Gayarre Park, New Orleans

A perfect New Orleans balcony

Some afternoons, when nobody else is around, I go up to the Les Saintes Suite to sit on the the balcony and write this blog.  

When La Belle Esplanade was a rooming house, Apartment 6F was the most popular of all the suites.  Part of that is due to the privacy of the balcony that faces Esplanade Avenue.  When you sit up their, the street scape is yours to survey and no one is the wiser, unless you make yourself heard.  

A young couple were strolling lakeside in today's 75 degree air.  The sun was shining.  It was January weather in New Orleans.  They stopped in front of our neighbor's blue house.

Middle of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue

If you haven't met our neighbor on the riverside of 2216 Esplanade Avenue, let me tell you that he is the nicest person you will ever meet.  

Anyhow, the young couple had stopped to read the sign our neighbor has hung on his fence.

Historical marker, New Orleans

I heard the man ask the woman, "Who is Clio?"  I overheard the lady say, "Beats me."  Luckily, I was within earshot. 

"Hey!  Up here!" I called out. Then I pointed across the street to Gayarre Park.  "That's Clio!"

The Clio statue on Esplanade Avenue

The last surviving remnant of the 1884 World's Fair held in New Orleans, the statue in Gayarre Park bears the official title, "Clio: Goddess of History, Genius of Peace."  It is nice to have her around.

"Thanks for the info, mister," they both shouted up to me.  The lady looked at our mailbox.  "Is this really a bed and breakfast?" she asked.

I answered that it is a historic and romantic New Orleans bed and breakfast inn.  I dropped a business card in their direction and it fluttered on the breeze until the gentleman caught it.

"We're coming here for our anniversary," I heard him whisper to her.

"A votre sante," I said as they continued up Esplanade Avenue.