New Orleans Goes Buggy for Bugs

Audubon Institute's Insectarium is a Big Hit

If you live in one of the Gulf Coast states and want to take a "single tank" vacation, then you should head for New Orleans to see the brand new Audubon Institute Insectarium, a museum which displays and celebrates our largest family of animals, the Insects.

It's great fun for young and old, alike, and if you combine it with a nice lunch and a ride on the newly renovated St. Charles Streetcar through a beautiful, historic area, you have a relaxing, informative and enjoyable day trip for the whole family.

Our Adventure Begins

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New Orleans is coming back and there's a new attraction downtown on Canal Street. The Audubon Zoo has finally completed its museum featuring the world's largest family of animals, Insects. The Audubon Insectarium is located in the historic U.S. Custom House on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans.

Both children and adults will be delighted by the many colorful, interesting and informative exhibits. There are many interactive displays and a wonderful 6 minute movie in which the audience feels and smells what's happening on the screen. The kids loved it and so did we (four grown ups who never really grew up).

It's a great summer outing for young and old alike and the Aquarium of the Americas, another great place to visit, is not too far away. Since the museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from Tuesday through Sunday, we bought tickets for 3:00 p.m., which gave us plenty of time for a leisurely lunch and we made an afternoon of it.

First Stop, Lunch

We began our outing with lunch at a famous old restaurant on Napoleon Street, near St. Charles called Pascal Manales. The house specialty, Barbecued Shrimp was delicious, as were the other dishes that we tried.

We left our cars there and walked 2 blocks down to St. Charles Avenue to catch the newly renovated Street Car. You must ride the street car if you come to New Orleans and St. Charles Avenue is one of the oldest and most historic residential sections in the city. It was built by the early French settlers on the highest ground in the area so most of that area and the French Quarter was untouched by the flooding during Hurricane Katrina.

Historic home on St. Charles Ave. & Zion Lutheran Church

Emeril's Delmonico Restaurant & Part of the Museum of Southern Art

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Canal Street

When we reached Canal Street, we disembarked and walked a couple of more blocks to the Audubon Insectarium. The walk along Canal Street brought back memories to the 3 native New Orleaneans. When they were kids, Canal Street was a shopping mecca and they all spent many a Saturday with their Moms (who were dressed to the tee) visiting such stores as D.H. Holmes, Goudchaux and Maison Blanche. It's sad to say that today, most of the stores mentioned are in the "Ain't Dere No More" category.

The first floor (23,000 square feet) of the renovated Carriageway section of the Custom House houses the Audubon Insectarium. The carriageway was originally used by horse-drawn carriages to deliver goods to the building.

The Custom House takes up the whole city block and is one of the oldest federal buildings in the southern United States. The four-story structure is on the National Register of Historic Places and has the highest historic rating a federal building can receive. Many of the original elements, such as vaulted ceilings, staircases and a large skylight date back to from 1848-1881 (construction was suspended during the Civil War), when it was built. The building sits on a foundation of cypress beams. It was modified many times by nine different architects.

The Custom House itself, brought back memories of being inducted into the military for the guys. Through the years, it also welcomed many immigrants into the United States. In the 1800s, some of our Irish forebearers, who were fleeing the "famine" that caused many Irish to be forced off their land, had their first glimpse of the United States within these walls.

Now for the Fun

As you enter the facility the first thing you notice are the giant relief sculptures on the walls. They give you the feeling that you are bug size and that you are in their world. There is so much information as well as both live and preserved specimens, that it's hard to decide where to look first.

Prehistoric insects were the first exhibit and some of the giant bugs like the Giant Roaches, Centipede and Millipede gave you some small clue as to how it was when the earth was young. The Banana Slugs were cool, too, but I wouldn't want them in my garden!

Beneficial Insects, Beetles and Ants

The glass enclosed, underground view of the leaf cutting ant colony was a winner. You could actually see an individual ant's progress through the colony as it carried a piece of red hibiscus flower.

Even the bathrooms had an insect theme. What, you might ask? Dung Beetles, of course. A terrarium with live beetles was encased in a sculpture of a dung ball and stuck on the wall right by the doors. Since the beetle family is one of the largest, there were beetles everywhere and some were quite beautiful.

The biodiversity among the Insect family is the key to the Earth's and the Insects survival. Insects are always working, whether tilling the soil, disposing of carcases or pollinating our fruits and vegetables, without insects, our planet would fall into ruin.

Underground

Al's favorite part was the Underground which really gave you a bug's eye view as you went into a cave like room and wound your way around the tunnels to view various insects and spiders that were magnified to giant proportions (100 times their normal size). It was a lot like a "fun house" with things that may jump out at you at every turn.

City Bugs and Louisiana Swamp Insects

Because I was in search of the Butterflies and Moths, we quickly hurried through the city bugs (been there, done that), even though there was a lot of good information on such lovelies as cockroaches, houseflies and termites.

Before we got to the beautiful butterflies, we went through the Louisiana Swamp, which contained an circular aquarium in the middle and also on one side. There was even a plastic bubble to put your head in, so you could see what it was like to be a diving beetle.

Beautiful Butterflies and Beetles

After a really great 6 minute animated "Awards" movie complete with feel and smell-a-vision, we made our way into the Butterfly area, which displayed colorful butterflies and beetles from all over the world. Jewelry made of amber and real beetles was also on display.

Next on the agenda was going through an air lock into the 80 degree Japanese Garden where live butterflies flitted among beautiful flowers. We were told that the temperature had to be kept above 80 degrees in order for the butterflies to fly. It felt like a summer day in South Louisiana.

Back through another airlock and most of the visitors went on through the really interesting and well-stocked gift shop, but we had to find the Insect cafe.

We Almost Forgot the Tasting Cafe

In our haste, we missed the tasting cafe, where you can taste different dishes made with insects, so we back-tracked to a room behind the Tiny Termite Cafe. We tried delicious cricket fritters with honey, fried mealworms, tasty cricket on a log, cricket dip with chips and a Mexican style cricket soup. Yum!

We had a fine time and saw many very happy and excited children along the way. All in all, I would give the Insectarium a 10. It's a great place for learning and family fun. Well worth the price of the ticket. If you are planning to visit New Orleans, then you must go see the new Audubon Insectarium and the other Audubon Institute facilities, too.

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