Abbott & Costello in New Orleans

A sunny day in New Orleans

The best part about running a bed and breakfast in New Orleans is the chance to sit with people at breakfast.  We have lived in our adopted city for three and a half years, but we aren't jaded.  1.) It is pretty impossible to become jaded when every corner is an invitation to witness fresh surprises, and 2.) we get to hear about the adventures of people who are new to the city, what they like, what they don't like, and what unsettles them.  Every morning, we get to vicariously see the city with fresh eyes.

Visitors to New Orleans like a lot of what they encounter.  It is a friendly city.  They don't dislike much, and we can't blame them.  We love living here.  It isn't the cleanest place on earth and the recent weather leaves something to be desired, but that what it's like at the end of November.  Sometimes, it's a cold rain on a cold night, though not as cold as it is in Milwaukee, from what we've been told.  

A lot of things unsettle a traveler.  The water is safe to drink.  It isn't that.  It's the fact that everyone is so danged nice.  This is a very friendly city. Everyone is happy that you've chosen to visit.  Everyone thanks you.

A table set for breakfast in our dining room

Frau Schmitt and I have different roles in the dining room.  We make a good team.  She takes care of the food.  I take care of explaining the city.  We both make recommendations.  As a gourmand, she usually handles the restaurant side of things.  Out of the 600 restaurants in town, she can keep them all straight.  As a licensed tour guide, I tend to handle the historic anecdote side.  The odd and unexpected details fascinate me.  Sometimes, we swap jobs in order to surprise each other.

I don't like to talk about the French Quarter.  It may seem counterintuitive for an innkeeper in a city where the French Quarter is the main attraction, but I figure everyone has already read about it, seen it on TV, and has an idea of what to expect.  I'm happy to discuss it, but New Orleans is a big city.  There are plenty of other things to talk about, and I don't mean just the Garden District or Frenchman Street, either.

In the 1953 film, "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars," the comedic duo never actually reach Mars.  Their rocket lands in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.  There are laughs a'plenty as Bud and Lou encounter alien life forms, but the joke is on them: they are still in America, albeit in a place like no other in the solar system.

Men may be from Mars and women from Venus, but colorful characters of both genders live, laugh, and love in New Orleans, Louisiana.  You can get here by plane, by train, or by automobile.  You'll be happy you got here.  You'll be happier still if you stay on Esplanade Avenue, one of the most beautiful streets in this beautiful city.

In one scene, Abbott, who is the short pudgy guy, runs into a lady he mistakes for the Queen of Venus at a banquet.  He toasts her by saying, "Here's mud in your eye."  She toasts him, saying, "To your health."

That's something a lot of people say around here.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.