The Boston Aquarim is amazing -- you walk up to it and the first thing you notice it is half on land, half in water. Then, when you walk in the front door, there is this huge spiral in the middle is the aquarim with every type of fish or shark. The spiral walk way goes all the way around, up and down. At the bottom and some side areas, there are other animals, including a place to hold starfish and see horseshoe crabs. They also have a awsome dolphin show!

If I were an architect, my dream project would be an aquarium. City aquariums can be wondrous places. Case in point: the gee-whiz structure designed by Peter Chermayeff housing the New England Aquarium. In fact, Chermayeff’s innovative maiden effort (he was but 26 at the time) made such a splash that he went on to become the world’s premier aquarium architect, revolutionizing aquarium design.

The New England Aquarium is a stunner, all giddy angles, soaring open spaces, arching bridges, and a huge central fish tank, dramatically lit and viewed from surrounding spiraling ramps. It’s clear that Chermayeff understood what most attracts visitors to aquariums: the feeling of being undersea, right among the swimming sharks, shoals of silvery herring, and pulsating sea anemones. The aquarium is yet another of Boston’s seminal Big Ideas.

Any good aquarium has a dual purpose: to delight and to educate. The exhibit that dominates the ground level of the New England Aquarium, featuring three types of penguins from South Africa, South America, and Australia, does just that. Penguins are everywhere – loudly calling out to one another (who knew penguins were so vocal?), hopping about on the rocks, and diving awkwardly into the water, unexpectedly transformed underwater into sleek black torpedoes. Fascinated, we stood by the rail watching an aquarium caretaker hand-feed a group of golden-crested Rockhopper penguins. They were surprisingly picky eaters.

Proceeding through the aquarium, we viewed tanks representing different aquatic environments – everything from the frigid Puget Sound to the languid warmth of the Amazon River Basin. No doubt setting up such a diversity of marine environments posed hefty technical challenges. One of my favorite displays recreates the effects of crashing waves on a Pacific tidal pool. In time to a mesmerizing ocean-like rhythm, the tentacles of colorful anemones swirled wildly, tossed by artificial waves. Nearby, visitors entered a darkened corridor, stood for a moment adjusting to the darkness, then gasped in surprise at the intermittent flicker of bioluminescent deep-reef fish.

The heart of this aquarium, though, is one of the world’s largest round saltwater tanks, representing a Caribbean coral reef. Visitors walk around outside the four-story artificial reef, viewing its shelves and crevices. Well over a hundred species are present, though the stars of the show are the huge sea turtles and a ferocious-looking (but generally harmless) nurse shark. Luck was with us: it was feeding time. We watched in awe as a massive green moray eel snaked over a diver’s shoulder to gently take food from her hand. Vying for her attention, a balloonfish clownishly begged for (and received) a handout.

The aquarium is open Mon-Tues-Fri 9-6, Wed-Thurs. 9-8, and 9-7 weekends and holidays. In addition to the exhibits, there are whale watching tours, an Imax theatre, a wildlife rehabilitation center, a floating pavilion featuring sea-lion presentations, and an Exploration Center with numerous educational activities. A café with harbor views and a lively gift shop round off the New England Aquarium experience.

It was cold and snowing outside, so my husband and I decided to take a trip to the aquarium. This attraction is best suited for a family traveling with kids, but we both like marine life and wanted to check the place out. There is a large IMAX theater available, which we skipped, but we enjoyed walking through the main building looking at some of the 2,100 species of water creatures who call the aquarium home. If you have ever been to the aquarium in Chattanooga, TN, the lay-out here is similar. You enter the bottom floor and walk around and around an aquarium making your way to the top. The penguins on the bottom floor of the exhibit are fascinating to watch. They move as gracefully as birds in the sky under the water--torpedos of power gliding great distances. African, rockhopper and little blue penguins sit on rocks, braying like so many donkeys, filling the aquarium with sound. We also saw giant turtles and sharks in the ocean tank filled with 200,000 gallons of Boston Harbor salt water. Sea lions and otters could be found in a separate area outside.

To be honest, while the aquarium is a nice diversion, it is not nearly as large as some of the other aquariums I have been to around the country. This surprised me. It seemed as if we zoomed through the whole place in no time. Still, if you have kids in tow, it might be worth a look.

It's about three floors with different types of fish and aquatic life. There are open tanks and other types of tanks in which to view all these different types of fish. They are very interesting as each one seems to have different characteristics. It's more than enough to entertain one and all for a few hours. By that time you can pretty much be done with all the sites.

There are basically two types of aquariums--boring and cool. The New England Aquarium, in my book, is cool. Maybe it's just 'cuz I've always liked marine biology (hey, who here can honestly say they never went through the 'I wanna be a marine biologist when I grow up' phase? nevermind...), but this aquarium has great exhibits. The penguin habitat when you first enter the main building is fantastic; they swim around in the pool under your feet and sunbathe (if there is such a thing indoors) on the rocks. Several times a day, divers will feed them; this is pretty fun to watch if you catch it. The large central tank is wonderful--start from the top and spiral down the ramp to catch different fish that live at different reef levels. Try and find the giant turtle if you can. Sorry, no diving! The aquarium also offers whale watching tours in the waters off the Mass. coast, though I didn't partake.