Ironworks in the French Quarter of New Orleans

The elaborate use of ironwork permeates throughout the architecture within the French Quarter of New Orleans. Some of them were wrought one by one, requiring great skill and strength with a hammer:

…other iron features were cast into a mold allowing exact duplicates to be made:

…and still others are a combination of wrought iron and cast iron:

Most famously, ironwork is used in the railings for the balconies and galleries that are so prominent in the New Orleans architecture. Balconies project out and are extensions of an upper floor:

Galleries are supported by columns or posts reaching to the ground and therefore usually the width of the sidewalk.:

If you’ve ever been to New Orleans during a heat wave or been caught in a rainstorm there, I don’t have to tell you what a great benefit the galleries are.

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans

No matter where we are in the world, our kids always love going to aquariums. I was delighted that, even at age seventeen, my daughter asked to go to the Audubon Aquarium and IMAX Theater. The aquarium is situated beautifully along the banks of the Mississippi River on the fringe of the French Quarter. I braced myself for a sad visit because I read that the aquarium lost thousands of fish during Hurricane Katrina. Diana Guerrero of arkanimals.com writes:

"While the aquarium survived Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed, its life support system did not; most of the animals in its aquatic exhibits were lost. However, the sea otters, penguins, macaws and raptors, leafy and weedy sea dragons, some fishes, and Midas, a 250 lb. green sea turtle all survived thanks to the care of staff who remained at the aquarium through the hurricane, flooding and civil unrest."

I was buoyed to learn that through efforts and donations of legions of people, their restocking efforts are well underway.

This huge tank is where Midas the green sea turtle lives.

He shares the tank with some impressive sharks.

We were super lucky to have arrived when the cownose stingrays were being fed. You may be able to spy the scuba diver feeding small fish and broccoli to all these mouths.

I always have a ridiculously difficult time photographing birds in the wild. I usually end up with photos of where the bird used to be. These parrots, however, were a snap to photograph.

I don’t have very many other photographs because my daughter grew impatient with me, but I couldn’t resist these upside down jellyfish.

And their tactile education display of a snapping turtle shell, an alligator and a beaver fur.

The Audubon Aquarium is definitely worth a visit, especially when the weather is oppressively hot and humid.

A Long Weekend in New Orleans

My daughter and I are off to New Orleans, where the street signs offer a mini history lesson,

and other architectural details are celebrated:

We will return Wednesday night.

Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!

Since today is Mardi Gras, I thought this was a good occasion to dust off a few photos from the New Orleans trip I took with my book club in November 2007.

We started our weekend getting our palms read by Otis. Otis was a very smart man. He knew we were all talented, creative, and loving. I have to admit, though, he was pretty uncanny on some of his readings.

With the help of one of my husband’s many family members in town, we were able to get a great rate for a small block of rooms at the Maison Dupuy.

We ate breakfast here every morning:

Where else but in New Orleans could you buy hot dogs with the choice of eight hot sauces?

With Mardi Gras over three months away, there are still lots of beads:

costumes:

music:

and drink:

Now multiply this by a ten thousand and you will come close to understanding how crazy it must have there been today.