St. Louis Cemetery #1

This morning, I was going to sleep in, but awoke around 0630 to watch the sun come up over the Mississippi River. The conference starts today, but not till after lunch, so I took a walk to the St Louis Cemetery.

I had heard that Marie Laveau was reportedly buried in Saint Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans in the Glapion family crypt, and after entering, it was really easy to find. The tomb continues to attract visitors who draw three x's (XXX) on its side, in the hopes that Laveau's spirit will grant them a wish. I also noticed that people would leave pennies on her crypt (someone did that while I was there, but I'm not sure why).

I walked around and saw many other crypts in various states of repair/disrepair, as well as a lot of debris from both previous hurricanes that never got cleaned up. After returning to the hotel, I read something interesting on a "safety sheet" for the city - it advised against visiting the cemeteries alone. I had thought when I was there that it seemed like a prime hiding area for the homeless due to the proximity of the crypts, etc.

After returning to the hotel, I signed in to the conference and we had our first day of classes.