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Baton Rouge Travel Guide, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana and, in 2000, it had 227,818 residents living in the city. The city is located to the southeast of the Mississippi River and owes its historical significance and location to the site of Istrouma Bluff, which protects Baton Rouge's residents from floods and other disasters that come naturally. This city is a key petrochemical port and industrial center for the Southern section of North America. The Baton Rouge Port is the ninth biggest in the country in terms of weight.

The culture of Baton Rouge is a mix of Creole and Cajun Catholics, as well as Baptists from South Mississippi and the Parishes of Florida. You can find the Cajun culture expressed through dance, joie de vivre, and food. The city also has two radio programs that are Cajun, and Zydeco and Cajun dances are held across the city. The Cajun French Music Association and Baton Rouge Blues Society are the city's two key cultural organizations.

Baton Rouge's choice of theater and arts has an expanding scene that is centered in the downtown area. The increasing venues collection is centered around the Shaw Center for the Arts. This center opened during 2005, becoming an award winning building that is the home of the LSU Museum of Art, Brunner Gallery, a gallery of contemporary art, several eateries, the Manship Theatre, and traveling exhibits.

The Louisiana Art and Science Museum is another one of the major buildings in the area, which is commonly known in Baton Rouge as LASM, and contains space displays, the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium, a section on Egypt, and traveling art exhibits. There are several other galleries that are smaller and offer a range of art across the entire city.

Sport is absolutely huge in Baton Rouge, particularly college sports. The Jaguars of Southern University and the Tigers of LSU are the two main teams that provide the most entertainment to the city during every football season. The dominance of the teams in the sports scene for Baton Rouge is emphasized by several restaurants and shops throughout the town that display and sell memorabilia. Gymnastics, basketball, and baseball, all on the college level, are popular in this city as well.

Traveling throughout the city to get to any of these places is easy if you are visiting and don't have a car to drive. Baton Rouge offers bus transportation available to everyone that operates 17 routes to different sections of the city, and they also have a trolley that operates especially for those who are traveling around the downtown area. Plus, the trolley is free.

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