Superbe endroit, propriétaires charmants

Great place, lovely owners

I never get tired of this picture.  That's really what our house looks like in the afternoon with the New Orleans sun just cresting over the roofline.  It's dazzling.

Regular readers know that The Most Colorful Bed and Breakfast in New Orleans (TM) is a boutique operation operated by your humble narrator and his lovely wife, Frau Schmitt.  

I am from Connecticut, a place often misremembered as a city in Ohio by people I meet.  I've gotten used to it over the years.  It is a cross borne by everyone who hails from the Nutmeg State.  "You're from Cincinnati, aren't you?"  No.  "Cleveland?"  No, but a large swath of northern Ohio used to be part of Connecticut.  We called it our Western Reserve in the old days.  That's today's history lesson.  

Part of Connecticut

With one of us being from Connecticut, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, good solid Yankee English is spoken here.  Frau Schmitt is from Hamburg, in Germany.  I know a smattering of German words, but Frau Schmitt speaks the Lingua Germania fluently, as is her birthright.  

I took four years of high school French, and I understand it as well as Google translate allows.  Frau Schmitt is taking French classes at the Alliance Française, which is uptown.  She's been taking classes for about a month, three times a week and she already speaks French better than I do.  

We had two German guests, a Frenchman businessman, a young lady from Connecticut, a West Virginian, and a couple from Brooklyn staying with us this weekend.  It was like the United Nations around the breakfast table, full of free ranging and spirited discussions.  It was nothing like the continental breakfast of english muffins and powdered eggs that you get at your standard chain hotel with everyone staring at CNN and flipping glassy-eyed through USA Today.

Like at Motel 6, we leave the light on

I was reading some reviews on TripAdvisor this afternoon and I came across one from our friend Eric D., who is also from France:

"Bien que situé en dehors des circuits touristique, ce B&B est charmant, un aménagement rococo donne un esprit de gaité. La chambre que nous avions était grande, composée de deux pièces, une plutôt salon, l'autre, la chambre, avec un balcon, une belle salle de bains aux équipements "vintage". Les propriétaires présents lors des déjeunés font la conversation. A recommander, même si le quartier n'est pas très beau, sombre, je pense qu'il n'y a pas grand chose à craindre de plus qu'ailleurs dans la Nouvelle-Orleans (quartiers accessibles aux touristes)."

Thanks, Eric.  We couldn't have said it better ourselves.  The next time you visit our fair city, remember, you have two friends in La Nouvelle Orleans.  That's New Orleans for you.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.