Phot-o' the Day: Mardi Gras World; New Orleans, Louisiana USA

This one knocked my block off.

Larger than life Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, just waiting to be placed atop some Mardi Gras float. While they are not waiting in their respective corners for the next round to begin, they are waiting inside the enormous Mardi Gras World warehouse in the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana. Mardi Gras floats are built here -- it's a year round operation -- and past designs are warehoused here for recycling / re-purposing on future floats. Open for tours, too, when these sorts of things are open.

Visited May 2013.

Phot-o' the Fat Tuesday: Mardi Grad World, New Orleans, Louisiana

Fat Tuesday! The day of the year when Thin is a Sin.

I've never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, or Carnaval in Rio, or to any of those other places in the Catholic world which claim to have the biggest and bestest Mardi Gras/Carnaval celebration in the whole universe outside of New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro. But I have made it to Mardi Gras World in New Orleans. May 2013 to be precise.

Today's Phot-o' the Day is from inside the hulking Mardi Grad World complex on the New Orleans riverfront. Mardi Gras World is a large museum and workshop, where the Mardi Gras floats are designed and built for each year's Carnaval. It's a year-round job. (It's much more interesting than the Mardi Gras Museum in the French Quarter, if you only have time for one Mardi Gras themed tourist attraction on your next visit to the Crescent City.)