On our way to The Germaine Cazenave Wells Mardi Gras
Museum, an elderly woman was sitting on a step asking for money. In exchange
for a donation she would give you beads. She was adorable. I pulled out a $10
(yes I know, some people think I’m nuts, don’t really care. No one CHOOSES to
beg for a living without a real damn good reason. $10 for me is a drink. $10
for someone else is food for a couple of days.)
I gave her the $10 and she was very thankful. She picked out her biggest
and best 3 strands of beads for myself and then gave each of the other three in
our group a strand as well. She signed my shirt “the bead lady” and then we
hugged. She was a beautiful soul.
It was getting time for all of us to take a bathroom break,
so we headed back to Bourbon Street and to Tropical Isle, famous for its Hand
Grenade drinks. First stop, the bathroom
(Again – I swear a blog on the bathrooms of New Orleans is coming!), then while
the others were taking their turns I headed to the bar to order 4 Hand
Grenades. You can’t go to Bourbon Street and not have a Hand Grenade. It’s just
wrong. After paying for our drinks, I did what was becoming routine, asked the
bartender to sign my shirt. He did, and while we were talking about what was
going on, Wendy was behind me talking to a gentleman about what we were doing.
When I turned around he said, “You have no negativity in you
at all.”
It caught me off guard for a second. It was a wonderful
statement to hear. He wished me well, said he knew I was going to come through
just find and that my attitude and spirit were both strong. He (and his 3
friends – one a lady who was there celebrating her birthday a little early)
signed my shirt, asked to have his picture taken with me and told us to find
him on Facebook. He’s a country singer named Trip Richmond. He was also just a
sweetheart of a doll. He can sing too.
Find him here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/countrymusictrip
And here on ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/22926088?utm_campaign=a_public_songs&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=page_object_news_item
After we left Trip and his friends, we made it to the museum
that is located above Arnaud’s. It took a little finding as it does not have its
entrance or anything. We got directions from an employee we ran into on the
street, so we headed into Remoulade Oyster Bar and one of the employees there
told us how to get up to it.
We were given 10 minutes as a private party was
coming into the dining room of Arnaud’s, and we had to go through there to get
to the museum. Once up the stairs and walking around the small room, the hand
grenades seemed to hit us all at once, and buzzed was the consensus. The gowns
and other outfits showcased in this museum were exquisite and we commented on
how heavy they must have been to wear, particularly those with their elaborate
trains hung on the walls behind them. They were beautiful though, and made my
desire to spend a couple of weeks in New Orleans for more of the Mardi Gras
experience grow.
Next stop: The Riverfront walk
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