After a very fine creole-inspired supper they went on to the Maple Leaf Club, a local dive famous for good music. But funk music had been substituted for the advertised zydeco, and after a beer, just to say they had seen the place, the Lovebunnies headed back to the French Quarter.
On Sunday, their rental car provided the means to take a long tour. Loie had found several interesting historical sites for them to visit on the Plantation Drive: the local road that runs along the river from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. The first stop was Laura Plantation. It was a small house on a large property, and is being restored. The tour was fascinating, because a lot is known about the families that owned it over the years.
"These people were crazy," said Bucky. "They chopped the house in parts and moved them because they couldn't decide who got what when the old grandmother died?"
"Creoles are famous for being emotional," said Loie. "They wear their hearts on their sleeves."
"I think they wore too much punch in their bellies," said Bucky. "But this was a great tour of a really interesting place. I liked the part about Brer Rabbit best. And even if our Laura had come to this Laura, it wouldn't be a Wonder Tour. This was too easy to find!"
They drove further up the river road and took a few wrong turns here and there. But Loie's diligent map reading always got them back on track, and the Lovebunnies soon found Nottoway, a huge white mansion of fifty thousand square feet.
"This is more like it," said Bucky as they walked about the mansion before their tour.
"Yes," said Loie, "This is what you think an antebellum plantation should look like!" The Lovebunnies were particularly lucky in that visit. Nottoway was decorated for a wedding taking place later that day; the flowers added a lovely touch to the stately old mansion.
Leaving this fine old house a bit later than they had planned (lunch in the adjoining retaurant was a leisurely affair) the Lovebunnies decided not to try pressing on to Prejeans, the out-of-town restaurant they had selected for supper. It was just too far to get to and return that night. So they headed back to town, and their concierge got them a table at Arnaud's, another of the ancient Creole restaurants on their wish list. Bucky decided Arnaud's was his favorite so far.
"You say that about whatever you've just done," said Loie. "Well," said Bucky, "I'm enthusiastic."
The next day was truly the highlight of the trip. A very long brunch at Begue's began the day. The Lovebunnies agreed that it was nicer than the Court of the Two Sisters: better brunch and rather more pleasant surroundings.
"That Court place is a little run down," said Bucky. "Everything is nicer here," said Loie. "The presentation, the service, the food; it's much better."
Rolling out of Begue's was an effort, but worthwhile. They walked to the Algiers Point ferry landing, and were soon crossing the river. A cool breeze off the water refreshed them as they watched the French Quarter slowly recede and the Point draw near. The Lovebunnies were headed for Mardi Gras World!
Bucky had read about this crazy place in a magazine, and decided it must be a destination. There was a bit of confusion at the other end of the ferry ride about where exactly to find the shuttle bus to Mardi Gras World. The helpful waitress in a nearby pub straightened them out, and in just a few minutes after the ferry ride the Lovebunnies were on the bus!
Loie described Mardi Gras World in her travel diary.
…one of the neatest places I've ever seen! This is one of the companies that makes floats for the Krewes. Huge heads, figures, floats—all giant size and in wild colors. There are huge sheds belonging to different Krewes, and the floats for 2002 are already being built.
The Lovebunnies hadn't been sure exactly what they were going to see. "Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World" turned out to be a very offbeat and home-made tour of the largest of four businesses that construct the floats used for Mardi Gras parades. The company is family owned and run, and is now in its third generation. Its facilities are a string of single-storey industrial buildings along the river opposite the French Quarter. The Krewes are the social clubs that march and drive floats in the Mardi Gras parades. They contract with companies like Mardi Gras World to construct and decorate their floats. Some of the big papier maché figures are made specially for the larger Krewes, but many of the smaller Krewes use figures that have been made for some other Krewe in the past. So Mardi Gras World is an immense jumble of sheds housing these figures, and the floats they will be used on, and costumes for rent to the Krewes, and thousands of bits and pieces of Mardi Gras!
Everything in it is painted in wild bright colors; the figures (from fairy tales and mythology and just imagination) are all crazily exaggerated and sometimes a bit erotic. A few of the floats were hundreds of feet long, and covered in twinling lights. The tour itself was rather amateurish, which added to the fun. It was lead by one of the Kern sons, carrying a Mr. Microphone loudspeaker as he walked the tourists through a series of sheds. Artists were working on figures as the tour came through. The whole place was a warren of paths between papier maché extravaganzas piled high and crowded in.
At the end of the tour Loie and Bucky walked through the gift shop. High up an shelves that circled the room were papier maché Mardi Gras heads for sale. "Oh man," said Bucky, "We need one of those. It could be our Local Craft." But alas, the two thousand dollar price of the heads precluded any of that kind of shopping.
"Maybe next year," said Loie. Bucky knew she was just being nice!
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