New Orleans Corsican Connection

A Moor's head

I've always said that the prettiest women in the world come from Hamburg.  I have heard other people say, however, that the prettiest women in the world come from Corsica.  Frau Schmitt and I met a gentleman from San Francisco this weekend who would definitely agree with those other people.  

Remember the other day when our neighbor gave us two flags?  I hung the flags at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  Our first guests were scheduled to arrive at 4:00.  Our guests arrived via taxi.  A casually stylish couple stepped out with their luggage.  The lady looked up.  "Did you know I was coming?" she asked.

We replied that they did have a reservation, and that was why we were waiting on the front porch for their arrival.  "That's not what I mean," she said with a lilting French accent.  "Did you put up my country's flag because you knew I was coming?"  Her companion, the gentleman mentioned in the first paragraph, told us, "She's Corsican.  We never expected to see a Corsican flag in America."

I called over our neighbor to explain his flag choices.  Every day in New Orleans is full of serendipitous surprises.  Napoleon, the Emperor of France, was a Corsican.

That couple checked out yesterday morning.  It was a pleasure to be their hosts during their short stay in New Orleans.  Good guests make good company.

Yesterday afternoon someone new, from Ohio, checked in.  She's attending that big health information convention in New Orleans this week.  "Why do you have a Corsican flag?" she asked.  Two people in one week, and Frau Schmitt predicted no one would recognize these flags.  She is usually right about these things.  

"I've been to Corsica," our newest guest said.  "You know, they say that the most beautiful women in the world come from Corsica.  From what I saw there, I tend to agree," she added.  I said that I have heard that more than once, but I have to respectfully disagree.

In other news, when we are sitting on the front porch waiting for guests to arrive, we'll have company from now on.  The day has finally arrived for our final SIGN UPDATE:

Who is la belle d'Esplanade?

We got a call from Mystic Blue Signs yesterday that our handmade sign was ready.  I put it on the front porch this morning.  Sorry about the glare on the lettering.  The colors are so true that I couldn't bring myself to do any adjusting of the pixels.  Our house really is that orange.

In fact, as I was taking the pictures this morning, a man walked by.  "Whatever you're doing, I hope you aren't thinking about changing the colors of this house," he said.  "I walk this street every day under doctor's orders for my ticker." He patted his chest.  "This is my favorite block of Esplanade Avenue.  Every time I see your house it does my heart good."  He patted his chest again, smiling as he looked at La Belle Esplanade.

Again, unretouched

I invited him to take a closer look at our new sign.  "La Belle Esplanade," he read.  He pointed. "That's her," he said.  "This is her home.  There's no doubt about it."

I assured him that we are not considering changing the color scheme.  Though our historic New Orleans bed and breakfast inn is a work in progress, as long as we are caretakers of this beautiful property, it will be the orange house with blue shutters that the tour buses stop in front of.  

We opened our inn in September 2012.  It is only March 2013.  Our first guests would recognize the inn today, but they would also be delighted by all the new surprising additions we've made to the decor inside.  Just like the difference between our old sign:

The chalkboard look

...and our new sign:

New and old, side by side

We are always adding new things: new curios, new pictures, new sculptures, new items to the breakfast menu, and new suggestions of where to eat and what to see that you can't find in a tourism brochure, and new stories. 

All those new things are subjects for other days.  In other news, it was 2:00AM last night.  Bud's Broiler was open, as it is 24 hours every day.  We had two Number Nines with onions.

Bud's Broiler, City Park Avenue

A votre sante.