Reserving a Bed and Breakfast Suite in New Orleans

It's the orange house in the middle

The past few weeks have been busy at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, the orange house with blue shutters in the middle of Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, LA.  Today is Lundi Gras.  Tomorrow is Mardi Gras.  Last week was the Super Bowl.  Valentine's Day weekend is fast approaching.  There is no city on earth as romantic as New Orleans, and we include Paris and Adelaide when we make that statement.  Love is in the air in New Orleans.

If you remember the Mardi Gras Indian suit we used to have in the lobby, we still have it.  It isn't in the lobby anymore, but it is still around.  We put it in the back garden yesterday to admire the workmanship and take some pictures.

A spy boy suit and banana trees

I am scheduled to take some pictures of this year's version.  The spy boy has spent all year sewing a new suit with an elephant theme.  He'll be walking from St. Roch Avenue to a semi-secret location on N. Rampart Street in the Marigny at the crack of dawn tomorrow.  We'll see what happens between then and now.  Guaranteed it will be good.

There will be skull and bones gangs and skins and bones gangs out tomorrow morning.

Willie Mae's Scotch House on North Tonti Street has been busy.

America's best fried chicken

The Food Network says that Willie Mae's makes the best fried chicken in America.  Everyone who has tried it tells us that the Food Network is right.  It is about a five minute picturesque walk from our address on Esplanade Avenue.  Every restaurant has been busy these past few weeks.  New Orleans is full of celebration, and you will never have a bad meal in this city.  Ask anyone who has eaten here.

Some people use Expedia to make reservations at bed and breakfast inns in New Orleans.  We had one couple stay with us last night for only one night.  Today they left to spend a night in a big hotel on Canal Street instead of enjoying another day and night in a boutique inn on Esplanade Avenue.  I asked the woman who made the reservation why.

"Expedia said our suite was booked today," she told me, "So, Expedia recommended another room in a bigger hotel in another part of the city for tonight.  We have to take a cab over there this morning.  I would have paid a thousand dollars to spend another night to stay here."  I wish she had emailed me beforehand.  We could have arranged it at a substantial discount from she was willing to pay.

Don't trust everything Expedia tells you about La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  I have checked our availability through Expedia and the software often tells me there are no rooms available, even when I, the innkeeper in question, know that the opposite is true.  If you want to stay at La Belle Esplanade, let us know directly.  We can probably work something out.  If we can't there are about 150 licensed B&B's in New Orleans.  All of them are good.  The Professional Innkeepers Association of New Orleans maintains a website of reputable, legally licensed inns.  Don't take chances.  In hypertext markup language, you can find them at: http://www.bbnola.com.  You don't have to sleep in a beige, impersonal, cramped, international chain hotel bed when you visit New Orleans.  It is a big city with a kaleidoscope of options and opportunities.

The best way to check availability and make a reservation at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast is through the online calendar on our website (the "Availability" page has a link).  In case you don't realize I've just included a link to our website, it's this: http://whaleheadking.com.   

The proprietors know it is counterintuitive to look for La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast on a website named after Whalehead King (whaleheadking.com).  He's the chap who owns the domain name and he generously gave it to us along with the original oil paintings and stories that are scattered throughout our suites, lobby, dining room, and in the hallways.  Good friendships result in, well...good friendships.  That's how New Orleans works.

Back to business, it rained in New Orleans this morning.  An Australian barrister and an Australian solicitor checked out this morning, en route to Cajun Country, after a few days and nights at our inn.  They are the most pleasant people you will ever meet, as most of our guests are.  

If you ever find yourself five hours' drive from Sydney, in New South Wales, somewhere between East Bulga, North Bulga, West Bulga, South Bulga, or just plain old Bulga, which is in the middle of it all, you can see it all, including the longest single drop waterfall in Australia.  And you can enjoy dining on the leanest most beautiful Limousin beef that can be found anywhere on this green, revolving earth.  

There is a little house available for rent in New South Wales.  In case you didn't see the link embedded in the last sentence, this is it: http://cudgerie.com.au.  A cudgerie is a tree native to the remote mountains of New South Wales.  Frau Schmitt, who is usually right about these things, and I can tell you, the Little House's hosts are excellent company.

Both the Aussies reported to us over a breakfast of muffaletta sliders, poor boy bread with farmer jams made in St. Bernard Parish, and Miss Loretta's praline-filled king cake, that there is no other place like New Orleans.  "People are so nice here," the barrister said.

The solicitor agreed.  "Every street is full of surprises," she said.  "We've had a wonderful time here," she added, honestly.

Last night, they had a simple dinner of sandwiches at the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse.  It wasn't what they planned when they walked out our front door and headed lakeside on Esplanade Avenue.  They were headed toward Cafe Degas, but musicians were playing on the back porch a block from the Fair Grounds and the Aussies heard the mellow jazz wafting over the warm mid-February breeze.  They were sucked in, as were other people strolling the neighborhood.  Good food.  Good drink.  Good music.  Good city.  "Last night was our favorite night," they both said together.  

"The music in New Orleans is beautifully generous, like everyone we've talked to since we arrived," the barrister said.

"It replaced the night before that as our favorite, and the night before that one, and even the first night, and even the tantalizing anticipation on the plane flight," the well-travelled barrister and the gracious solicitor said.  "New Orleans is better than everything I've read about it," she added, honestly.

"What's your secret to serving such wonderful breakfasts?" they asked.  Frau Schmitt let them in on our secret.  That's how it works in New Orleans, no matter what you plan to do.  

They made their reservation directly through whaleheadking.com, not Expedia or any other third-party agent.  In New Orleans, face-to-face is the best way to learn about what is going on.  It is what we do here. 

Before it started raining this morning, this is what the sky looked like on Henriette Delille Street:

New Orleans is beautiful

After the sun rose over the Mississippi River, it started raining.  The solicitor looked out the window. "It's pouring buckets," she observed.  Everyone in New Orleans was as happy as if the sun was shining.  There are no bad days in New Orleans.

"I'd like to stay another day," the barrister said.  Everybody says that in New Orleans, even the people who live here.

A votre sante.