A sprig of green in a metal envelope.
Ode to Dixieland jazz.
Street life.
Horse-drawn carriage ride.
Pink bicycle to match the blossoms.
A private courtyard.
Reflections in a vitrine featuring a crystal chandelier.
French antiques shot through glass.
Reflections in the window of another antiques shop.
A child's wonder in a French quarter lighting store.
Wedding celebrations.
No visit to New Orleans is complete without a stop at Arnaud's.
A legendary restaurant.
Another popular local eatery.
Decorative lights on a lovely side street...
...and on the raucous Bourbon Street, which sadly has deteriorated into a loud, drunken tourist trap.
The New Orleans skyline.
The waterfront.
The Creole Queen.
The Steamer Natchez in the Port of New Orleans.
Happy Fat Tuesday! Happy Mardi Gras!
Loved, loved, loved this!! I haven't been to New Orleans in years. It's time for a visit! Thanks for the reminder!
Posted by: Lois | 04 March 2012 at 06:26
What beautiful photos. So happy to see NOLA coming back. What a colorful and wonderful city.
Posted by: Rosa | 04 March 2012 at 01:25
Fantastic pictures I love the buildings and the whole atmosphere. Looks like the city of my heart. The dress is like one from a fairytale. Is mardi grass something like carnaval but a bit more sophistocated? The pink bike looks very Dutch
Posted by: marja | 26 February 2012 at 04:20
What a contrast to the ice. Exuberance! Ornate! Just gorgeous photos. Thanks Tara!
Posted by: Kay McKenzie Cooke | 24 February 2012 at 02:21
Happy Mardi Gras (and more) to you, Tara! These are all fabulous, but I'm a sucker for masks and tight shots, so you know where my heart lies!
Hope you are settling in well. Moving is such a challenge!
Posted by: jeanie | 23 February 2012 at 23:29
Fantastic tribute to one of my favorite cities of all time! I will be there for Jazz Fest this year. Yippeee!
Posted by: dutchbaby | 23 February 2012 at 21:33
Ohhh, I LOVE New Orleans! Such a great city, so picturesque and original and full of eating and music and drink and...shamelessly so. What a wonderful mini vacation you've given us, thank you, Tara!!!
Posted by: Natalie | 23 February 2012 at 20:17
Your photos are fantastic Tara.
And the colours superb :-)
Posted by: Britt-Arnhild | 23 February 2012 at 18:42
I've never been. My brother says New Orleans is his second favorite (after Paris, of course!). Your pictures make the city a work of art.
And thank goodness the white pumps are timed properly!
Posted by: Chris | 23 February 2012 at 01:39
Shrimp Etouffee, French 75 for us and maybe Sazeracs for the husbands, Bananas Foster and Cafe Brûlée. At what time may we expect you for dinner? I am so happy you got your Internet finally and thank you for this walk down memory lane. So many good memories of fun times and unfortunately I must agree with you about Bourbon Street. No more social clubs wherein to learn to dance to the sounds of Queen Ida and The Bon Temps...sigh.
Happy Mardi Gras to you dear Tara as well!
Posted by: Allegra S. | 23 February 2012 at 01:37
What a journey through photos, thanks Tara!
I love all the beautiful greenery filled balconies.
Lovely to see you!I took a break from taxes to visit you here...long overdue let me tell you!!!
xoxoxo
Posted by: gillian | 22 February 2012 at 20:21
Awwww! The celebration and your pictures are so festive. Love the balconies and that second dress is yummy! It has been many years since I have been there. Maybe I should put it on the dream list for travel. Sending you hugs!
Posted by: Marilyn | 22 February 2012 at 18:30
Now I am more homesick than I was yesterday when making dirty rice and creole! these are so wonderful, you really captured the essence of a place I love so dearly. Laissez les bons temps rouler!! smooches
Posted by: Leau | 22 February 2012 at 16:54
Those photos made me remember my childhood summer vacations in New Orleans when we would visit my mother's family. My aunt would make a big pot of gumbo on which was always too much (too spicy, too rich) for my mid-western stomach and bland palate to take. Now after traveling all over the world and eating what I would have thought was the inedible, I would love to have a big pot of her stew waiting to greet me.
Posted by: Jo | 22 February 2012 at 08:53