Cathedral and Culinary Tours

The city of New Orleans spoke to me all throughout the day. We started off with the St. Louis Cathedral and it was beautiful. The outside of the cathedral to me looked like a castle where a princess would be living. I also loved getting to walk around the courtyard surrounding the Jackson Statue. However, there were many birds surrounding me throughout the day and it did have my anxiety levels up. As the day went on, I started to feel more comfortable. Throughout our tour, we had a man describe to us details about the cathedral and the artwork that stood behind it. I really enjoyed all the flags that were on the sides of the church. He said that they represented ever country that had ruled over Louisiana and the New Orleans area. I also liked analyzing all the patterns that were on all the different flags. What also amazed me was the ceiling of the cathedral. It takes raw talent to be able to paint the way they did especially when at points, they had to paint upside down. I love the catholic art because it tells a story. They have their saints to watch over them, the virgin Mary, baby Jesus and God. The St. Louis Cathedral also has mass services that are open to the public and if I was ever going to attend a catholic mass service for the experience, I would want to attend the service there. Our tour guide mentioned that Easter Sunday is still a huge deal for them with their services. He said that the women dress up in beautiful long dresses just like they used to in the olden days. They also have their hair done up nicely and they all ride in on horse carriages. When the service is over, they have a nice meal and they celebrate the holiday. I love how they keep the tradition going even though all those years have passed. Only in New Orleans would you be able to see an Easter Sunday celebrated like this one is.  After the St. Louis Cathedral came the Ursuline Covenant. There was going to be a wedding ceremony taking place later that afternoon and I am sure the wedding was going to be beautiful. I bet the cost of the wedding was also extremely high. The Ursuline Covenant was where twelve nuns had arrived and all their photos were in the building on a wall. They had countless days of torture with terrible weather, sea-sickness, mosquitos etc. and they still made it to New Orleans after all their endeavors. That to me is impressive. The bushes outside the Ursuline Covenant were shaped perfectly and the grass was the perfect shade of bright green and being in that atmosphere made the day feel like it wasn’t winter anymore and that it was a nice spring day instead. The handrail on the staircase was iron and it was loose just from being older but it is still holding up nicely. Even though it does not feel like winter here and I am enjoying this weather a lot!

If I had to choose the most interesting or impactful part of my day, without a doubt, it would be the food tour. For me, that meant branching out of my comfort zone and being adventurous. I thought that it would be very hard for me because I am not into the spicy food that the people here are into and I cannot have shellfish. However, there was only two dishes that I could not consume but our tour guide gave me an alternative dish to sample. I thought that was very nice of him and it also benefitted the group because they could sample the alternative dish as well. For one, it ended up being alligator soup! Our cuisine tour was a mixture of Spanish, Italian, creole, and Cajun food. The first dish we tried was a brisket that was the best brisket I had ever tired. It came with a side of horseradish sauce to dip it in and I really enjoyed that as well. Red beans and rice were also on the menu and our tour guide mentioned an interesting fact. He said that the rice was not Asian rice and everyone always assumes that rice is from Asia. He said that it was from West Africa and that is where a lot of the rice in Louisiana comes from. I would like to venture out even further at some point and try some African food because that is something that I have never done before either. The rest of the culinary tour involved gelato, cannoli’s, muchalettas, and so much more. The part of my culinary tour that I stepped out of my comfort zone on is the turtle soup. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely loved turtles and that they are my favorite animal. My college graduation present to myself is going to be pet turtle actually because my parents won’t let me have one while I am living with them and my apartment in Peoria doesn’t allow pets besides fish. I did feel guilty about eating the turtle but it tasted very good. It was worth it because that was a very well made soup that everyone should try at least once in their life. Besides sampling on the tour, we were able to learn the history about all the restaurants that we were eating at. One of the restaurants was very fancy and the queen of Mardi Gras outfits were on the top floor. Her dresses were beautiful and they were huge. Wearing her outfits would have been a lot of work and I am sure that those dresses were very heavy due to all the jewels and such that were on them. I loved looking at the crowns because I have always wanted to wear one and I loved the way that they complemented her dress. We were also inside a room that had the largest wine cellular that I had ever seen and they had a bottle of wine in there that was worth over two thousand dollars. One of the main ways that people come together is through the culinary arts and by immersing myself in trying new foods today, I have learned new spices and dishes to try again and respect for cultures outside of my own.The following photos are the ceiling of the St. Louis cathedral, a canoli, the alter and some alligator soup!