February 9, 2017

Yesterday was a busy day in the neighbourhood. The Chef Hwy was closed to traffic and crews were busy with tornado clean up. We hung around at home, but today we decided to venture uptown. We visited Kern Studios. This is the place where the floats are built. New Orleans practically runs on parades and a good parade is an extremely valuable, income generating attraction! Mardi Gras alone generates more than a billion dollars in annual spending.  



This company has been around for 80 years and was founded and developed by artists . They have designed and built some award winning parades for clients including Universal Studios and Six Flags (San Antonio and Mexico City). 





Once the floats are used they are returned to the 'shop' and re-designed and re-painted for another use. 

They are all carved from styrofoam, paper mached then painted.  What a talent these artists have!

After our tour we carried on to the French Quarter.

Here we spent some time walking around the French Market. Lots of interesting stuff for sale!

Jackson Square in the background. 

Then a stop at Cafe du Monde, the original French Market coffee stand since 1862. 











Here we enjoyed a cafe au lait and beignets (french donuts). What a treat that was....