New Orleans - Week Two

NEW ORLEANS BOTANICAL GARDEN

This ten-acre botanical garden is located within City Park, north of New Orleans. It is home to the largest collection of mature live oak trees in the world. Hurricane Katrina flooded 95 percent of City Park in 2005.

Fountain with pool filled with different varieties of lily pads in front of the Pavilion of Two Sisters.

There are several themed gardens within the botanical garden.

Within the Botanical Garden is the Historic New Orleans Train Garden with G-Scale trains running during the weekends.

Fifty different species of trees live within City Park.

White Orchids

The Flute Player Sculpture and Fountain

AUDUBON ZOO

From a record low of 15 Whooping Cranes in 1940, the almost extinct bird is making a slow comeback with the help of breeding programs such as this one at the New Orleans Zoo. U.S. Fish and Wildlife estimates that there are approximately 550 Whooping Cranes now in the wild.

The African Painted Dogs were very active.

This giant alligator is approaching the size of the 19-foot record holder.

Cajin Swamps is one of the areas within the zoo.

 This is not an albino alligator, but a leucism alligator. Unlike albino, this alligator's eyes are blue, not pink. A Louisiana fisherman came across a nest of white alligators in 1987. Thinking they were very rare, he scooped them up and donated them to the Audubon Zoo. This was the first discovery of the leucism alligator.

Scarlet Macaw

Straw-Necked Ibis from Australia

Peacock, in full display, wandering freely about the zoo.

We made a short daytrip, northeast into Mississippi to visit...

INFINITY SCIENCE CENTER

This Science Center opened in 2012.

The science center is contained within the 125,000-acre NASA Stennis Rocket Engine Test Site. Previously guests to the science center could visit the NASA rocket test facility but this bus trip is no longer offered.

A temporary exhibit of the Hubble Telescope including scores of pictures taken by Hubble.

Apollo Lunar Landing Module

Stage One of Saturn V. Fifteen were built with thirteen used.

Apollo 4 Command Module. This one was unmanned to test the heat shields.

NEW ORLEANS GARDEN DISTRICT AND FRENCH QUARTER

Parking and driving are a challenge in downtown New Orleans. On the days we visited the French Quarter, World War II Museum and the Garden District we parked at the Visitor Center and used RTA public transportation. The Streetcars are a fun way to get around town without needing to watch traffic and look for parking. Even with the use of RTA we had plenty of opportunity for walking.

The St. Charles Streetcar Line is a historic streetcar line in New Orleans, Louisiana. Running since 1835, it is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. 

The Charles Street Line is a very scenic and relaxing way to tour the New Orleans Garden District. St. Charles is lined with historic mansions and live oak trees hundreds of years old.

We rode the St. Charles Line from the beginning at Canal Street to the end and back about twelve miles in total.

Next we walked Bourbon and Royal Street in the French Quarter.

We had an 80-item lunch buffet at the famous and historic Court of Two Sisters. We chose the lunch buffet, so we could easily try different New Orleans specialties, such as Shrimp Etouffee, Gumbo, Jambalaya and Bananas Foster (invented here) over vanilla ice cream. The BBQ pork ribs, and the hand carved rib roast were also outstanding. What a way to spend our last day in the "Big Easy".