MARDI GRAS STYLE NEW ORLEANS USA AND RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL
The Big Easy celebrates 300 years: Striking images reveal historic New Orleans from saloon bars and scantily-clad women plying their trade in legal red-light district to throngs of revellers at Mardi Gras
- Among the striking images are several showing crowds of revellers delighting in bustling Mardi Gras festivals
- Other photographs show young children selling milk, fruit and other goods in the city's famous French market
- Alongside masks, outfits and parade floats are images of prostitutes working the notorious Storyville district
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A collection of fascinating historic images has been put together to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Orleans.
Among the striking images are several showing crowds of revellers delighting in Mardi Gras festivals throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
But alongside the masks, outfits and parade floats are photographs of prostitutes working the notorious Storyville district - the only legalised red-light district in a major city in North America until it was shut down in 1917.
Other images capture young children selling milk and fruit in the city's famous French market.
The Big Easy is celebrating its tricentennial year and - as these images show - the city has an extraordinary history.
Since photography was only invented in the the 19th century, however, there are no photographs from when the French and Spanish ruled the city in the 18th century.
Among the striking images are several showing crowds of revellers delighting in Mardi Gras festivals throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries and young children selling milk and fruit in the city's famous French market. The Big Easy is celebrating its tricentennial year and - as these images show - the city has an extraordinary history. Pictured: Street life in New Orleans, circa 1910s
Starring role! Rio carnival dancers sparkle at samba parade as 72,000 spectators watch 'greatest show on Earth' in sweltering heat
- Rio de Janeiro came alive on Sunday night as the Brazilian city's famous carnival hit its peak with huge parade
- Thousands of dancers wearing colourful and outlandish costumes performed to pounding samba anthems
- Two-night extravaganza began in city's Sambodromo, where 72,000 spectators sat in roasting conditions
It is dubbed the 'greatest show on Earth' with thousands of sparkling Brazilian dancers ignoring sweltering heat to put on a spectacular samba parade.
Rio de Janeiro came alive on Sunday night as the city's carnival hit its peak in a stunning cocktail of glamour, eccentric costumes and pounding samba anthems.
The two-night extravaganza began in the Sambodromo, where 72,000 spectators sat in roasting conditions, with many thousands more milling around outside selling drinks, putting on colourful outfits or simply soaking up the atmosphere because they were unable to get tickets.
But amid the feather headdresses, sparkly G-strings and dancers dressed as everything from trees to Chinese merchants, serious politics marked this year's parades.
One reveller dressed up as Dracula to represent Brazilian President Michel Temer while a giant backside mocked Rio de Janeiro's mayor during the unusually politicised event.
Latin America's biggest country is only just emerging from its worst recession on record. Violent crime in cities like Rio is rocketing, and politics is riddled with corruption and lack of leadership ahead of October presidential elections.
Rio de Janeiro came alive on Sunday night as the city's carnival hit its peak in a stunning cocktail of glamour, fancy dress and pounding samba anthems. Television personality Sabrina Sato (pictured) was among those who performed with the Vila Isabel samba school on the first night of the carnival at the Sambadrome
Dancers from different samba schools wore a sparkling array of revealing outfits as they competed against one another in the carnival celebration at the Marques de Sapucai Sambodrome
A performer from the Grupo Especial Imperio Serrano samba school carried a display of purple feathers as she paraded through the stadium
Dancers battled through sweltering conditions in the Sambadrome as they performed in front of a crowd of 72,000 in Rio
Drum queen Evelyn Bastos from the Mangueira samba school performs during the first night of the Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro
Revellers from the Mocidade samba school perform as the sun rises during the Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro's samba parades began late Sunday in a chance for a city struggling with violence and poverty to stage the 'greatest show on Earth' - and to rage at unpopular politicians
The carnival still claims to be 'the greatest show on Earth.' But neither the 13 elite samba schools competing, nor the 72,000 spectators crammed into the Sambodromo are immune to the country's anger. This picture shows dancers from the Academicos do Grande Rio samba school
Revellers decked themselves out in feathery outfits as they danced through the stadium to the deafening sound of samba ven though the carnival is a huge revenue earner for the city, Crivella has halved subsidies to the annual bash and refused so much as to attend the Sambodromo parades. In a video released just after the first parades got underway Sunday, the mayor said he was leaving to Europe.
For Paraiso do Tuiuti - one of the 13 schools vying in the epic talent contest - the mayor has declared war.
They replied by putting a large, bare and cellulite-riddled pink backside on one of their floats. Hidden under a temporary covering on the right cheek was Crivella's name, said organizer Erick Erasmo, 40, just before the school started marching.
The two-night extravaganza began in the Sambodromo, where 72,000 spectators sat in sweltering heat, with many thousands more milling around outside selling drinks, putting on costumes or simply soaking up the atmosphere because they were unable to get tickets
Many of the dancers wore daring outfits as they joined thousands of others for the glittering parade on Sunday night
All smiles: This dancer wore a gold bikini and headpiece as she joined members of her Grupo Especial Grande Rio samba school
A dancer carrying a white display of feathers from Paraiso do Tuiuti Samba school performs in front of a crowd of 72,000
Thousands of performers made their way through the stadium for one of the highlight's of the Rio carnival last night
Spectacular: A dancer from the Grupo Especial Paraiso de Tuiuti samba school parades through the stadium in a glittering outfit
Huge crowds watched on as dancers from the Grupo Especial Grande Rio samba school paraded around the city's Sambadrome
Spectators and dancers alike endured roasting temperatures inside the stadium during the spectacular parade in Rio
Nailing it: A female dancer strikes a pose as she joins members of her Imperio Serrano samba school during last night's parade
The Sambodromo parades, running through Sunday night and restarting Monday night, were as always a lush cocktail of glamor, eccentric costumes, pounding samba anthems and sweaty, pulsating sensualit
Even though the carnival is a huge revenue earner for the city, Crivella has halved subsidies to the annual bash and refused so much as to attend the Sambodromo parades
Thirteen samba schools from the top division were facing off in a talent contest taken every bit as seriously as the city's other great love - football
On the march: A performer from the Paraiso do Tuiuti samba school parades on a float during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro
'There's a heart with Crivella written on it - like you have on a tattoo,' he said.
'The bum represents the mayor for cutting our budget, for trying to end our happiness,' said another organizer, Helton Dias, 28.
Center-right President Michel Temer - said by opinion polls to be the most unpopular president Brazil has ever known - was also taking a ribbing.
Temer came to power in 2016 after leftist president Dilma Rousseff was ejected in an impeachment vote driven by Temer's close allies. Since then, his government has been rocked by almost continuous corruption scandals, while his push for economic austerity measures has sent popular support plummeting.
With breathtakingly complex and dramatic floats, the thunder of drumming and the heated performances of nearly naked female and male dancers, there's something for everyone.
Each school gets about an hour to parade through the purpose-built stadium with about 3,000 dancers, singers and drummers dressed in over-the-top costumes. Last year, the contest ended in a draw between the Mocidade and Portela schools
These dancers shackled themselves in chains for a spectacular display during the festivities, which run in to Monday night
Each school gets about an hour to parade with some 3,000 dancers, singers and drummers dressed in over-the-top costumes. Last year, the contest ended in a draw between the Mocidade and Portela schools. The new champion will be announced on Wednesday
Rio's Sambadrome came alive to the sound of pounding samba music as revellers pulled on weird and wonderful costumes
Thousands watched on as dancers from 13 schools in the city put on a spectacular display in Rio's Sambadrome on Sunday night
Even though the carnival is a huge revenue earner for the city, the mayor has halved subsidies to the annual bash and refused so much as to attend the Sambodromo parades. In a video released just after the first parades got underway Sunday, he said he was leaving to Europe
Outlandish: Dancers wore incredible feather headdresses and brightly coloured outfits as they took part in the glittering display
Paraiso do Tuiuti was deploying a squadron of people dressed as yellow bath ducks, a symbol of mass demonstrations against corruption and against the government that helped bring down then-president Dilma Rousseff in 2016
The Paraiso do Tuiuti school depicted him as Dracula on Sunday.
'I am a vampire who is meant to represent the president of the republic,' said history teacher Leo Morais, 39, as he sat having makeup applied for his role as the undead version of Temer.
Morais, who already had his face painted white and would later don big black wings and a lot of fake dollar bills, said the carnival was a chance for Brazil's poor to be heard.
'The samba schools have a social role,' he said. 'They speak out for ordinary people.'
Paraiso do Tuiuti was also deploying a squadron of people dressed as yellow bath ducks, a symbol of mass demonstrations against corruption and against the government that helped bring down Rousseff.
Sticking out: Dancers dressed up as elderly men as they performed in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome in the early hours of Monday
Revellers from Vila Isabel Samba school perform during the first night of the Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro
Show time! A spectator takes pictures on her mobile phone as dancers in outlandish outfits twirl through the Sambadrome
Revellers from Vila Isabel Samba school perform during the first night of the Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro
Dancers wore multi-coloured outfits as the paraded through the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro - watched by 72,000 spectators
Dancers ignored the sweltering heat as they danced and twirled through the Sambadrome to the delight of watching crowds
The Angels take Carnival! Victoria's Secret beauty Adriana Lima parties with fellow models
By day, they are some of the world's most famous lingerie models - but their wild streak comes out at night.
Victoria's Secret Angeles Adriana Lima and Lais Ribeiro took over Rio De Janeiro Carnival on Saturday night, as the spectacle kicked off in Brazil.
Lais, 27, flaunted her model physique in a figure-hugging carnival outfit while Adriana, 36, opted for black and gold ensemble that displayed major sideboob.
Lais looked every inch the lingerie model as she showcased her long legs and washboard abs in the slim-fitting outfit.
Bold look: Adriana Lima (right) and Barbara Fialho (left) hit Rio De Janeiro Carnival as the spectacle kicked off in Brazil on Sunday
Dancing up a storm: Joined by their fellow Victoria's Secret models, they danced up a storm
Life of the party: The models led the party spirit as things got underway before the audience
Moves: Their fellow lingerie models kept the party going as they showed off their sexy moves
The stunner showed off her pride for her Brazilian origins in the ensemble, which saw her pin her raven locks back into a tight bun so she could rock an orange and red plumed feather hat.
Her gold and black top featured a deep-plunging neckline, and cut-off just above her stomach to show off her stunning physique.
The model's ensemble was completed with short gold shots, and she stepped out in knee-length gold boots that gave her quite the gladiator vibe.
Taking to Instagram ahead of the party, the beauty posted some stunning pictures of herself in the outfit looking out to sea.
Posing in front of her picture-perfect surroundings, Lais looked incredible and outlined her excitement with the caption: 'Vem Carnaval! I’m ready for you!'
Let the show begin: Lais Ribeiro (left) looked every inch the model as she posed alongside Jasmine Tookes (right) and showcased her long legs and washboard abs in the ensemble
Big fun: Barbara, Jasmine, Lais and Adriana were in high spirits as they partied the night away
'I’m ready for you!': Lais Ribeiro hit the annual spectacle in fine style, thanks to her costume
Stepping: Despite wearing elaborate ensembles, the models weren't shy about dancing away
Natural beauties: The models opted for dramatic make-up for the evening's party to highlight her beautiful blue eyes and natural features
How low can you go? They showed off their dancefloor prowess as they dipped low at the event
Her fans were loving the look as many commented telling her she was beautiful, and one even wrote: 'Brazil home of the supermodel.'
The beauty was also seen with IMG model Jasmine Tookes, who wore an all-black carnival ensemble that matched her counterpart.
The fringed outfit featured a deep plunging neckline, and hugged her statuesque body as she partied.
In an Instagram post about the event, the beauty wrote: 'This Brazilian bombshell dragged me to Carnaval & I cannot wait for tonight.'
Lais posed for photographer Jerome Duran, who posted some stunning pictures with her and Adriana using the caption: 'Let the games begin' before adding 'Love these 2!' with the hashtag #myhotfriends.
Here come the girls: They put on quite the glamorous display as they all paraded together
How about a round of applause: The models led applause from the excited capacity crowd
No wardrobe malfunctions here! Lais carefully kept her costume intact as she stepped out
Partying away: Adriana stood tall in a pair of striped wedge heels as she partied the night away
Adriana also looked incredible during the party, as she put on a leggy display in black booty shorts and wedge sandals.
The model slipped into a black and gold tank top that showed off her assets at the Camarote Nº1 party.
The beauty also put on dramatic make-up for the event as she highlighted her blue eyes with bold black eyeliner.
Other than the bold eye-makeup the stunner opted for minimal covering that highlighted her natural beauty.
The raven-haired beauty, who has been a Victoria's Secret Angel since 1999, appeared in high spirits as she chatted to fans and her fellow models. The ducks were portrayed as being manipulated by a politician's giant hand - a reference to claims that the street protests were organized by forces hoping to see Temer take power.
The face-off between the samba schools in the purpose-built Sambodromo is taken every bit as seriously as the city's other great love, football.
Each school gets about an hour to parade with some 3,000 dancers, singers and drummers dressed in over-the-top costumes.
Last year, the contest ended in a draw between the Mocidade and Portela schools. The new champion will be announced on Wednesday.
One of the big names to watch in the session running overnight from Monday to Tuesday will be the Beija-Flor school.
They too are going political, with dancers dressed as politicians and businessmen behind bars - a nod to the sprawling Car Wash anti-corruption probe that has put many powerful Brazilians in prison.
Some 3,000 dancers, singers and drummers dressed in over-the-top costumes for the spectacular event in Rio de Janeiro
This dancer from the Vila Isabel samba school wore an outfit studded with lights as he made his way through the stadium
Surreal: A team of dancers from Imperio Serrano samba school dressed in outlandish colourful outfits take to the stage
Revellers brandishing wooden sticks kick up their feet as they perform for the Imperio Serrano samba school in the Sambadrome
Despite sweltering conditions, dancers pulled on body-covering fancy dress outfits to perform in front of 72,000 spectators
The Rio carnival is best known for its lithe ladies sporting the skimpiest of outfits.
But the festival of Mardi Gras – or Fat Tuesday – would be inaccurately named those parading in flamboyant Latin style were all skinny.
Among Brazil’s best dancers are the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel troop pride themselves on being truly larger than life.
Big pride: Members of Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel dance during the Rio carnival
Strutting on board their motorized float, chubby men wear togas while plump women sport little other than matching white bras and Bridget Jones-style granny knickers.
Amid a rainbow of glittering colours, they were among samba groups opening two days of Carnival parades at Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome.
The dazzling show that included a rousing welcome for one of the elite bands that lost most of their elaborate costumes and floats in a fire last month.
The Portela group made a dramatic entrance into the throbbing stadium last night, with its 300-strong percussion section abruptly quieting its thundering drums and crouching down in a moment of silence for its losses in the fire.
With silence descending over the crowd for a few seconds, the drummers leaped back up with a raucous beat as Portela's thousands of members marched on to the cheers and applause of fans.
Letting it all hang out: Unashamed of their larger frames, members of the troupe dance with gusto
Larger than life: The revellers wore only slightly more supportive garments than other dancers
Glitzy: The Mocidade Independiente samba school's flamboyant float
‘Our community looks beautiful tonight,’ Portela president Nilo Figueredo said. ‘It is really a community of warriors.’
The fire in early February ripped through warehouses where Portela and two other elite samba groups were preparing for Carnival, incinerating more than 8,000 feather and glitter costumes and many of the big, meticulously decorated floats.
Portela had 3,255 outfits destroyed or severely damaged. Many wondered whether the group, which has not missed a parade in its 84-year history, would be able to put on a show at all. The two nights of lavish parades that began Sunday are watched by millions in Brazil and abroad.
Once the shock passed, however, it became clear the 2011 Carnival would be marked more than ever by the festival's quintessential ability to bring hope and happiness, even if fleeting, to those who have little. It also steeled samba group members' fierce allegiances in a city where fans are as devoted to their groups as they are to their soccer teams.
 
Flamoyant: Drum Queen Raissa Oliveira of the Beija-flor samba school, left, and a member of Salgueiro troupe
‘We're ready and we're strong - no one is sitting here sad, thinking of what we lost,’ one member, Maria Alice Alves, clad in a metallic silver and blue outfit, said before Portela marched in.
Some longtime members admitted to being a bit anxious about making an entrance that could be marred by what was lost in the fire.
‘Our objective is always perfection,’ said Alessandro Meireles, a 30-year-old who has been a member of Portela's percussion section for a decade. ‘Even if we can't win, we're going to put on the show people expect of us.’
He was referring to the top-tier samba competition, in which groups vie fiercely to have their performance judged the best. There's no cash prize for first place, only a trophy and the bragging rights that last a year until the next Carnival. Portela has won the samba competition 21 times, more than any group, most recently when it shared the title in 1984.
But this year the contest's governing body decided there was no way Portela, Academicos do Grande Rio and Uniao da Ilha do Governador could recover from the fire in time, so they will not be judged. That means they don't risk being relegated to the second-tier samba competition, the fate of each year's last-place finisher.
Impressive: Members of Salgueiro samba school parade on a King Kong float during carnival celebrations
Divine inspiration: The Beija Flor samba school float includes a giant statue of Jesus Christ
It also meant Portela was competing only for pride Sunday night - and celebrating its comeback from disaster.
Police have concluded their investigation and found the fire was accidental.
Nevertheless, it wiped out months of work by the residents of Madureira, Portela's working-class home base, and dealt a devastating blow to the neighbourhood's seamstresses, construction workers and salesgirls who leave behind their workaday lives once a year when they take on their glamorous Carnival alter egos in the Sambadrome.
Bianca Monteiro, 22, recalled how she cried in February when she saw on TV the thick smoke rising from the warehouses.
Now in her fifth year as one of the ‘passistas,’ the fit young dancers who showcase the group's best samba dancing skills, Monteiro feared the worst for Portela, where her father helps keep the 4,000 performers moving along in harmony and six other relatives also parade.
‘We're all blue-blooded to the core,’ Monteiro said, a reference the group's blue and white colours.
Modern Godiva: A near-naked reveller rides a mocked up horse abroad the Vila Isabel float
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This year's carnival in Rio could go down as the safest in history.
While nearly 800,000 tourists, Brazilian and foreign, take part in the high-decibel samba extravaganza of the world's biggest Mardi Gras alongside most of Rio's population of six million, this year 50,000 police have been deployed to clamp down on crime in the city.
And for the first time, around 30 surveillance cameras have been installed to improve the monitoring of crowds and make it easier to tackle pick-pocketing and muggings that usually mar the event for a handful of unlucky revellers.
What a spectacle: The Vila Isabel samba school performs during the carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earlier today
Rio rainbow: Thousands line the streets as the Samba Sao Clemente group parades by. The whole country stops completely for almost a week for the intense carnival festivities
The Rio Carnival is the benchmark against which every other carnival is compared and boasts one of the most spectacular parades in the world.
This year’s carnival began on Saturday with the opening ceremony crowning the carnival king followed by various parades including the Children’s Samba Schools parade.
The biggest cheer was reserved for the appearance of elite samba group Portela, which performed despite losing most of its costumes and floats in a devastating fire.
A blaze in early February tore through the warehouses where Portela and two other samba groups were preparing for Carnival, destroying more than 3,000 feather and glitter costumes and many meticulously decorated floats.
But the group, which has not missed a parade in its 84-year history, put on a dazzling performance.
Sea of colour: The first night of the Rio Carnival parades at the Sambadrome. Scores of people watch the festivities from their balconies
 
Celebrity hangout: Actress and model Pamela Anderson (left) enjoys the view as the parade passes, while actor Jude Law (right) takes the opportunity to kick back and relax after his recent relationship break-up
Among celebrities spotted joining the party were top model Gisele Bundschen, actress Pamela Anderson and newly single British actor Jude Law.
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Some of the revellers say they have already noticed the difference in atmosphere as a result of the police work in the months leading up to Mardi Gras 2011.
'The re-taking of the slums has improved the Carnival atmosphere a lot,' said one Brazilian dancer. 'Before it was a problem, there were muggings, but now people feel much safer,' he said.
Rio authorities are also trying to repair the city's reputation for crime ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
The knock-on effect is a safer, if just as beautiful and crazy, carnival for everyone.
Fling those beads: Fat Tuesday festivities begin in New Orleans
The Krewe of Mid City Mardi Gras float rolls down St Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The crowds poured onto the Big Easy's streets for the traditional warm-up before the big show on Shrove Tuesday
New Orleans holds the American record for the biggest Mardi Gras celebrations - despite its difficulties over recent years.
Today in the city the warm-up for Mardi Gras is in full swing and people are celebrating the carnival season under clear skies.
After bad weather on Saturday which saw many parades cancelled as thunderstorms swept the state, yesterday crowds poured back onto the streets for the traditional warm-up before the big show on ‘Fat Tuesday’.
The French Quarter, where tourists and long-time regular visitors mix with locals, saw a handful of celebrity-laden parades and the usual revelry.
The temperature will rise further as the Carnival festivity moves closer to its climax. The excesses end at midnight tomorrow with the beginning of Lent.
Temperatures will rise as the Carnival festivity moves closer to its climax of midnight tomorrow, the beginning of Lent
Meanwhile in the UK, Mardi Gras fever has spread to Great Yarmouth, which will host its second Carnival parade.
Local schoolchildren have been making Rio carnival-style masks and headdresses while Lithuanian culture will be represented by a colourful fight between two giant characters, Fatso and Hempen, which symbolise the struggle between winter and spring.
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The Big Easy has had it pretty hard over the past five years. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina all but destroyed much of New Orleans. In 2008, its port — at the mouth of the Mississippi — was hit by the economic downturn, and last summer the BP oil spill halted its vital shrimping industry.And yet . . . walk down Bourbon Street, the backbone of the 18th-century French Quarter and it’s like nothing has happened since these classical terrace houses, with their delicate wrought-iron balconies, were built more than 200 years ago.On one corner of the street, a band is thumping out jazz and blues. On another, a little boy tap-dances in a pair of old brogues, with flattened Coke cans pinned to the soles.Soul survivor: New Orleans still beats to its own rythmnIn the Napoleon House, an endearingly shabby 1797 mansion on nearby Chartres Street, they are dishing up jambalaya — a Creole chicken, sausage and rice stew, with spicy Cajun shrimp gumbo.The shrimping ban in the Gulf of Mexico was lifted in August — the French Quarter bounced back even earlier. Because the colonists wisely built the Quarter above sea level, it didn’t flood when Katrina struck, unlike 80 per cent of the city, which is below sea level and supposedly protected by a series of levees — earth and concrete banks.When they broke under the pressure of Katrina’s storm swell, the disaster the city had half-expected for decades was wreaked.Walk round the Quarter, though, and you’ll see little sign of the bad times — apart from this year’s most popular fancydress outfit: a pair of oil-spattered BP overalls.Peak fancy-dress time is Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday (March 8 this year), a carnival introduced by the French colonialists. For a fortnight before Shrove Tuesday, parades and street parties are held throughout the city.
Bourbon Street is right at the heart of it all; though, beware, it’s also the heart of drunken, if harmless, reveller land — where overrefreshed young women can be persuaded to whip off their tops in return for a string of beads.Because of its colonial history — first under the French, then the Spanish — New Orleans has a greater European feel than the rest of the U.S.The Turtle Bay bar, on Decatur Street, is more raucous British pub than American bar. Here’s the place to watch the local American Football team, the New Orleans Saints, who brought a little fairytale cheer to the battered city last year when they won the Superbowl.Carnival time: Mardis Gras is as vibrant and loud as everYou can still smoke in Louisiana bars and, boy, do they drink. I watched a Saints game next to a girl in a Shockey 88 American Football top (in honour of Saints’ hero Jeremy Shockey), straddling an open window frame in the Southern heat.She screamed and swore like a Mississippi tugboat captain, cigarette dangling from her left hand, bottle of Abita beer (good stuff, from Abita Springs, Louisiana) in her right.Despite the salty language, there was no menace in the air, and absolutely no anti-British feeling after the BP disaster.One waitress, Deborah Gilchrist, in Fiorella’s on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, told me how proud she was of her British ancestry. She even felt sorry for Tony Hayward, the former BP chief.You should try Deborah’s etouffee (Cajun shrimp stew) or her red beans and rice, the favourite dish of Bonnie Parker (as in Bonnie and Clyde).Parker, who’d have turned 100 in October, kept on nipping back home for red beans and rice while she andClyde Barrow were on the run. While you’re in the city, take a Mississippi paddle-steamer up America’s largest river system.Legacy: While some areas of New Orleans look no different, others are have been reclaimed by nature after Hurricane KatrinaA day trip takes you as far as Chalmette, site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the last great fight between Britain and the Americans — when future President Andrew Jackson thrashed us in the closing conflict of the War of 1812.‘Old Hickory’ Jackson is commemorated in a spirited equestrian statue in Jackson Square, in the French Quarter. Also in the square is the classical St Louis cathedral and the best historical museum, the Cabildo — a colonnaded, pedimented number, once the seat of government in the Spanish colonial period.But music is the thing you should really go in search of. If you want to hear the really good stuff, venture out of the Quarter. There are some dangerous parts in New Orleans, but you’ll be fine if you take a ten-minute cab east to Vaughan’s (800 Lesseps St), a jazz bar just like the one in that old Southern Comfort cinema commercial, the now poignant ad where they dance the night away as a hurricane approaches.In the old slave quarter of Treme — where jazz was born a century ago — you’ll find the Candlelight Lounge, where funeral processions take place on Sundays (like the one in the Bond film, Live And Let Die).Mourners who aren’t close relatives follow the cortege to one of the city’s elegantly decayed cemeteries, but don’t take part in the actual funeral.Afterwards, though, they join in the wild wake with effortlessly tuneful abandon.United spirit: When the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, the whole city celebrated in the streetsThe smarter part of town is the Garden District, all creamy wedding-cake colonial ansions straight out of Gone With The Wind. You’ll pass the upscale restaurant, Herbsaint, on St Charles Avenue, known for sauteed jumbo shrimp with prawns.As you work on your Louisiana brown Jamaica rice risotto, you’ll see — and hear — the St Charles Streetcar rumble by. There is no streetcar named Desire, but these Twenties timber-and-iron carriages have all the romance and heart-racing, glamorous thrill that Tennessee Williams bottled in the play. The streetcar is only$1.25 a ride.New Orleans hasn’t completely recovered all its pre-Katrina romance. There are large stretches of the city that remain ravaged by the hurricaneBathed in spring-like warmth and showered with trinkets, beads and music, New Orleans revelled in the excesses of Fat Tuesday.A seemingly endless stream of costumed marching groups and ornately-decorated float parades led by make-believe royalty poured out of the Garden District, while the French Quarter filled up with thrill seekers expecting to see debauchery.And they did.Flambeaux: Torch bearers march along side the Captain's float in the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans on Monday nightSome in the Quarter had a sleepless night after Monday's Lundi Gras prequel party.The drinking was in full swing again shortly after dawn, and with it came outrageous costumes and flesh-flashing that would continue until police make their annual attempt to break up the merrymaking at midnight, when Lent begins.Tom White, 46, clad in a pink tutu, bicycled with his wife, Allison, to the French Quarter. 'I'm the pink fairy this year,' he said. 'Costuming is the real fun of Mardi Gras. I'm not too creative but when you weigh 200lbs and put on a tutu people still take your picture.'More...
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Click to view imageA topless dancer of the Salgueiro samba school parades on a carnival float at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, on February 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) #Revelers from the Academicos do Grande Rio samba school perform during the second night of Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, on February 21, 2012. (Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images) #Dancers from the Uniao da Ilha samba school parade in the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, on February 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) #Women dance during the carnival gay and lesbian ball at the Jockey Club in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano) #Revelers from the Unidos da Tijuca samba school participate in the second night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome, on February 21, 2012. (Reuters/Ricardo Moraes) #A dancer from the Sao Clemente samba school smiles after parading during the second night of carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, on February 20, 2012. The processions were held before a stadium crowd of 70,000 and an international broadcast audience. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images) #
A huge crowd turns out for the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, around 1900. Celebrations are concentrated in the two weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of lent. Most days have a major parade of their own, and some even have several. The biggest events, including masquerade balls, tend to be in the final five days of the festival
A depiction of a Zulu King during Mardi Gras, New Orleans, February 1936. The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club was founded in 1916 and puts on a Zulu parade every year in New Orleans. It is famous for its dancers in blackface and grass skirts. Participants also famously throw coconuts
Alongside the masks, outfits and parade floats are photographs of prostitutes working the notorious Storyville district - the only legalised red-light district in a major city in North America until it was shut down in 1917. The above photograph shows a naked woman sitting in a doorway - with a bed just visible in the gloomy back room behind her. The picture was taken in the 1910s
Pictured left: A prostitute from New Orleans's Storyville district, circa 1912. Right: A woman on a balcony wearing a dressing gown in the area of Storyville, circa 1900s. Established in 1897, it was closed in 1917. Its closure was linked to the stationing of sailors with the US Navy nearby during the First World War. Secretary of War Newton Baker did not want his fighting men distracted and so pushed for the closure of the red light district
The Mercier building, home to a department store. The grand Victorian building was demolished in 1908. La Nouvelle-Orléans, the old name for the Big Easy, was founded in the spring of 1718 and named after the Regent of France at the time, who was also the Duke of Orléans
A New Orleans milk cart, circa 1903. The French colony of La Nouvelle-Orléans was ceded to the Spanish empire in 1763 and remained Spanish until the beginning of the 19th century. Nearly all of the architecture in the famous French Quarter was built in this period
Birthday celebrations for Josie Arlington, seated left, February 8, 1908, in Storyville, New Orleans. Josie was one of Storyville's most successful madams. After being born into poverty, she rose to own 'The Arlington,' one of the more decadent brothels
Newspaper stand at 103 Royal Street, New Orleans, July 1908. To the vendor's right is a photograph of what appears to Howard Taft, who would become president of the United States the following year
A masked group in the French Quarter, New Orleans, 1905. Laws against hiding one's face with a mask are suspended for Mardi Gras to accommodate the tradition
The Rex Parade on Camp Street during Mardi Gras, 1910s. The state of Louisiana declared Mardi Gras a holiday in 1875. In 1875 Louisiana declared Mardi Gras a legal state holiday. New Orleans has celebrated the festival every year, despite war and depression causing cancellations elsewhere
Pictured: Mardia Gras in New Orleans, circa 1900. In 1972, the city hosted the final parade going through narrow streets in the French Quarter. Instead, the crowds were forced to skirt the area along Canal Street over health and safety concerns
Left: A seated woman wearing striped stockings and drinking Raleigh Rye in Storyville, New Orleans, circa 1912. Storyville was the only legalised red-light district in a major city in North America, until it was shut down in 1917. Right: A sign on a shop advertising costumes for Mardi Gras in 1940
A leisure resort in the West End of New Orleans, 1901. After the abolition of slavery in the United States, New Orleans was host to a struggle for civil rights as the large black population fought against institutionalized racism
Old French Courtyard, Royal St, New Orleans, LA, circa 1900. As the years passed, the French language slowly died in the city, but as late as the 1930s there were old women who still spoke only French and knew no English
A group of children with donkey and cart in the Lower French markets, New Orleans, circa 1910. Nearly a century before this photograph was taken, in 1812, British forces fought the young nation of the USA in the Battle of New Orleans, where General Andrew Jackson led a ragtag army to a great victory
A history of New Orleans, founded in 1718 and turning 300 this spring
La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded in the spring of 1718 and named after the Regent of France at the time, who was also the Duke of Orléans - the French city from which New Orleans takes its name.
The French colony was then ceded to the Spanish empire in 1763 and remained Spanish until the beginning of the 19th century.
Nearly all of the architecture in the famous French Quarter was built in this period.
New Orleans fell back under the control of France with Napoleon Bonaparte now in command of a French republic.
But Napoleon sold Louisiana in 1803 to the United States for $15M, roughly equivalent to $245M in today's money.
The sale included much more than what we know today as Louisiana.
It also included Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska - as well as parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas, Montanta, Wyoming and Colorado.
La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded in the spring of 1718 and named after the Regent of France at the time, who was also the Duke of Orléans - the French city from which New Orleans takes its name. Pictured: A carnival in the city in 1885
The staggering deal doubled the size of the United States, with New Orleans at the heart of the new province.
In 1812, British forces fought the young nation of the USA in the Battle of New Orleans, where General Andrew Jackson led a ragtag army to a great victory.
During the American Civil War, New Orleans was captured early on by the Union Army, meaning it was spared the destruction suffered by many cities in the South.
After the abolition of slavery in the United States, New Orleans was host to a struggle for civil rights as the large black population fought against institutionalized racism.
Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend a desegregated school in New Orleans in 1960.
As the years passed, the French language slowly died in the city, but as late as the 1930s there were old women who still spoke only French and knew no English.
In the 21st century, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophic event that led to floodwalls and levees failing and leaving 80 per cent of the city flooded.
An estimated 1,500 people died in Louisiana, most of them in New Orleans.
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