What It's Like to Live In New Orleans

Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans

The streetscape in New Orleans is a delight to the eye, as yesterday's New York Times' Frugal Traveler article  pointed out.  Check the last photo on the link and you will know what we mean.    The photo was featured front and center of the page in the hard copy of the paper.

Recently, someone told us while taking a tour of our inn, "Pictures don't do it justice."  The camera doesn't lie, of course, but it will never replace living in the round.  New Orleans is like that.

'tit Rex float

There were eight krewes parading this weekend.  We saw four of them, each one unique, with their own flavor and theme, each one a celebration of what it is like to be alive and well in New Orleans.    'tit Rex (properly spelled with the 'e' reversed) parades with handmade miniature floats.

There is no place else on earth like this city.  That's a good thing, we suppose, otherwise, how would anything get done everywhere else?  Thank goodness there are places other than New Orleans where people toil away 9-5.  Thank goodness there is New Orleans, where people can get away from the rat race and the grind.

I was talking to another Connecticut transplant.  He said, "I've lived here for 20 years.  Now, I'm spoiled from living anywhere else."  That isn't a bad thing when you think about it.  We count ourselves as comrades in luck.

New Orleans doesn't wear you down.  It lifts you up.  Anyone who is unhappy in New Orleans doesn't know how to live.  

Life in New Orleans

Someone called to make a reservation for this weekend and asked if there was anything going on in New Orleans.  "Of course," I answered.  "It's Mardi Gras."

The voice on the phone said, "I thought Mardi Gras is on February 12, this year."  The voice came from a suburb of Fort Wayne, Indiana.  The speaker was in Aboite, to be exact. 

If you don't live in New Orleans, you can't be expected to know that Mardi Gras is not a single day.  It is a season that starts on Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, a day dedicated to the memory of St. Joan of Arc.  In this most catholic of cities (in every sense of the adjective), Mardi Gras is as much a state of mind as it is a square on the calendar.

A color front door on Esplanade Avenue

Whenever you stay in New Orleans, something is going on.  Wherever you stay, it will be vibrant, but especially so if you stay at a bed and breakfast on Esplanade Avenue where every room is a different color.  There is a New Orleans you can read about in guide books and find described in hand-out toss-away tourism brochures, and then there is the rest of the city.  We visit the French Quarter, the Riverfront, and the Garden District on a regular basis, but we spend the bulk of our days and nights in the rest of the city.  We are never bored.

You can visit the Quarter and listen to late night jazz on Frenchman Street, and you should.  That said, there is a whole ripe city thriving between the Holy Cross and the Hollygrove neighborhoods, from the Riverbend to Village de L'Est.  La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast is right in the middle of it all.  It is close to the action, but far enough away to get a good night's rest to be up for the next day's or night's adventure.

A colorful address on Esplanade Avenue

As a recent guest noted, you won't get personalized advice or directions over breakfast in a chain motel that is painted in shades of beige.  

What have we been up to since our last post?  More than we can write about here.  Besides being part of the crowd around four parades, we have visited the middle of nowhere to eat at the best catfish restaurant in Louisiana.  We have found the best pizza in New Orleans.  We have strolled up and down Esplanade Avenue and along all the cross streets in either direction, both uptown and downtown.  

One question we are always asked is: "What's it like to live in New Orleans?"  It is like reading this blog.  You never know where it will go, but you always appreciate being here.  What's it like to live in New Orleans?  You never know what will be around the corner.  You always appreciate being here, whether for a lifetime, a week, or even a weekend.

A votre sante.