What is Outside the French Quarter?

Outer Journey

It’s a free day! We can do whatever we want therefore, I started it off by sleeping in until 8:15am. It was great to not have to set an alarm or worry about rushing to get ready. I went to breakfast and had a waffle with strawberries and whip cream. It tasted so delicious. 

After breakfast, I got ready to go explore the streets of New Orleans. First, Kandace and I went to the mall that is down the street from us to see what we could find. There were lots of food choices within the mall, including a Café du Monde. We stopped in a few shops like Forever 21, Crocs, NOLA shop, Lids, Coach, etc. The mall looked new and was very clean. Overall, we went there just to see what it was like and to get some exercise. 

Once we were done at the mall, we came back to the hotel to meet up with the other classmates because we wanted to rent a bike and ride around the city. Well, you had to pay $5 to sign-up and then 0.10 cents for every 10 minutes that you had the bike. Well, we all decided that we rather not do that so Kandace and I parted ways with the rest of the group and started walking to the Mercedes Benz Superdome. 

The Mercedes Benz Superdome has an area near the arena that is called Champion Square where you could tailgate before the game. It is a very large space with lots of places to get beer or liquor from and there is a stage as well. You could have a lot of fun prior to the game in this area. As we continued walking around, there were a set of stairs that took you up to the Superdome so you could walk around the entire building. As we walked one way, you could see the Smoothie King Center where the New Orleans basketball games play and as you walked the other direction, you could see Charity Hospital. 

The Smoothie King Center was getting prepared for an event at the arena. Then we walked over to Charity Hospital because I wondered what it looked like in person. I keep questioning, why would this hospital still be closed after Hurricane Katrina and why would they not do anything with the building since it is so large? Well, we stopped in a PJ’s coffee shop and I asked the worker if she knew why and she said that she wasn’t sure but she heard that the money the city got from FEMA has still not been used and there is a lot of corruption going on. 

Charity Hospital looks very run down. There are window blown out, boards in some windows, and writing in some windows. The building looks very dirty. They have it guarded 24/7 by an off-duty police officer which has to cost millions of dollars every year. Another thing that I noticed was there were stray cats around the building which made me very sad because animals deserve a home and one of them was missing a tail. 

After exploring other parts of New Orleans, we made our way back to the French Quarter and did some souvenir shopping. We decided to come back to the hotel and relax because our feet and hips are really sore from all the walking. Overall, I truly enjoyed getting to experience other parts of the city because there is so much history here other than the French Quarter. 

Inner Journey

Well, I almost feel like I have been run over by a truck because of how sore my body is. My feet, hips, and back hurt a lot and I would love to get a massage after this trip is over. We have walked so much since we have been here, approximately 10 miles every day. All I can say is I am looking forward to going home and relaxing for a couple days, but I’m not ready for this train ride. Even though, I’m ready to go home and relax, I enjoyed our day off to get to do whatever we wanted. 

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do today because I didn’t know if anyone would want to go with me toward the Superdome. Well, turns out Kandace wanted to go adventuring with me towards the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans instead of staying in/near the French Quarter. I enjoy watching football and I have seen things be held at the Superdome so I wanted to visit it in person. Also, there were thousands of people who took shelter there during Hurricane Katrina and I wanted to see one of the areas that got hit hardest by the hurricane. 

As we entered into the Lower Ninth Ward, we saw a few buildings that had been abandoned and some buildings that appeared to be in good shape. I’m very confused as to why Charity Hospital is still abandoned and what they are going to end up doing to the building. The information I learned about the city not using the FEMA money is very surprising and I want to know if that is actually true or not because I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be yet. 

Overall, I loved experiencing other parts of the city and seeing different things because I haven’t seen much other than the areas around our hotel and the French Quarter.