FREE DAY

Outer Journey- Today was our free day to do whatever we wanted so of course I wanted to make the most of my time. I decided to spend the day with my Aunt Jackie who lives in Louisiana and is less than two hours from New Orleans. I've only seen my Aunt on holidays so I was excited to finally be able to spend time time with her and get to know her. She visits the city many many times so she came here to take me to a few of her favorite spots. She had me meet her on Bourbon Street at a restaurant called Galatorie's. As I walked in I could see elegant mirrors hanging down the walls. The tables all had white table cloths covering them as well as fancy Silverware and water glasses. The water glasses had the name Galatroie's written elegantly on them. All the waiters wore crisp black suits. The people dining around me were all dressed nicely too. The women were in dresses and heels and then men all wore dress pants. I felt slightly under dressed. The restaurant had all original flooring and wall paper from when it first became a restaurant years and years ago. I sat with my aunt in the corner of the room next to the window. She told me that she had been coming there for about 30 years and she knew almost all the waiters there. She ordered an appetizer that I was unfamiliar with called crab moison. The food itself was very lite with white pieces of crab through out the dish. It tasted delicious and didn’t even have a fishy taste with it that most sea food has. After finishing our meal we had desert. We had a vanilla custard type dish. It was a creamy yellow and had a texture of gelatin. Surrounding it were fresh blue berries and bright red strawberries. It was delicious! After we were finished my aunt decided to show me around the city. She has many friends whom live here in town so we ventured off to see a few of their apartments. Though we didn’t go in any of them she would point them out as we would walk past. Many of them lived in the beautiful apartments around town just above the local shops. Most of them has bright green plants hanging from their balcony’s and some brightly colored beads and ribbon in honor of Maddie Gras. She took me to her favorite book store next. The book store was a tiny little shop but it had shelves and rows full of books. Everywhere I turned there were books from big to small. To thick and thin. The room lit up with all the different colored books on the Shelves. I forgot to write the name down but it’s located behind the Cathedral if anyone would like to check it out! My Aunt then took me to one more place before she had to head back. We went into a local Artist shop who takes professional photographs. The photos were so vivid and I could feel as if I were right there with the people who were in the photos. The place was called Photo Works New Orleans, and my Aunt personally knew the owner and photographer Louis Sahue. I even got to meet him while looking around his shop! He has even taken photos at the restaurant we ate at earlier. I don’t think my free day could have been spent any better.

Photo Works New Orleans

Inner Journey- I got to learn so much from my Aunt today, and I felt almost as if I lived in New Orleans. My Aunt has lived in New Orleans for about thirty years now. Not many of my family member have came down to visit her though because its usually her visiting us back in Illinois. I think I really made her day by asking her to spend the day with me while I was here in the city. I learned a lot more about my aunt and her interests. She even got me to try some crab moison like I mentioned above. While she gave me her tour of the city we saw many people dressed to celebrate Mardi Gras. People were dancing and playing instruments in the street even. I have never seen people come together like this back home like they do here. It just amazes me how everyone treats each other like family especially when it comes to celebrations. My aunt seemed to know many of the small business owners. She would chat and catch up with everyone she knew. This kinda reminded me of my home town Galva because in our small town we are always seeing people we know no matter where you go and its the polite thing to stop and talk when you see someone you know.

 Before my Aunt left she gave me a Magazine she had brought with to give to me. The magazine was called New Orleans that Official Visitors Guide of 2018. I thought this was really neat to have as a keepsake to remember the trip by, but also because it showed places and restaurants to visit here. I learned by reading through this magazine that there is so much to do here, but also I only have so much time left. As our trip is coming to end I'm really starting to take advantage of the free time we get. Me and my room mates visited the Garden District. The houses in that area were incredible, and huge. My aunt says shes likes to drive by sometimes when shes in town just to look at the beautiful houses. It reminded me that there's so much more to New Orleans, and so much more to see other than the French Quarter. What I was most excited about was seeing the house from American Horror Story! I absolutely love the show, and as soon as I knew the house was in New Orleans I had to see it. It was something I wanted to cross off my bucket list, so I'm extremely happy that I was able to do that. I plan to go sight seeing after our final museum tours tomorrow, so be prepared for plenty more pictures!!

My aunt Jackie and I