Day number two in New Orleans quickly beat out day number
one for being the “best day!” Right of the bat, breakfast at the hotel was
absolutely amazing. I had never seen such a wide spread of food available for
breakfast at a hotel or as many people as there were eating breakfast at one
time. My favorite part of hotel breakfast is the waffle maker and the selection
of muffins, both of which were excellent. After taking the streetcar down to
the St. Louis Cathedral we began to tour one of the largest buildings I had
ever set foot into. This location was one that I had previously visited while
in New Orleans. Learning the information from the tour guide was a different
experience than my last because I was able to do more than just wander around
the building and wonder about the history. He provided us with so much useful
information about the church’s structural history, representation of the flags
within the building, history of the bishops along with other information
pertaining to Catholicism within New Orleans. When we took a break for lunch in
the French Market, I was able to haggle with the local sales women. The first
women I tried to haggle with acted very offended and angry when I tried to
offer her a lower price for her products. Luckily I just found another woman to
accept my price point on similar items to the first women. I find it so
interesting about how many people can sit in a booth and sit around to wait for
people to wander into their part of the pavilion and hope that they will enjoy
their merchandise enough to purchase it. I could not live with that kind of
instability! I would be so paranoid that everyone would reject what I had to
offer and I would never make any money!
Going to
the cuisine tour was something that I was originally scared about based on my
irrational fear of foods that I have not tried before; but as I am sitting her
typing this post I cannot stop thinking about the amazing food and the overall
awesome time I had while on this tour. The flavors of the food were all foreign
to me, introducing me to new flavors I had never tasted before. I really liked
all the dishes I tasted, even enough to order them if I were to see them again
on a menu during the rest of this trip! My favorite food of the tour has to be
the Mardi Gras dip we tried at the second stop on the tour. Holy moly that was
the best dip I had ever tasted in my life. Sour cream is basically my true love
so anything that pairs great with that is something that I can eat for the rest
of my life. It had great spice flavor that I did not have exposure to before
and it had some heat to it! I am well on my way to eliminating my fear of spicy
foods!
THE BEST DIP EVER!
TURTLE SOUP!
MUFFALETTA
The city of New Orleans was speaking loud and clear to me
this morning about religion. I have never been a religious person, but I
consider myself to be a spiritual human being. I am comfortable with my
beliefs, morals, and values but today I felt this slight sense of doubt in my
spiritual practices. The city of New Orleans take such great pride in their
religion that at one time they were forcing it onto people. I mean if you think
something is that great, you should TELL everyone about it, not FORCE them to
believe in the same things that you do (and if you do not, they’re going to
chop off your head). While we were touring the Cathedral I could not help but
think about how my life would be different if I practiced a religion such as
Catholicism. I do not attend church services or even know my own bible, but
does that make me a bad person? If I were living in New Orleans in the 1800’s,
yes I would be considered a heathen and probably forced to believe in something
that I was not comfortable with. I realized that I do not know what it feels
like to be a part of something as largely important to the catholic religion
and I decided that I am okay with that. I am thankful to be living in a culture
and time period that allows me to express my religious and spiritual freedoms.
I was reminded of this feeling when we were touring the convent. When I was reading
bits and pieces of the letters that were sent home to family while the nuns
were traveling overseas, I was shocked to discover that it took them five
months to get across the ocean and they didn’t kill each other along the way. Because
let me tell you, if I was trapped in a large boat going across the ocean in the
summertime with eleven other women around me, I guarantee twelve women would
not be getting off that boat into America; somebody would have to go.
(Obviously I would not be in the convent in the first place, but you get the
picture).
(This is an image of a giant fireplace located within the bathroom of the convent which quickly became one of the coolest things I have ever seen inside of a bathroom!)
The
religious culture of the city is dominant and can be found on display within other
powerful parts of New Orleans. People display the catholic religion in their
art, music, cooking, and even in their home traditions while living in the
city. Coming off of the ghost tour from last night, I realized that the church
as more dead bodies buried underneath of it than all the horror stories we
heard last night combined! I find the religious ties to New Orleans
enlightening and interesting based on all the history of the city. It seems
that whenever something tragic happens to New Orleans they rely on their faith
and religion to see them through their tragic time, and it always works. New
Orleans is a strong city that has fought in a lot of battles (literally and
figuratively) in war and with weather. It is refreshing to see that a city with
negative aspects of their history can withhold something powerful enough to
help its residents survive and influence generations to come.
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