teach*tea*travel: New Orleans, Day 3

I didn’t sleep well last night. For one, I walked way too much and my legs were too tired to let me sleep. For another, a ghost tried to pull my arms off. That makes for a long, not-so-restful night. Yes, I said a ghost tried to pull my arms off! I had a dream that I was struggling with this woman and she wouldn’t let go of my arms. I woke up, and my elbows were killing me!! My arms weren’t asleep like they sometimes are if I lay on them. My elbows just hurt! And as quick as I woke up and realized my elbows hurt, they quit hurting. I wonder if it was Madame LaLaurie tugging at me last night??? To add to my “rough” night and early morning, when I was getting ready, I heard a key being swiped in my hotel door and someone tugging at the handle. At first, I thought it was housekeeping (they didn’t clean my room yesterday for some reason, so I was really hoping to be gone before they came by today.), so I checked it out through the peep hole. I saw a middle-aged man trying desperately to get his key to work in my door! I was debating on whether to shout through the door that he had the wrong room, when he decided to give up and headed toward the elevator. Good thing I had the deadbolt on the door fastened. Creepy!

I got a little earlier start this morning and wandered down to Le Croissant Express, one of the restaurants in the hotel. I had a craving for scrambled eggs, bacon, and a pot of hot tea. Long story short, it was going to be cheaper just to get the buffet rather than those three things separately. After eating and getting my cup o’tea to-go, I headed to the Riverwalk Mall. The Riverwalk Mall is attached to my hotel, only it’s laid out in the opposite direction that I headed yesterday. I walked the length of the mall and halfway down the Convention Center, which is on the other side of the mall. There was a sculpture in honor of Hurricane Katrina victims that I saw on my bus tour yesterday but didn’t get to take a picture. I took several sculpture pictures before walking back to the mall. I did a little shopping and bought my Saints flannel pajama pants. J After dropping my purchase off in my room, I headed to the Superdome. No, today wasn’t game day; I just wanted to see how long it would take me to get to the stadium so I’d know what time I need to check out in the morning. I want to get there early to take everything in. It took around 30 minutes. From there, I walked to the French Quarter to find Remoulade—the restaurant my brother recommended. I wasn’t the least bit hungry, but I knew I needed to eat so I wouldn’t get hungry on my three-hour walking cemetery tour. I ordered the Louisiana sampler—turtle soup (yum), Shrimp etouffe (tasty, but spicy) and meat pie (I’m not a meat person, but it wasn’t bad). I wandered around the French Quarter before steering myself back toward Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo Shop for my tour.

Haunted History’s Cemetery Tour

I really didn’t know what to expect on my tour. I knew we’d go to one of the cemeteries in New Orleans. I’d seen two so far and they were both way too far away to walk. I overheard a girl talking to her husband/boyfriend that St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 was “that way” (she pointed north). Hmm. I just came from that way on my Superdome adventure and didn’t see a cemetery. Our tour guide, Charles, began the tour by highlighting a few famous (or infamous) buildings in the French Quarter before taking us north to the cemetery. Rampart Street is the dividing line for the French Quarter and the section of New Orleans called Treme (there’s a show on HBO called Treme, but I don’t get HBO so I have no clue what it’s about). St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is in the Treme section of the city, about 2 blocks north of the French Quarter (which explained why I hadn’t seen it; I was too far west at the time).

My first thought inside the cemetery was “Wow.” My second thought was “Boy, it’s crowded in here.” The tombs were really close together. Often we had to walk single-file to get through. Crowded was actually an understatement. A big understatement. I had no idea how people were buried in a vault. I assumed that each casket had its own space in each vault. Not so. (This part’s a little graphic.) A person who has just passed away is placed in a plain pine casket. They’re put into the vault, or tomb as Charles called them, and the tomb is sealed up. One year and one day later (according to custom and tradition—not law), a sexton comes, unseals the tomb, flips the pine box over to the side, and what’s left of a person (about 1 to 2 pounds of goo and bones) gets dumped on the floor. Why one year and one day? The body will go through a New Orleans summer in that length of time. The tombs can get up to 500 degrees or hotter in that kind of weather. It’s a natural cremation chamber. After your remains are dumped on the floor, they’re scooted/swept/pushed to the back of the tomb and the tomb is resealed so it’s ready for the next person in your family who meets their demise. What happens if you have more than one family member pass away before the year is up? No problem—they rent tombs. After the one-year-one-day interval is up, the goo is transported to the family tomb, scooted to the back, and you’re ready to start the process with the next deceased person in your family. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 has been estimated to have more than 50,000 bodies in it. Area-wise, it’s tiny compared to Walnut Hills at home. Why do the people of New Orleans bury their dead in tombs? Two reasons. 1) Above-ground burial is a Spanish tradition (not because New Orleans is below sea-level like most of us think. I mean it’s below sea-level but that’s not why they bury their dead above-ground), and 2) to actually bury each deceased person in a below-ground grave would be a very wasteful way to use up valuable land in the city. The entire city and the surrounding area would be one big graveyard. They simply don’t have the room for below-ground burials. I’m not saying every single person in the city has a family tomb, but I really think most of them have some form of above-ground burial that their families use.

After learning all about what was inside the tombs we were seeing, we learned what all they were made out of. Many are brick, some are a cheap-looking stucco/plaster, and some are made out of the most magnificent marble you’ve ever seen. I took several pictures and tried very hard not to step on or lean up against any graves while Charles was talking (I was getting hot and tired at this point). We saw several important historical figures’ tombs: Homer Plessy from the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case about segregation, Ernest Morial, who was the first black mayor of New Orleans, Benjamin and Henry Latrobe, who were the first American architects, Nicolas Cage’s monstrosity of a tomb, compared to the others—it’s a pyramid (no he didn’t die, it’s just the tomb he had built)!! And perhaps the most famous tomb in New Orleans—Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. It was at this point Charles told us he practices voodoo and showed us how believers of voodoo come to Marie Laveau’s tomb to ask for her guidance. It was all very interesting! I also got to see some of the “individual” tombs (the ones I think of that are all along a wall and they put your body on a slab) and how the bottom row has almost completely sunk into the ground. So I guess in a way those people on bottom are technically buried below ground now. Lol

Our tour ended at where nearly every tour by Haunted History does: in a bar. I skipped that part in search of A/C, ice cream, and a bathroom. I found all three and headed to the riverfront to sit, eat, and rest my aching legs (my feet were still raring to go, thanks to my Tone-Ups sandals). I rested for about 20 minutes before making some purchases in the shops along Decatur Street. I made my way through the “ritzy” Canal Street shops before heading back to the Riverwalk Mall to get my Drew Brees jersey. I’ll be all decked out for the game tomorrow! I made a stop at my hotel room to wash off my feet and prop up my legs in the comfy chair for awhile before heading downstairs to Drago’s Seafood restaurant. Drago’s is one of those ritzy-but-not restaurants that is always packed. I didn’t make a reservation, but I figured a table-for-one wouldn’t be too hard to come up with. I had a 20 minute wait before I was seated. I decided to try the Shrimp New Orleans. It was shrimp marinated in one of the spiciest marinades that I’ve ever smelled or tasted. My upper-G.I. is fine (so far), but I drank and entire carafe of iced tea during my meal!!

After a nice, long soak in the tub, I am about ready for bed (no tea tonight—I had my fill at supper). As I type, I’m looking out at the Mississippi again. A cruise steamboat just went by, and I hope the people on it are enjoying the view as much as I am. I’ll really miss that when I go home tomorrow!