A Night With Venus is a Lifetime with Mercury...

Congo Square. The place where slaves and free blacks gathered throughout the 19th century for meetings, open markets, and the African dance and drumming celebrations. These gatherings played a significant role in the formation of jazz. Voodoo practitioners to this day use Confo square as a spiritual base to practice rituals.

The second line.

Armstrong Park.

Preservation hall. Where the infamous Lucian Barbian and Harry Connick Jr performed live jazz music. The hall was established in 1961 to preserve and protect the historical style of music.

Found this little guy at the visitors center. Perfectly placed on the curb. Although not alive,  it's placement speaks of the perfection and integration of life and death. 

These mallards are enjoying there time in the pond of Armstrong Park.

After we went through the music and Treme tour we were blessed with the opportunity to tour a 19th century pharmacy. 

Soda was a common mixer for drugs like cocaine, pepsin and heroine. The soda machine created a social environment for people to gather.

Mercury was one of the cure-all drugs. Notice the title of the excerpt..."a night with Venus, is a lifetime with Mercury." A common saying that describes the way people thought of the chemical. Take Mercury and your health status will greatly increase.

These colorful globes indicated status for pharmacies. Illiteracy was a commonality during the 19th century. People could determine the experience of the pharmacist by the number of different colors within the globes. Sort of a marketing tool to bring people in.

Later in the evening, we were able to attend the St. Louis Cathedral Christmas program. The beautiful detailed chandelier hung from the beautifully decorated motif displayed on the ceilings and within the architecture of the structure.