Today was yet another awesome day in New Orleans. We started the day meeting at Jackson Square
in front of the Monument. I was excited
because I finally figured out where the train station was to get there so I didn’t
have to pay for another Uber. Upon arriving
at the square we waited for your tour guide.
His name was Melvin. He was Hilarious.
To start out his tour, he taught us how to speak the language of New Orleans. He
explained that you don’t put spaces in between your words, so how are you doing
babe, would be said howyadoingbabe. To
keep the conversation going, you can then ask, howsyourmomma.
Once Melvin arrived he was ready to go! He started off explaining the history of
music, and how the cultural melting pot of New Orleans shaped the future of
music. He was such an awesome man who seem
to know everything about the city. As we
wondered through the streets of the French Quarter, Melvin would explain to us the
significance of certain establishments and how they played a part in music
history. He showed us different
locations such as where Harry Connick Jr. and Louis
Prima who played King Loui in the original jungle book. I also found it interesting that gospel music
came from New Orleans. Mahalia Jackson
was a singer who sang spirituals and earned herself the title of queen of gospel.
After that we exited the French quarter to check the cemetery. We went to the oldest cemetery in the
Once we reached the cemetery it was really interesting. The burial process is so different down here
because they do not burry people in the ground because the city of New Orleans
is under sea level in most places, and the caskets will rise out of the
graves. What they do here is they put the
corps into an entern while it decomposes and then the body is removed and put
into the tomb. If there is already a body
in the holding spot, they will temporarily place the body into a wall vault until
time to move again. Plots are usually
for families and not just one individual.
I think this is cool because you
are eternally with your family.
We then checked out the pharmacy museum. This was REALLY exciting to me, which is probably
a good thing since I am a nursing student.
While here we got to see an array of different medical utensils and
meds. Thank god I was born when I was
because that stuff was scary. From what
I got from the tour, women had it the worst.
Doctors in the old days new nothing about the female anatomy. They even thought at one time that the mind
and uterus was connect, and if a woman would have a mental issue they thought
that their uterus was roaming the body causing issues.
