Closer to the Heart in New Orleans

The usual reaction

The innkeeper and the guest, each one shares his or her part and that's the best start, with heart and with art, crafting good memories together, the kind of good memories that last forever.  It takes two to tango.  We are blessed with guests who arrive set to enjoy New Orleans on its own terms rather than only ticking off the high points they read about in the guide books. 

A week or more is a nice amount of time to spend in New Orleans.  You'll never be bored.

Whatever you have read about New Orleans is true, but there is plenty more left unsaid.  There aren't words enough to pin down what New Orleans really is.  If New Orleans is a butterfly, it is the kind that flutters by.  It is not the kind you find dead and dried in a display case.  

This is a city full of surprises.  New Orleans enchants.  New Orleans is magic.  We love New Orleans.  Most people who stay with us love New Orleans, too.  You will.  You won't be able to stop it or help it.  It is what it is, as inevitable as the river that runs through the city's heart.  It's a wonderful rush.

It's about time to offer a tip of my blue fedora to Rich Tuttle.  Who?  You don't need to know who he is.  Your humble narrator knows who he is and he knows who he is.  His wife and children know who he is better than I do.  I haven't seen Rich Tuttle in person for about 30 years, which is a shame in some ways, but in other ways, the best kind of ways, it's all worked out for the best for all concerned.  It is nice to know that somewhere in the world, you have a friend.  Sometimes, most times, it's nice to have your own blog and it's just nice to offer a random shout-out on a heartfelt whim.  Life is rich.

You have a friend in New Orleans.  Our musical interlude:




Tuttle, like Dibble, is a good Yankee name.  Don't snicker.

In New Orleans, good Creole names are Uglisch, Waugespack, Soniat, Marigny, Marengo, Arnaud, Boudreaux and Thibedeaux, Morial, Ternaud, Haley, Driscoll, Terranova, Liuzza, and Mandina, etcetera, etcetera, etc....



You never know what kind of pageantry you're going to encounter in New Orleans.  You never know what you are going to see when you turn a street corner.  We inhabit a magical city.  It's an urban cornucopia overstuffed like a po' boy with overripe fruit and underripe vegetables.  Leave a green banana on the sidewalk and it will blush golden with joy.  The very air is a perfume, if I can quote Walt Whitman, who was talking about Brooklyn when he wrote that. 

New Orleans.  New Orleans.  New Orleans.  New Orleans.  No matter how many times you say the city's name you'll never get it right, but everyone will know exactly where you mean.  There is no place else quite like it.  There is no place else like New Orleans.

When you live in New Orleans, you live close to the heart.  You live close to the bone.  You know what marrow tastes like because this is a snout-to-tail kind of a place.  You live close to other people, cheek-by-jowl.  Good neighbors make a city strong and vibrant.  When you visit New Orleans, you become a part of it.  You become a part of us.  Welcome to New Orleans.  New Orleans loves you.

New Orleans Botanical Gardens

It's a wild ride in New Orleans.  It's a good ride.  You'll see.  You'll love it.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade