With Mardi Gras a memory, New Orleans sobers up

By dawn this morning, stately St. Charles Avenue—where tens of thousands spent Mardi Gras feasting, drinking and scrambling for beads—was cleared of mountains of trash left behind by revelers. New Orleans' iconic green streetcars once more clattered along the tracks, and in the French Quarter stragglers mustered what energy they could as the exodus of visitors began. Later, churches in the largely Catholic city filled with the faithful as Ash Wednesday ushered in the season of Lent. At the Louis Armstrong International Airport, officials reported a steady outflow of visitors, many draped in beads they'd snatched at the stream of parades that reached its peak on Fat Tuesday. Spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut says the trinkets were a headache for TSA security officers, but passengers were moving along nicely to waiting aircraft. Bourbon Street, meanwhile, was in rare and immaculate shape with debris removed and streets washed down. It was mostly deserted except for a long line of beer and liquor delivery trucks restocking depleted bars. In Jackson Square, tarot card readers and artists read books or dozed at their stands outside St. Louis Cathedral. Among the few people who wandered through the area were some with black ash smudges on their foreheads, signs of Lenten repentance. Colin Tyler, who takes visitors on tours of the French Quarter in his mule-drawn carriage, says the trade during the Carnival season was tremendous. "It was really great business-wise, but it's not always easy for us," Tyler says. "Ninety percent of our customers were drunk."