Farewell to New Orleans

It is somewhat difficult to pick a favorite place in New Orleans. The city as a whole is such an amazing place and I think everything about it is so unique and unlike any other place I’ve been. I really enjoy Jackson Square though. I love that this is the place performers, artists, and musicians can go to show off their talents and try and make some cash. I love when all of the artwork is hanging up on the fence and the artists just kind of hang out with each other and wait for someone to come along and show interest. The artists will introduce themselves to visitors and strike up a conversation about something not having to do with trying to sell their pieces. During our last morning here, the square was not quite as busy as it was during the weekend, but there were still several artists and fortune tellers or palm readers set up. I personally do not feel inclined to have my palm read, but I think it is cool that this city is open to so many different personalities and people can come here and do literally anything to try and make a living.

I also took a picture of one of the Pontalba buildings because the story of the Baroness Micaela Pontalba is one of my favorites that I have heard on this trip. I love the fact that she, along with many other women, were powerful, had some of the same rights as men did during a time when that was not true in the rest of the country, and they were able to inherit or buy their own property. I am just amazed by her whole story. She was expected to inherit a large amount of money and property after she had married her cousin. She was basically held as a prisoner by her husband until she was able to divorce him. She even survived a murder attempt by her father in law in order to keep her inheritance money. He shot her four times (some say only twice), a few bullets landing in her chest and another one blasting through her hand causing her to lose a finger. She was left disfigured but her father in law committed suicide so she managed to escape. She came back to New Orleans until she died and she left behind her a huge legacy. She had these beautiful buildings built and turned into apartment buildings where people could have businesses beneath them. They were actually the first apartment building in the city and I learned that they are the most sought after and most prestigious places to live currently. Micaela was considered to be one of the richest women in the city at a young age.  She was born in New Orleans and she died in New Orleans, at the Hotel de Pontalba in 1874, at the age of 78. She will always be a legend in the city in which she set standards and revolutionized the way women were perceived.

I would have to say that my favorite part of the class was all of the touring we got to do. I had been to New Orleans on a vacation and felt that I never would have gotten to have some of the experiences that I did this time had I not been with the group. I loved listening to the knowledgeable tour guides talk about the city of New Orleans. It seemed like most of the people that were in charge of our tours had lived in New Orleans their entire lives and have older family members there as well. I liked that they all put their own personal anecdotes on the information that they were giving us so that helps make things a little more interesting to me. My favorite tour by far was the last one we did, which was the history, music, and cemetery tour. I thought our tour guide was great. He was humorous while still giving us pertinent information during each stop. I especially liked when the tour guides talked about Napoleonic Law and how women and black people had more rights in New Orleans than any other place in the country. I thought it was very interesting that New Orleans was the first place to allow black people to pursue careers such as physicians or teachers, and in the 1870’s they were given the right to vote. Black slaves were allowed to take Sundays off and work side jobs in order to earn enough money to buy their freedom. I had really never heard any stories like that about any other city or state in the country, so I was very impressed. Getting to tour the pharmacy museum, the Cabildo, the Presbytere, and the rest of the city was very cool and informative.

My favorite part of the trip was getting to hang out with friends and getting to try some amazing food in a city that is known for it. The girls I roomed with are two of my favorite people in the world. There may be several years separating us but we get along just fine! The cuisine tour was better than I even expected. We got to go to six different locations and try a few foods at each. We had brisket, muffalettas, cannoli, gelato, gumbo, red beans and rice, mardi gras dip, shrimp remoulade, and turtle soup! I never thought that I would have liked a soup with turtle in it but it was probably one of my favorite items on our menu. The guide, Naif, was full of knowledge about the food itself and the history of the restaurants and the owners.  At one restaurant Naif announced that he’d be giving us a “lagniappe,” or something extra, and took us upstairs to show us a museum. It was the restaurant owner’s daughter’s museum that she created herself to display her mardi gras dresses. Her name was Germaine Wells and I just thought she was such an icon. Slightly full of herself, that girl made sure that no one would forget about her. That was another aspect of the trip that I didn’t think we would have gotten that chance to see had we not been on this group tour.

I got to room with the girls I talk to most at school and got to hang out in groups with people who enjoy having fun. I would much rather have a course like this where we get to travel and learn about a culture in person rather than just sitting in a class room trying to read about it. I think that I learned things I will never forget while on this trip.