Today was full of history, religion, food, architecture, and
music. The St. Louis Cathedral was our
first stop and it was amazing. We had a
tour guide and she knew a great deal about the history of the church and the history
of New Orleans. The St. Louis Cathedral
is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. The detail inside was incredible. The ceiling was painted with oil paints and
it had pictures of Jesus and his disciples.
The detail on everything in the church was beautiful. The alter had a chair that was only for the
archbishop. Not even the pope can sit in
that chair! There were statues and paintings
throughout the entire church. Our guide talked
about the baptism area and the history of all the different people that had
been baptized at the church. The Catholic
religion is very important in the history of New Orleans. The church also had organ pipes in the back
of the church that had been there since the 1800s. The organ was damaged in hurricane Katrina
after being replaced just a year prior.
She also spoke about prominent people being buried in the church. I just thought that the church was so full of
history and it was my favorite part of the day.
We also went to the Museum at the Old Ursuline Covenant. It is the oldest building in the Mississippi
Valley. It was run by nuns and was an orphanage
and school for girls. St. Mary’s Church
was attached to the covenant and it also had beautiful detail inside like the
St. Louis Cathedral. After those two tours,
we had a cuisine tour. This was a good
way to try some official New Orleans food.
It was interesting to hear about the history of New Orleans through
food. We made several stops, but the one
place that stuck out to me was Antoine’s.
Antoine’s is the oldest family run restaurant in the country. Many celebrities have dined at Antoine’s and
the walls are lined with photographs of these people. There are several private rooms at the restaurant
and patrons can rent them for small or large parties. There is also a wine cellar in Antoine’s that
is 165 feet long and holds approximately 30,000 bottles of wine! That was site. It was like a never-ending tunnel. I will say that the food was not my favorite,
but I am glad that I got to try a lot of different foods. Our last stop was walking on Decatur St and listening
to music. There were more people out
because the weather was a little warmer, but it was still more quiet than I had
expected. The streets have quite a few
homeless people and that is hard for me to see.
It breaks my heart to know there are people that have no place to
go. We stopped in one bar called the Balcony
Music Club and listened to a Jazz band. Live
music creates an atmosphere that is unlike any other. I enjoyed sitting and listening to the band and
hope to be able to do that again. The night
ended with my first streetcar ride. We
had done a lot of walking, so it was nice to hitch a ride.
Inner Journey
Today was our first full day and it was a lot to take
in. Walking to our first stop at the St.
Louis Cathedral, I could feel the cold air hitting my face and I was tired from
the long day and the night before. I was
still trying to catch up on sleep and it was not going well. Walking into the cathedral took my breath
away. It is a beautiful church full of history
and beautiful art and statues. Listening
to the guide talk about the history of the church, it almost seemed like she
was making things up. The history of
slavery is one of the hardest parts of history to hear about. I have such empathy for people and it hurts
my heart to think about people going through what some of these people went
through. Prior to this trip, I had no
idea how much history New Orleans has and how important it is for our
country. I am not a huge fan of history,
so I was not able to fully follow all of what we were learning about, but I found
it fascinating. I had no idea what New
Orleans originated from and how much it impacted other parts of the country. Most people hear New Orleans and immediately
think Mardi Gras. I feel like this trip
is changing that stigma for me. The most
impactful part of the trip so far has been the huge amount of history of New
Orleans and the amount of diversity in the city. Listening
to the tour guides today, you can tell people are proud to be from here. Another thing I noticed is people are friendlier
here than other places. I got a lot more
hellos and smiles than I get in my hometown.
There is no judgement for being “different” or unique. It is just a special city that is unlike any
other I have ever been to. Today I felt
like I could really appreciate New Orleans for what it truly is and not what most
people think it is. Unfortunately, there
are things that I saw that were not happy.
There are a lot of people sitting against the walls of all the streets. Some were holding signs and some were asking
for money. There was also a lot of people
that were selling their art or services for cheap prices and I cannot imagine
that they are making enough money to support themselves. Some of the places we walked by looked run
down. There was garbage lining the
sidewalks. I am not going to lie, sometimes
my OCD wanted me to wash my hands or use hand sanitizer. I feel like I am learning a lot about not
only the city, but about other people and other cultures. I am really glad I chose to take this course
and am excited for what is to come. Oh and
another bonus. I got my luggage today!! That was the best part of the day!! ;)
