History, History, History.

Outer Journey

WE GOT TO SLEEP IN THIS MORNING! Wow, did I need that! I have been so exhausted this trip from all the walking and not getting much sleep but, I wouldn’t change it because I love getting to take in all of the history of this city. Our morning started out at the Presbytere, then the Cabildo, Haunted Tour, and seeing the Joan of Arc Parade. 

The Presbytere talked about Hurricane Katrina and the history of Mardi Gras. I truly enjoyed getting to learn about Hurricane Katrina because I was young when it happened and don’t really remember anything about it other than it being really bad. I remember that there were individuals and families that fled to Illinois and specifically, DeKalb. Somehow my parents found out about a family who fled and had a baby and they didn’t have any clothes for him so we found some baby clothes and other things that we could donate to the family in their time of need. While we were in the museum, there were a pair of pants on the wall that had a man’s name, his wife’s name and the number to the hotel he was staying at, his blood type, and social security number just in case something happened to him when he was trying to flee when the storm had hit. The media reported that hospitals were evacuated on a Tuesday and they weren’t. They had backup generators that ran out of fuel. The temperatures in the buildings got to be upwards of 100 degrees. There were 2,500 patients and 11,000 staff and family members hunkered down in 25 different hospitals. They reported that a 147 patients died. 

Mans pants with writing

collection of things from Mardi Gras in the past

Mardi Gras actually started today. It has to do with the Epiphany and it starts 12 days after Christmas. Therefore, we got to see the Joan of Arc parade marking the beginning of Mardi Gras. Well, in this museum, they had lots of history. They showed invitations to prior Mardi Gras parties, costumes, and crowns and other knickknacks. There was a display case that showed lots of beads and other things that are thrown for Mardi Gras. 

Micaela Almonester, Baroness of Pontalba

The Cabildo was quite interesting because that was their government building. They talked about Andrew Jackson and the war over New Orleans. But what I found most interesting was where they talked about Micaela Almonester, the Baroness of Pontalba. She inherited a lot of money from her father but he died when she was two and a half years old. She had an arranged marriage with her second cousin. This museum talked about a lot of different things that happened in her life that we had never heard about prior to coming to here. 

Overall, everything we learned about today has been quite interesting. The favorite part of today was seeing the Katrina museum. I can’t wait to go on our own tomorrow and see different sites.  

Inner Journey

The amount of history within New Orleans is outstanding and how meaningful it all is to the city is something out of this world. It really means something to all the people from New Orleans and that is why they call this home and it’s so difficult to say goodbye in times like a hurricane. The most impactful part of today was seeing the part of Hurricane Katrina in the Presbytere museum. This affected me emotionally because I can relate to it somewhat from the standpoint of my boyfriend being in Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas. I truly believe that it isn’t easy to hear that you need to evacuate your home because a massive hurricane is going to make landfall. When you leave, you don’t know if you’re going to be coming back to a home or not, if there will be no damage, some damage, or if the house is just completely gone. The place that you made memories, the place that has all of your belongings; clothes, furniture, pictures, etc. is in this home that could potentially be completely ruined. Personally, I could not imagine how hard this was for the people of New Orleans. Although, I know how scary this could be because my boyfriend lives in Houston, Texas and was living there when Hurricane Harvey hit the city in 2017. There was so much devastation and when he went to work to help serve the community, he did not know if he was going to come home to his home that would be perfectly fine or completely flooded ruining all of his things. The amount of devastation that hits the city and some individuals is heartbreaking and you just can’t help but wonder how can I help?

View in the Cabildo

When we were in the Cabildo, I enjoyed reading about Micaela Almonester, the Baroness de Pontalba. She lived a very different life by having an arranged marriage to her second cousin. Her father passing away when she was just two-and a half years old. She inherited her father’s money after she was old enough and the mother passed away as well. Additionally, her father-in-law tried to kill her by shooting her four times. She did not die, and we learned that he later took his life because he couldn’t deal with himself trying to kill her and failing. I believe that this was so strange because it is something different in our era. But I love how resilient Micaela was and how she did what she thought was best. When she moved back to New Orleans and finished the buildings that her father made, I thought that her architecture and ideas for the building were beautiful. 

Micaela's Father

Overall, I truly enjoyed the amount of things that we learned today.