So yesterday was the Saints’ victory parade.

It was, quite simply, mind-boggling. The number of people…it was like every Mardi Gras parade rolled into one. Insane. All I can say is, thank god my office was on the parade route, because we had a nice warm place to hang out before (and, as it turned out, during) the parade.

Let’s see if I can give you an idea of the number of people.

Here’s the view from my office window at 3:30. (The parade started at 5:00.)

At 3:45:

And at 4:30:

George was across the river at the pub, and the number of people trying to get on the ferry to cross the river was insane. I have never, ever, in all of my days living in Algiers Point (which is located directly across the river from the French Quarter) seen a line for the ferry like this.

Oh, what? You don’t see the people? Here, check out the highlighted part. And this crowd was 3-deep and on both sides of the ferry terminal.

So yeah, that should give you an idea of the scale of the crowd. The parade itself wasn’t that big, by Mardi Gras standards. I think seven floats and as many marching bands.

At my office, we had a DVD player for the kids and a Wii for everyone to play, to pass the time before the parade came by. There was also, of course, lots of food.

Mr Mischief himself ate his weight in king cake

By the time the parade came by, it was cold and the boys were tired. So we watched it from the 7th floor conference room’s windows. Fine by me.

Here’s a picture Kristina took from ground level. I assume that’s a Saint up there…

Sleepy boys:

The end! I can’t believe Mardi Gras is in less than a week. Gaah!

(From a non-sports fan’s perspective.)

Since I lugged my camera around the French Quarter for Superbowl weekend, I am now going to regale you with stories and photos from the festivities. How’s that sound?

Saturday involved eating po-boys and the most insane gravy-soaked french fries I’ve ever tasted (now, WHY did I gain three pounds last week? Hmmm.) from Parkway Bakery & Tavern.

and of course, their famous roast beef poboys. Heaven. The boys stuck to french fries (not the gravy kind) and declined to eat the butter-drenched grilled cheese sandwich I got them. Ingrates.

So after lunch, we dropped the boys off at Granny & Grandpa’s house, and then we went back to get ready for dinner at Emeril’s. I didn’t take any pictures there, but oh man, it was amazing. It’s nice when a famous restaurant actually lives up to the hype, you know?

On Sunday, I met Anne and Kristina and Mike at the Royal Sonesta for brunch. Even though I was still kind of full from dinner the night before. But we managed to eat a little bit of the spread there. Just a little, of course. More insanely delicious food. Man.

After brunch, we just wandered around and people watched. The French Quarter was a sea of black and gold.

Soon enough, it was time to head back to Anne’s hotel where we had reservations to watch the game. (They’d rented out seats at the bar and so we watched the game on the massive projection screen there.)

It was fun, even though this very large hotel was woefully unprepared, nachos-wise. These are Terra Chips. NOT tortilla chips. A travesty.

So we get settled in with our festive beverages and wait for the game to begin…

Did a little face-painting:

And then it started!

Someone had the brilliant idea of taking sips of Jagermeister whenever we scored. Blech!

And then, we won!!!

Total strangers hugged:

After the game, we left the hotel to join the masses on the streets, celebrating. It was crazy, but unreal.

Woooooo!