Today, began bright and early at 8:00 with our tour guide
Milton ready to teach us all about the history, architecture, and music of New
Orleans. He began by telling us a few
phrases that people from New Orleans use.
These were “Hey baaaaaby,” “lagniappe,” and “How’s ya’ momma an em?” Then we learned about a lot of different musicians
while walking around New Orleans. Louis Armstrong
was the first musician Milton spoke about and he played a song called “West End
Blues” for us to listen to. Louis Armstrong
is one of the most influential jazz artists of all time. He also spoke about Pete Fountain and Al Hirt. Harry Connick Jr. is also from New Orleans
and we saw Maison Bourbon, where Harry learned all about music. Milton played his favorite Harry Connick Jr.
song, “Careless love.” I thought it was neat
to see where his career began and where he learned from some of the best
musicians in the world. Another artist Milton
spoke about was Jelly Roll Morton, who was the first jazz composer. After learning about so many amazing
musicians, we went to the Saint Louis Cemetery Number One. This was my favorite part of the day. The above ground tombs had so much character
and I loved learning about why the dead have to be buried a certain way and how
families are all buried together. One of
the coolest tombs was that of Marie Laveau.
She was the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
We also saw the tomb that Nicholas Cage bought. On his tomb reads, “Omnia Ab Uno” which means
“All for one.” His tomb is one of the
many tombs that say, “perpetual care” in front of them on the ground. This means that it has been paid ahead of
time for the arch diocese to care for the tomb.
November 1 is an important day for New Orleans. This is a day when families come to the cemetery
and care for the tomb of loved ones. This
is fascinating to me. I feel like it is so
neat that people take care of their families’ tombs. To me, that shows so much respect. Our last stop at the cemetery, was the
Musicians tomb. The musician Milton
spoke about here the most was Buddy Bolden.
The song he played was very funny.
The song is called, “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say.” I really enjoyed the cemetery tour. Milton was full of information and was really
fun. I am not usually a fan of history,
but today I enjoyed learning about history!
After having a little free time, we went on a ghost tour and learned
about some of New Orleans most haunted places.
Even though I am not a ghost believer, it was still fun to hear the stories
of the past. As we were listening to the tour guide, natives
walked by saying “Boooooo” making fun of the tour. This made me chuckle, because I would probably
do the same thing.
Milton!
Where Harry Connick Jr learned how to be a musician.
Inner Journey
I woke up today about fifteen minutes before the alarm went
off. I have not slept well since we left
for this trip, so I was feeling very tired today. Despite being tired, I wanted to learn and
see as much as possible today. Milton was
a really fun tour guide and he was a wealth of information. I really loved hearing him talk and hearing
his accent. He made it easy to want to learn more about NOLA. I enjoyed hearing the music he was talking
about as we walked around. I had no idea
what New Orleans was about until this trip.
Walking around Saint Louis Cemetery was my favorite part of the
day. I love interesting buildings and
the tombs were almost like building because they are above ground. Listening to how the dead are buried and how
families are buried together was interesting.
I found myself taking a lot of pictures from the cemetery and I was surprised
that I enjoyed it so much because I do not typically like cemeteries. Learning that the families of the dead care
for the tombs of loved ones was fascinating.
Family is such a big part of who I am, so I thought the way they are
buried together and care for each other, was awesome. The most surprising part of the cemetery was
hearing how Nicholas Cage had a huge pyramid tombstone at this cemetery. I had no idea that Nicholas Cage had a tomb
in New Orleans. There are so many famous
people that are either from New Orleans or love being in New Orleans. All day I was in awe of how much New Orleans
has impacted so many different things such as music and culture. As we walked the streets, I smelled foods, smoke,
and sometimes a little weed. The
atmosphere here is so different than I am used to. People are just out doing their thing, whether
that is playing music or making art or some other form of expression. There are a lot of homeless people walking
around. Things that I just don’t see at
home are everywhere in New Orleans. It
is almost like I am in a dream. I still can
hardly believe I am here, away from my family and seeing the city. I think that many of us are stuck in our own
self-absorbed bubble that we don’t even realize what is out there and how
different some places are. This trip has
really opened my eyes to how small my world is.
I enjoy my small home town, but I also think it is important to enrich
yourself with other cultures and ways of life.
Today I found myself looking at things a little different and trying to
understand more things about the city. The
more history I learn, the more I get why things are the way they are. All that being said, I would never want to
live here. I enjoy the big open fields
in the country and the peace and quiet too much.
At the cemetery.
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