New Orleans

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CHAPTER 5 . SIGHTS TO SEE & PLACES TO BE
been better assimilated into the larger city, but it hasn’t. Though it’s
only about 1 ⁄4 mile across the river from downtown and the French
Quarter, it still has the feel of an undisturbed turn-of-the-20th-century
suburb.
The last ferry returns at around 11:15pm, but be sure to check
the schedule before you set out, just in case. While you’re over there,
you might want to stop in at:
Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World Kids Few cities can boast
a thriving float-making industry. New Orleans can, and no float
maker thrives more than Blaine Kern, who makes more than threequarters
of the floats used by the various krewes every Carnival season.
Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World offers tours of its collection of
float sculptures and its studios, where you can see floats being made
year-round. Yes, they were back at work on the 2006 Mardi Gras,
despite losing many already-completed floats, shortly after Katrina.
(Nothing can stop the party!) Visitors see sculptors at work, doing
everything from making small “sketches” of the figures to creating
and painting the enormous sculptures that adorn Mardi Gras floats
each year. You can even try on some heavily bejeweled and dazzling
costumes (definitely bring your camera!). Although they could do
more with this tour, the entire package does add up to a most enjoyable
experience, and it is rather nifty to see the floats up close. All
tours include King Cake and coffee.
223 Newton St., Algiers Point. & 800/362-8213 or 504/361-7821. www.mardigras
world.com. Admission $17 adults, $13 seniors (over 65), $10 children 4–11, free for
children under 4. Daily 9:30am–4:30pm. Last tour at 4:30pm. Closed Mardi Gras,
Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Cross the river on the Canal St. Ferry and take
the free shuttle from the dock (it meets every ferry).
3 Parks & Gardens
One of the many unsettling details following weeks of Katrina
flooding was how normally verdant New Orleans had turned to
shades of gray and brown. The vegetation had drowned. Regular
rainfall is restoring New Orleans’s lushness, but parks and gardens
all took a beating from high winds, from battered plants to fallen
trees. There is something particularly painful about the loss of the
latter, especially centuries-old oaks. With enough funds and TLC,
all but the most badly damaged buildings can be repaired, but a
massive old oak cannot be replaced in our lifetime. Look for most
of the following to be perhaps a bit less substantial, foliage-wise,
than they might have been in previous years, though with some nurturing,
they should all come back.