New Orleans - St. Louis #1...

One of the first things I did in New Orleans (right after jumping in the Inn's saltwater pool) was to schedule a guided walk around the city's oldest cemetery - St. Louis #1.  While the tour was a bust (sad!) the cemetery itself and the church that was once the receiving building for all the city's dead were a sight to behold!  St. Louis #1 has no rhyme or reason with tomb placement (you'll walk down an aisle only to find a marble structure suddenly blocking the path) and many of them are in states of major disrepair thanks in part to years of neglect and scavenging of statues, brick, etc.  Despite all that there is nothing you can do but marvel at the history...

St. Jude, also known as Thaddeus, is the residing saint at the church...

It's said that if you knock on (what is deemed to be) Marie Laveau's tomb, turn in a circle, make a wish, mark 3 x's on the tomb and turn in a circle again that your wish would come true.  Once it did then you were to return and leave offerings.  Marie's grave, freshly recovered from a terrible bout of vandalism, is already covered with marks and gifts of flowers, makeup and small change.  It's also said that 10% of the population of New Orleans practices Voodoo in some form or fashion.  Whoa!

An offering left in nod to a long ago history of events...

A lot of my guidebooks said not to come here, or most cemeteries in the French Quarter or anywhere in New Orleans really, alone but I think that with the exception of just a few locales the idea is to not to go at night.  But of course, always use your best judgement!  I have to say there were so many people St. Louis #1 when I went!  Hundreds of us cramped in the small space with mule drawn carriages waiting on the road out front.  Out of everything I did there in New Orleans, this was by far the hottest, cramped and overwhelming thing I experienced.  Even Cafe Du Monde was a cake walk in comparison.  No regrets, of course but if you were to go then skip the tour and go on your on early in the day.  You'll get a really good lookin' sunburn if you go at 12 noon in the broiling sun.  Trust me.