An Anniversary Bed and Breakfast

Une belle ingenue

If New Orleans, this most seductive of cities, was a woman, she would not be a femme fatale.  She'd be your best friend; the kind of gal pal who sticks with you through thick and thin, good times and bad, in brightest day and blackest night.  That's what I think, at least.

The other evening, I passed a few of our guests on the sidewalk as they were headed to Liuzza's for dinner, which is not to be confused with the unrelated Liuzza's by the Track where they had lunch.  We chatted a bit under the darkening sky and one of them mentioned that she envied us for living in New Orleans.  I had to admit, blushing as I did so, that I felt a pang of envy for them.

I understand why people say we are lucky to live where we do.  I feel lucky every time we walk out our front door, every time we order po' boys and I groan that there is no way I am going to finish mine, every time we get stuck behind a second line parade, every time somebody starts a rambling conversation on a street corner with us and I have to pinch myself that we're not in New England anymore and that, really, what's the rush?  This palaver is more important than what's hiding in the future.  I feel lucky every time it's after dark and I'm on the downtown side of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, looking uptown.

Esplanade Avenue at night

Every day has been better than the last during the time we have lived in New Orleans.  We know we have found our home in a world that is often cruel and often unkind.  New Orleans can be those things too, and it often is, but New Orleans is unlike anywhere else.  I don't know much about the rest of Louisiana, but whoever you are, whatever you are, and wherever you're from, you are welcome here, and there is no time like that first introduction.  

You never forget your first time in New Orleans.  It gets better and deeper after that, but you never forget that first flush of intoxication.  Some people call that feeling love.  True love gets better with time.  In New Orleans, when the moon hits your eye like a muffaletta, that's l'amore.  You never forget your first time in New Orleans the way you never forget your first girl.

La Belle d'Esplanade

Let's say you are a lady from Rome, GA.  You're special for that reason, of course, but so are 36,303 other people according to the 2010 census.  Let's say you grew up there, have lived there all your life, and have raised a family there, with a gentleman from Thomasville, GA.  You've been married to that gentleman for 15 happy years.  You have a three children and you are grandparents.  

I've heard it said that the climate in Rome keeps people looking young.  If it is true of popes, it is certainly true of Georgians.  I can attest to that because you and your husband checked in at noon yesterday.  "We wanted to do something special for our fifteenth wedding anniversary," your husband told me.  You are a lucky woman and he is a lucky man.  Welcome to New Orleans.

You arrived at noon.  "We're sorry we're early," you told us.  Your husband added, "We were excited to get here, so we left early."  We understand.  We are excited to be here, too, every day.  That's why we wake up early after staying up late.  Happily, we have a shorter trip.  Welcome to New Orleans.

You arrived at noon.  If you had arrived at midnight, the light would have been on in the lobby, waiting for you.  Welcome to La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Esplanade Avenue at night

We will do what we can to help you make pleasant memories, the kind that will last the next fifteen years, and all the many, many happy years after that.

Esplanade Avenue is one of the most beautiful streets in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  If you are going to celebrate life and fall in love again, there are few better places to do it than in New Orleans.  It could happen to you.  It happened to "Sweet" Molly Malone.

A print in La Pelican Suite

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Our first illustration was courtesy of The Bleat.