BALCONIES OF THE FAMOUS FRENCH QUARTER, NEW ORLEANS

A great trip to New Orleans, vibrant, colorful, alive and buzzing again after the disaster of Katrina five years ago.  What a come-back.  Fantastic restaurants, crawfish gumbo and shrimp etoufee, street music and Hurricane cocktails, pre Mardi Gras beads and festivities.  A few photos of the balconies, some brightly bedecked with beads and potplants, masks and flags.