Inner journey
The city spoke to me today in so many ways. I was so excited for today's tours and adventures. We were going to be touring the St. Louis Cathedral, the Old Ursuline Convent, and the pharmacy museum. First we toured the St. Louis Cathedral which is extremely beautiful and one of a kind. It is the oldest Catholic church in the United States and has been refurbished after it was almost completely burnt down in a massive fire. When you walk in to the church you first come across several offertory candles which you can light to remember someone or to honor them for a two dollar donation. My grandmother was a devout Catholic and well as my Mom. I lost both of them over the last few years and my grandma anniversary of when she passed away is tomorrow 1/9/2019 so what better thing to do than offer her a pray and light a candle in her memory. She would have loved this priceless and beautiful church it is all I kept thinking about on our tour. After I lite a candle for them I entered the church and was in shock of its beauty. The high ceilings were covered in large canvas oil paintings, the windows were made of beautiful stained glass, and the altar were all a sight to see. Our tour guide told us several stories about how different artifacts made there way to the church and how many of them were saved or replaced after the fire burnt down most of the church. Next we went to the Ursuline Convent where we saw another beautiful church that was not longer being used for masses but more for weddings. We got to learn about the Ursuline Sisters who traveled her to help people and who also prayed hard bothe times the city was burning and saved the Cvent from being destroyed. The convent is also home to a beautiful winding staircase that id free floating and not held up with any support beams and was moved from its original home in the convent that was closer to the riverfront. After finishing these tours we took a break for a quick lunch where we ate at the french market. I had a crab cake sandwich and then we headed out to take the pharmacy tour. On the pharmacy tour I learned so much about the different medicine that was made and used to treat things in the 1800 to 1900s. We heard stories of how different things were used and what adverse effects they would have on a person. We learned about the history of New Orleans and what type of things the people died or became ill from. Today was by far one of my favorite days and I learned so much.
Outer Journey
I was most excited for the pharmacy tour today as it is something I have always liked and its medical related. It was so much better than I ever expected and a really enjoyable time. We had a tour scheduled for 1pm and were told to get there by 12:45 because many other people would be there as well. It was open to the public and a very popular tour to be a part of. I was expecting the pharmacy to be larger than it was but when I walked back in from running to the bathroom the main floor was one large ground and we barely had much room to move. It was a beautiful building with stone floors that were refurbished and reused from the large barges and boats that would come to the port city and be broken down to scrap. The walls were covered in hundreds of glass medicine bottles, potion bottles and poison bottles. Most of the jars were clear or brown in color but some were very colorful and they all ranged in different sizes and textures. For example, the tour guide explained how poison or known toxic substances had to be placed in blue bottles that has rivets in them so they felt textured when picked up. This allowed them to feel the bottle in the dark so they would not drink it by mistake. The tour guide went through many different artifacts and explained their history to us stopping to answer questions along the way. The guide was extremely lively and had been doing his job for eight years. He made the entire room laugh several times with his hourmous jokes. I was having such a fun time that I could have stayed there all day and learned more about everything. After our hour long guided tour of the main floor we were set free to explore the main floor and second floor more. The upstairs was home to many artifacts such as medical equipment and devices like injections, birthing equipment, different birthing chairs, a replica midwifery room complete with a bed and all the tools that might be used. I saw bedpans, scales for weighing drugs, old vials of vaccines, more bottles and test tubes of different medicines used and herbs. They had things like opium, sulfur, mercury and ointments lining the walls and shelves. There was also old large display cases and armories that were beautifully crafted. Lastly, there was a large soda fountain in the museum and the tour guide told us all about the drugs they would mix in with bubbling water and flavors to mask the task of the medication. This museum tour was not only fun but very informative on what people in the 1800 to early 1900s used to treat ailments, illnesses and diseases. These methods sometimes worked but usually had not rhyme or reason to them and really no certain educated person making them. It was also explained that anyone who made it to old age was thought to have more knowledge and could make medicine. The entire pharmacy tour was not only a good time but I learned so much about how medicine started and what went terribly wrong.
