Our first full day in New Orleans was quite a busy one! We started off the morning with a church service at First Street Peck Wesley United Methodist Church. Everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming towards us as visitors to the church. After the church service, we met a man named Koné who served as our tour guide for the day. He gave us a brief overview of the illustrious history of New Orleans. There were so many new things that I learned about the city that I never would have guessed otherwise. When started our tour in our van, it finally started to really kick in for me that we were somewhere outside of the midwest. Everything about New Orleans is just so different and unique. We rode through various neighborhoods and got to see houses of some famous musicians who were from the city such as Louis Armstrong, "Fats" Domino, and Mahalia Jackson.
We later reached the part of our tour in the Lower Ninth Ward. This was the neighborhood of New Orleans that suffered the most damage from Hurricane Katrina. In a few months it will be a full ten years since Hurricane Katrina, and if you ask people outside of Louisiana, I'd be willing to bet a handful of them assume the city has fully recovered by now. Here in the Lower Ninth Ward, we saw firsthand that it is not the case. There are still vacant lots and boarded up houses that would have never been seen before Katrina. We had the opportunity to visit the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum to see first hand experiences of the hurricane through picture, videos, and even a simulation to have the chance to feel like you were in the hurricane yourself. It was a very powerful experience that I will never forget.
Finally we ended the day roaming around the French Quarter. We rode the streetcar to Cafe Du Monde and enjoyed some delicious Beignets and then exploring Bourbon Street. It was all so exciting , the atmosphere was indescribable! I truly believe New Orleans is a city that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime.
Thank you for following our journey!
Anthony
No comments:
Post a Comment