Big Fun in the Big Easy: part 3

Day 3

Our next day's journey began with a celebrity sighting just outside our hotel:

Recognize him? It's Lightning McQueen, from the Pixar film Cars, which is Tessie's current favorite movie. (O.K., maybe it's not an exact match, but really, that #95 has to be a reference to the character, wouldn't you think?)

Our destination for the morning was the Audubon Insectarium, just up Canal Street from our hotel. The Insectarium is located on the first floor of a federal building, making it quite possibly the only maximum security insect zoo in the world. Once past the metal detectors and the bag inspection and the cavity search, you're in amongst a plethora of exotic insects. (O.K., kidding about the cavity search, but not about the rest. It's a lot like airport security - no pocket knives, nail clippers, cans of Raid, etc.)

Tessie found some of it enthralling, like taking an earthworm ride in the larger than life underground tunnel:

Contemplating the life cycle of the common house fly:

Or riding an alligator through the bayou:

The Insectarium has, as one would expect, an extensive collection of mounted (i.e. non-living) critters:

There are also a plethora of live exhibits behind glass. Tessie got to observe ants "Hello, ant friends!" close-up, saw scorpions and tarantulas and other creepy-crawlies, and was even presented with the opportunity to hold a Madagascar hissing cockroach. (She declined.) It also featured, as a temporary exhibit, a walk-through butterfly enclosure done up as a Japanese house. We walked through, and Tessie tried heartily to entice the butterflies to land on her hand, but to no avail.

Since this was the final day of the conference, Tessie's Mom was able to join us at the Insectarium around lunchtime. We had lunch at Landry's, which, on my previous visit to the Crescent City, was a linoleum-and-Formica diner offering very reasonably priced meals with generous portions. Not any more. Hurricane Katrina flooded it out, and the rebuilt Landry's has moved upscale. It's still tasty, but the value isn't the same. The city has changed since August 2005; now it's a lot harder to find a decent platter of boiled crayfish. A true tragedy.

We walked off lunch by heading back north into Jackson Square, this time to see the interior of the Church of St. Louis:

After that, we wandered the French Quarter some more, taking in more of the fine local entertainment. Tessie danced for a bit, but spent most of the trip perched atop my shoulders. I may be a few inches shorter these days - she's getting heavier!

Day 4
There are lots of Audubon Institute attractions in New Orleans. After the Zoo and the Insectarium, we still had the Aquarium left to visit. (Conveniently, one can purchase a joint ticket to visit all three in a seven-day span for a slight savings.)

The Aquarium was an even shorter walk from our hotel than the Insectarium; in fact, it was a shorter walk from our hotel than just about anything else. Since Tessie and her new friend hit it off so well at the Zoo, we arranged to meet him and his parents at the Aquarium as well.

The Aquarium of the Americas, as it is known, suffered badly during Hurricane Katrina. It wasn't the storm or the flooding that did the damage, but the inability of the staff to return  and care for the animals in the critical period after the storm was over. The collections were seriously depleted, but the larger carnivores survived. I guess that's not a huge surprise.

The aquarium is divided into regional displays of the various aquatic habitats of the Americas, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and, of course, the Louisiana bayou, where this guy hangs out.

He's real. That lack of coloration is also real; he's leucistic, not albino. This seahorse, a resident of the Caribbean section, is also real, despite looking like a cross between a sci-fi monster and a Christmas ornament.

 Well, well, well - another celebrity sighting! Tessie hasn't yet been able to sit through the whole movie (the beginning is very scary), but she certainly recognizes Nemo. He seemed happy to see her, too.

Tessie's favorite part of the aquarium was the children's play area. There were rays in a touch tank (being a good Red Sox fan, Tessie wanted nothing to do with them!), sailing ships to climb and explore, kid-level fish tanks and informative signs, and a great big killer whale, uh, excuse me, orca right in the middle of the floor.

(Tessie knows them as killer whales - she inherited some of my old books from back in the days before cetaceans got all politically correct.)

We saw the whole place. It is a very good aquarium, especially the Mississippi River Gallery, which shows not only the fishes but some of the aquatic animals and birds of the region, all in one large, sunlit space. It's very thorough and well done. Also very enjoyable to just sit and watch is the giant 400,000 gallon Gulf of Mexico tank. We could have sat there for hours, just watching the sharks, turtles, jacks and other large fishes just swim around.

Of course, Tessie would never allow that!