<p>Revelers throw beads from the balcony of the Royal Sonesta Hotel onto crowds on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras Day festivities in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras day in New Orleans on March 8, 2011. For hours before a parade of glittering floats rolls down stately St. Charles Avenue, Carnival watchers are hard at work.</p>

February 19, 2012