 March 30 - April 3, 2003 New Orleans, LA Sunday, March 30, 2003
Click here to print a schedule. New Orleans Fun Facts - City of Family Entertainment Now that you know New Orleans is a city of history, did you also know that it is a city of family entertainment? From the FIRMA conference you can walk to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. This aquarium, which is ranked in the nation’s top 5, has one of the largest collections of sharks and jellies in the U.S. Next to the aquarium is the Entergy IMAX Theatre which houses a 5-1/2 story IMAX screen where you can view 2D & 3D adventure films. From the Aquarium, board the Riverboat, John James Audubon and cruise up river to the Audubon Zoo, one of the top 5 zoos in the U.S. The naturalistic habitats cover 58 acres, housing animals from all over the world, including rare 10 foot white alligators and a pair of white tigers. For more information visit www.auduboninstitute.org. For education and excitement you can also visit the Louisiana Children’s Museum; experience the wonder of the Louisiana swamp on a swamp or airboat tour; visit our unique above-ground cemeteries (“cities of the dead”) or visit the historic plantation homes of yesterday. If excitement and thrills are what you are looking for, New Orleans is also the home of the 140-acre Jazzland Theme Park, now part of the Six Flags park family. New Orleans Fun Facts - Historic Sites There is also the historic French Quarter with its French and Spanish architecture, engaging music (of course jazz), and world-famous restaurants. You will experience fascinating sights and sounds in this colorful part of the city. And don’t forget New Orleans’ Garden District with its gracious Victorian homes that can be viewed best by various walking tours or by boarding the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar. For more information visit www.tourneworleans.com or www.friendsofthecabildo.org. New Orleans Fun Facts - City of History On July 18, 1803, General Horatio Gates communicated to President Thomas Jefferson “Let the Land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a song”. The “Louisiana Territories” which included thirteen states, plus parts of two others and stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, were sold by Napoleon to the United States for about four cents an acre. From the FIRMA conference you can walk to The Louisiana State Museum, Cabildo, the actual site of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase ceremonies. For more information visit www.louisianapurchase2003.com. Shortly after the Louisiana Purchase, the United States fought its final battle for independence in Louisiana at the Battle of New Orleans. From the conference you can walk to the Mississippi River and board the Paddlewheeler Creole Queen for daily battlefield cruises. For more information visit www.neworleanspaddlewheels.com. However, if more recent history interests you, don’t forget to visit The National D-Day Museum. Explore the world’s largest amphibious assault at this renowned museum in the city where the landing crafts used to invade the beaches of Normandy were built and tested. For more information visit www.ddaymuseum.org. |