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Feb042008
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Super Bowl and Lundi Gras |
I don’t really remember this past Friday. I can, however, safely assume it was a short workday followed by a lot of nothing. I might have watched the original, 1957 film 3:10 to Yuma. Last Saturday was also rather ordinary although I spent a bit more time than usual cleaning up around the house because we were going to have a guest.I spent Super Bowl Sunday at home, which was just fine. My friend Krystle came into town for Mardi Gras and stayed at my house while she was here. Patrick invited me to his place in River Ridge to watch the game with friends but I didn’t want to ask Krystle to get back on the road for 45 minutes after spending five and a half hours driving from Ruston. I later learned I missed an interesting evening, though. Krystle arrived sometime around three, well before opening kickoff.Like a lot of people I was rooting for the Giants. I wasn’t expecting them to actually win but I wanted a good game and certainly saw one. I know I don’t have to recount the events of the game because you won’t have any trouble finding out what happened 50 years from now. We didn’t go out later that evening, we just watched one of my favorite movies, Amadeus.On Monday, Lundi Gras, Krystle and I went uptown to catch the parades running that evening. I elected to get a spot near Jackson and St. Charles Avenue because there was a chance a friend would be working nearby. I’m not sure when we arrived, but I do remember being quite lucky in finding a good parking spot.With plenty of time to kill, we found a place to eat. We ended up a bar called Busters and had some mediocre red beans and jambalaya. After leaving there and walking up the street a bit I saw the newly reopened Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro. I’d only been there a couple times before Katrina but was quite fond of the place and have been constantly interested in when they would again reopen. I already knew they had opened again and felt like an idiot for eating in a bar 100 paces away. We decided to ignore the fact that we just ate and stopped by for some cheesecake. The restaurant looked very familiar and unchanged although the bar was redesigned. The menu also looked just like it used to. We presumed to have enough room for an appetizer as well and ordered some spinach and artichoke dip, generally a safe bet which turned out fine. Later I ordered the bananas foster cheesecake and Krystle got the turtle, both of which were excellent.After we left the restaurant we walked up and down St. Charles for a while. I certainly needed the exercise after eating as much as I did. The food was awesome but I felt like I swallowed a lead brick. Later on we pick a stop to watch the parade in front of the House of Broel at Jackson. That evening we saw both Proteus and Orpheus roll past. Both of the parades were a lot of fun to watch. The crowd was big but manageable, lively but well-mannered. Proteus was a decent little parade. About 20 minutes later Orpheus rolled. It’s one of the biggest parades if not the biggest with its 50-something floats and numerous bands. A couple celebrities were in the parade including Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. My only possible complaint was the nearby streetlight flickered on and off through the night, making it even more difficult to take pictures than it already was. I regretted not bringing my 50mm prime lens. I think I snagged some usable pictures anyway, though.After the parades, it took a good while to get home, perhaps partially because there might have been a better route. After the parades passed we walked back to the car which was parked nearby on Philip Street. In retrospect it would have been better to park on the river side of St. Charles because we had to drive several blocks in the wrong direction before we could cross St. Charles Avenue. After that we headed to Tchoupitoulas and took that to the bridge. I think we made it home before ten.