What To Do During a Week in New Orleans.

Six plus six equals twelve and there are twelve months in a year.  You should spend part of one of those twelve months in New Orleans.  You should spend a week.  A week is the perfect amount of time to spend in New Orleans.  A week in New Orleans will evaporate your cares and get your head screwed on straight.

Greetings from New Orleans.

A Week in New Orleans heals all wounds.

Even if you're not hurting, a week in New Orleans will make you feel better.  No one ever says their visit to New Orleans is too long. The longer you stay, the more you'll realize how much more there is to discover in this wonderful city we call home.  There are angels in the details.

Where Bayou Road crosses Bell Street, New Orleans, LA.

I live here.  What would I do with a week in New Orleans?  Here is what I did on Monday:

This past Monday, I had lunch at Café Minh after I went to the Mid-City Branch of the New Orleans Public Library across the street.  

Before I went to the Library, I went to Meyer the Hatter to see what new straw hats had arrived from Dobbs in the most recent shipment.

After lunch, I went to see the new exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art at the end of Esplanade Avenue, about a mile's picturesque stroll from La Belle Esplanade.  I lingered in the permanent collection's gallery dedicated to Romanticism and Symbolism.  

Then, Frau Schmitt and I went to the movies.  We saw Downton Abbey.  Frau Schmitt, who is the better half of this operation knows all about Downton Abbey.  I didn't know anything about it when I was buying the popcorn.  I really enjoyed the film.  I am now a confirmed Downton Abbey fan.  The movie was playing at The Broad Theater, around the corner from our inn.  How many places do you know that can say, "We have a new movie theater in our neighborhood."  New Orleans is like that.

One day in New Orleans contains the stuff from which lifetime good memories are made.  Imagine a week in this magical city.  Better yet, don't imagine it, visit New Orleans for a week.  You won't regret it.  If you are bored in New Orleans, you should see a doctor.

This house is known as The House on Bayou Road.

A word from our sponsor:  If you are going to spend a week in New Orleans, we can think of no better place to stay than La Belle Esplanade.  Ranked the #1 small hotel in New Orleans since April 2014, and #2 in the United States----AND, #16 in the world.    Check out our website and make a reservation.  La Belle only has five suites so plan ahead and choose wisely.  

Hello New Orleans

I haven't been to Heaven but I suspect that living in New Orleans is a little, teensy-weensy, tiny, picayune bit like being in Heaven.  People who live in New Orleans love it here.  There is nowhere else like it.  Hello, New Orleans, you are the city I've been waiting for.

This is what houses look like in New Orleans.

New Orleans is its own world.  Hello, New Orleans!  New Orleans is calling you.

Spend a day in New Orleans and you'll be disoriented.  Spend a week in New Orleans and you'll be changed for life in the best ways.  Hello, New Orleans!  If you want to be the best that you can be, New Orleans is here to help you.  Let the New Orleans state of mind be your guide.

A dignified lion statue in City Park, New Orleans.

There is nothing wrong with being lonely.  We are all our own islands.  

No one need be alone in New Orleans.  This is a city that welcomes the stranger, accepts the eccentric, celebrates the individual, and invites everyone into the conversation.  To be in love with New Orleans is to know that you belong.  It doesn't matter what kind of a nut you are.  Welcome to the club.  Hello, New Orleans!

If you want to get your taste of the real New Orleans and the authentic New Orleans state of mind, he-e-e-e-ere's-s-s-s...

A word from our sponsor: 

La Belle Esplanade is a small artisanal hotel located on a beautiful historic street in New Orleans, close to the tourist must-sees, but also in it's own unique neighborhood, where New Orleanians live.  Visit New Orleans like you belong here.  

Good memories are made in New Orleans.  The best, most personalized real memories are made at La Belle Esplanade.  You have two friends, at least, on Esplanade Avenue.  Visit New Orleans like a New Orleanian.

Ranked the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014.

  

The Best Things In New Orleans Are Free.

The best things in New Orleans are free.  New Orleans is the greatest free show on earth, and not just during Mardi Gras season.  Every New Orleans day is a parade of sweet humanity in all its shapes and guises.  Get your good self down to New Orleans and you'll know what it means to fall in love with New Orleans.  Everything rhymes in Orleans parish.

Your humble narrator is a dreamy-eyed poet but he doesn't know it.

The best things in life are free.  The best things in New Orleans are free.  Life is what you make it.  Love cannot be bartered or sold in  installments.  Real love, true love, passion, is either all out or it is all in.  You can lust for New Orleans but it takes commitment and deep familiarity to truly fall deeply in love with this wonderful city we call home.  

In a New Orleans state of mind you'll still have to pay for a bed and roof over your head.  You'll still have to pay for meals.  Those are good things, true, but the best things in New Orleans are free.  The whole city of New Orleans is a factory of craftspeople who spend all their days and nights making the stuff of good memories.  The cure to a hard heart is to dream a New Orleans dream.

The sitting room in the Clio Suite at La Belle Esplanade.

The best things in New Orleans are free.  Who can put a price on a week that will make you smile for the rest of your life?  The first visit is only an appetizer.  The more time you spend in New Orleans, the more you'll find yourself wanting more.  New Orleans is that kind of a city.  You should see for yourself.  The best things in New Orleans are free-----the best things in New Orleans are everywhere here.  When you have open eyes and an open heart, New Orleans will treat you right.

Now a word from our sponsor:  

In a city full of pleasant surprises, you can't get caught up in FOMO.  Follow your instinct.  Use your better intuition when you are in New Orleans.  Stay at La Belle Esplanade a small artisanal hotel on one of the most beautiful streets in the city.  Centrally located to tourist destinations but in the real city, the most beautiful part.  Visit New Orleans like you live here.  It'll be better than getting pass-out drunk on Bourbon Street.

When New Orleans calls, you have to answer.

La Belle Esplanade only has five luxury suites so we tend to fill up early.  Book today and make sure you can explore this wonderful city we call home like you belong here.  You do belong here.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade

New Orleans Man of the Year.

I took a picture of some joker taking a picture of himself in a Time Magazine Man of the Year mirror.  This was in a men's room in some forgettable 24-hour bar.  He had his pants above his waist, buttoned, zippered, and belted when I took this photo.  I know what kinds of ideas people have of New Orleans.  New Orleans is a city that attracts sinners but it also a city that saints call home.  I am not saying I'm a saint.

Time Magazine's New Orleans Man of the Year.

There are no strangers in New Orleans.  There are only friends you haven't yet met.  Say hello.  You have a friend in New Orleans.  You belong here.  Good memories are made in New Orleans.  The best memories are made on Esplanade Avenue.

New Orleans inspires peace of heart.

No one has taken a census to compare the ratios of saints to sinners by neighborhoods in New Orleans.  Anecdotal evidence leads to the conclusion that they are all pretty much the same as much as they are very, very different.  A New Orleanian is only human, still.  New Orleans is the City Care Forgot.  Elysian Fields Avenue is in New Orleans.

Pinch a New Orleanian and he or she won't awaken from a dream.  They are already living it.  Each and every one is Person of the Year.

A Word From Our Sponsor:

If you want to visit New Orleans like you belong here----and you do belong here...  If you want to discover what it means to fall in love with the real New Orleans----I know where you should stay.

Nobody ever says their visit is too long.  Stay for as long as you can.  Nobody ever is bored in New Orleans.  If you are a sinner drawn to New Orleans' reputation or if you are a saint looking for a place to call home, we hope you consider staying at the #1 small hotel in the city: La Belle Esplanade.  We look forward to meeting you and sharing our part of the city with you.

New Orleans Crawfish Dreams

Even when the world ends, New Orleans will endure.  Stated simply, New Orleans is an eternal city like Olympus, like Asgard, like Heaven.  Where there is a will, there is a way.  New Orleans is a testament to resilience.  Come Hell or high water, New Orleans forever.

New Orleans forever.

Miracles happen so often in New Orleans that it is hard to separate fact from fancy.  If some good thing is possible, you will probably find it in New Orleans.  Catch a wish.  Fortune and luck are interchangeable in New Orleans.  Love makes New Orleans go, love of neighbors with malice toward none.

New Orleans has the lowest suicide rate of any city with over 100,000 inhabitants in the Western Hemisphere.

New Orleanians are well-mannered drinkers.  They don’t spit.  They sip and they swallow.  Ours is a cocktail city that knows the proper use for aromatic bitters.  Southern Comfort was invented in New Orleans.  So were many other things.  If you can’t find happiness in New Orleans then you are dead from the neck up.

Now you've seen him.

Scratch an itch.  Swagger.  Take a dare.  Take a double dare, even.  Every day has a reason to celebrate, even when the reason is a funeral.  Every day is a roll of the bones in New Orleans.  Even skeletons dance.

Sanguine serendipity is the order of a New Orleans day.  There are more seraphim than succubi afoot on any New Orleans night.  Go to the right neighborhood and dreams will come true.  It will happen to you.  There are angels in New Orleans’ details.  There is a whole mess of crawfish, too.  Mmmmmm——crawfish!

An ugly man married an ugly woman.  They had beautiful children in New Orleans.  The secret to fertility is crawfish.  The secret to New Orleans is love of neighbor.  Love, crawfish, and dreams.  What a way to go.

There are saints hiding all over New Orleans.

-You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.  La Belle Esplanade is a small five hotel that has been rated the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014.  Visit New Orleans like you belong here.  You do belong here.  Check out our website to see what we offer.  

When you are visiting New Orleans, you can choose a lot worse---a lot worse, believe me.  Don't be a tourist in New Orleans.  Visit like you live here.  Don't be a stranger.

-La Belle Esplanade

Providence and New Orleans.

What is steamboat gothic?  You'll know it when you see it.  It's not steampunk.

I was in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward the other day to poke around and to see the two steamboat gothic houses that are located down there, at the end of Egania Street.  They are beautiful houses.

Here's one:

The garden-ringed steamboat gothic house in New Orleans.

Here's the other:

The levee-side steamboat gothic house in New Orleans.

They are exact replicas of each other.

People ask me about the 9th Ward.  "I hear that's where the flooding was the worst after Hurricane Katrina," they'll say.

Well, 80% of the city was flooded to one extent or another.  What makes one part of the city worse?  Most everyone lost everything they owned, both house and contents.  It's a matter of degree, perhaps, but it's the nth degree.

The Lower 9 is part of the 9th Ward.  The 9th Ward is the biggest ward in New Orleans, by far.  It includes the Lower 9, the Upper 9, Gentilly, and New Orleans East.  Wikipedia describes the boundaries helpfully, though, for whatever reasons, the article doesn't describe the East.

The thing about New Orleans is that you have to live here to really get a handle on all this convoluted city's facets.  New Orleans is a kaleidoscope, different every time you take a turn.  Familiarity breeds bewilderment the first couple of years but a person eventually gets an instinctual feel for the neighborhoods after enough time spent here.   With practice, New Orleans is as navigable as a familiar dreamscape.  

I don't know why H.P. Lovecraft never felt at home here.  New Orleans is Providence on steroids.

New Orleans City Park.

I've been to Providence.  I love Providence.  It is my favorite city in New England (and, as someone from Connecticut, that takes some guts to say that).  I live now in New Orleans.  I love New Orleans.  I know very few people who don't love New Orleans.  There is only one Providence.  There is only one New Orleans.

Tennessee Williams said there are only three cities in America: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.  Everywhere else is Cleveland.  Tennessee Williams was wrong.  There are plenty of cities in America that are interchangeable with Cleveland but Providence isn't one of them.

Back to New Orleans....

La Belle Esplanade, the #1 small hotel to stay at in New Orleans, is located in the 6th Ward.  Where's the 6th Ward at?

These boots were made for walking to the most colorful houses on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.

In New Orleans, if you meet someone you know, you don't say hello or "How are you doing?"  You say, "Where y'at?"

We live on the 6th Ward side of Esplanade Avenue.  The other side of our street is the 7th Ward.  The 6th Ward is bounded by Esplanade Avenue and St. Philip Street and the Mississippi River and Bayou St. John.  The 6th Ward is four blocks wide and forty blocks long.  

If you want to learn more about New Orleans, I know a good place where you should stay when you visit.  La Belle Esplanade is staffed by New Orleans goodwill ambassadors who offer personalized recommendations tailored to what interests you.  Even if you aren't interested in New Orleans wards or steamboat gothic, there is plenty more for us to talk about.  Make a reservation today at the #1 small hotel in New Orleans.  We'll be more than happy to share what we know about this wonderful city we call home.  It is what we do.  We love what we do.  You will fall in love with New Orleans, too.

La Belle Esplanade: Price is what you pay; value is what you get.

New Orleans is Delicious

Where does the time go?  It goes down the memory hole.  In New Orleans we don't forget our days.  We don't forget our good times.  Good memories are made in New Orleans.  They are the kind of good memories that will last us the rest of our lives.  Mmmm-mmmm good.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.  New Orleans is delicious.

When I lie on my deathbed, I'll think back to any random New Orleans day and I'll be smiling.  I will slip into the sleep of the eternally contented.  A week in New Orleans will give you a taste of Heaven.  New Orleans is delicious.

There are very few places on this wonderful round earth so nice as New Orleans.  New Orleans is a slice of Heaven more tasty and savory than a slice of anchovy pizza.  Happy are those who have spent time in New Orleans.  The luckiest people of all live here.  Ask them.  They wouldn't trade a day in New Orleans for all the pizza in Italy.

In a New Orleans state of mind, even the angels dream of living in New Orleans.

New Orleans loves you.  Accept its sweet embrace.  New Orleans is delicious.

New Orleans loves you.  You'll know it as soon as you set foot on its bumpy and shady streets.  There is only one New Orleans.  We smoothly sail from day to day, catching the breeze while we shoot the breeze amongst friends.

Look in the mirror.  You are unique.  New Orleans loves you for who you are.  

I didn't lose my heart in San Francisco.  I found my heart in New Orleans.  Home is where your heart is.  Once you get New Orleans, New Orleans has got you hooked.  Make yourself at home.  You belong here.

Take your chances.  Make your mark.  Be yourself.  You belong in New Orleans.  Game on!

There are no illusions in New Orleans.  This is reality.

Be ready to reach the stars.  Be ready to be your best self.  Be ready to swallow your soul and eat to your satisfaction.  Be ready to be ready for anything that may happen next.  What's gonna happen? Something startling and enlightening and magical and transcendent.  Be ready to live your best future.  Catch a wish and carry it with you forever.

When you are in New Orleans, nothing is like things are where you live.  In New Orleans, there is magic in the air.  Open your nose.  Open your eyes.  Open your ears.  Touch the flowers that grow along the sidewalks.  Touch a fork---it is an extension of your hand.  Kiss a spoon full of gumbo.  Kiss a lover.  Love makes New Orleans hum.  New Orleans is an eternal thrill.

Have you ever had a dream that you can't forget?  If you haven't, you should get your good self to New Orleans.  After six or seven days in New Orleans, you'll know what I mean.  You'll be hooked.  New Orleans is delicious.

I'm not saying that New Orleans will spoil you from enjoying other cities, but, man oh man, once you get New Orleans in your heart, well, I guess I really am saying that New Orleans will spoil you from enjoying other cities.  New Orleans is delicious.  There is only one New Orleans.  There is only one.  If there were more, the world would be overcome with a frenzy of joy.  No one would be clinically depressed.

Some people suffer heart attacks.  In New Orleans, people suffer love attacks.  There are worse ways to live.  Ask anyone who calls New Orleans home.

---And now a word from our sponsor:

La Belle Esplanade is a small craft hotel located on a beautiful street in a very interesting part of New Orleans.  We only have five suites but that is what makes our small hotel special.  Not everyone can stay at La Belle Esplanade, only the five people or couples who make a reservation to stay here on any given day.  Lucky people.

La Belle is the orange house in the middle.

When you are ready to get off the typical tourist grid and immerse yourself into the densely woven and richly textured culture of this wonderful city we call home, we hope you'll make your New Orleans headquarters at La Belle Esplanade.  We only have five boutique suites so we tend to fill up early.  Go to our website, read more about we offer, and make a reservation today.  The "Check Availability" button is located in the upper right of our website's screen.  We look forward to meeting you and to sharing our part of New Orleans with you.

Discover what it means to really fall in love with the real New Orleans.  We're here for you.  You have a friend on Esplanade Avenue.

À votre santé,
Your ever-loving pals at----
La Belle Esplanade

Welcome to the most unique hotel not only in New Orleans but, maybe, in the world.  We look forward to meeting you and to sharing our part of New Orleans with you.

In the meantime, be well, friends.  You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.  We look forward to meeting you in person.

Saints and Sinners in New Orleans

Nobody is perfect.  We all have weeds in our garden.  You will find both saints and sinners in New Orleans.  Some people look for one kind of person, other people look for the opposite.  Me?  I've spent enough time being an aristocrat of the gutter.  I'll err on the side of good.

Mural of Dr. John on the side of a house.

Who's to judge?  I'm not writing this blog to get into an ontological debate, which is one reason we don't allow comments here.  You are free to do as you please, whistling past the graveyard.  In New Orleans, though, there are signs and symbols of transcendence everywhere you go.  You never know what you'll find when you turn a corner in New Orleans.  It really is magical here.

Statue of St. Jude in a tree.

Keep your eyes open.  Keep your heart open.  Keep your senses sharp.  New Orleans is full of surprises with those who are willing to find them.  Or, you can just get drunk on Bourbon Street.  To each his or her own.  I'm not here to judge.  It's your vacation.

There are both saints and sinners in New Orleans.  There is probably equal proportion of the former to the latter.  40/40 with the other 20% willing to go one way or the other as the wind blows.    Be yourself.  Be true to your code.

Muriel Hauptmann.

What do you see when you look in the mirror?  A mirror contains all sorts of beauty.  New Orleans contains all sorts of beauty.  

New Orleans is a kaleidoscope of a city with different facets and different views all coalescing around a single focal point.  New Orleans can make you dizzy, especially if you stay in the tourist zone.  Outside the tourist treadmill, there is a whole wide and wonderful city out here, full of surprises, full of magic and the stuff from which irreplaceable good memories are made---the kind of good memories that will last a lifetime.

Be a saint or sinner in New Orleans.  La Belle Esplanade is a small craft hotel.  We only have five suites.  We are located on a beautiful street.  La Belle Esplanade is close to the French Quarter and Frenchmen Street, they are just a picturesque stroll away, but La Belle is in the real New Orleans, the authentic New Orleans.  You never know what you'll find when you are in the real New Orleans. It won't be a novelty tee shirt shop.  It will be people going about their lives, happy to share their city with you.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.

One of the proprietors at La Belle Esplanade.  Let us be your New Orleans goodwill ambassadors.

When you are ready to get off the typical tourist grid and immerse yourself into the densely woven and richly textured culture of this wonderful city we call home, we hope you'll make your New Orleans headquarters at La Belle Esplanade.  We only have five boutique suites so we tend to fill up early.  Go to our website, read more about we offer, and make a reservation today.  The "Check Availability" button is located in the upper right of our website's screen.  We look forward to meeting you and to sharing our part of New Orleans with you.

Discover what it means to really fall in love with the real New Orleans.  We're here for you.  You have a friend on Esplanade Avenue.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade

Monday, July 1, 2019: Plus ça change plus c'est la même chose.  The more that things change the more they stay the same in New Orleans.  It's magical here.  Stay at the small hotel that has been ranked the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014, #2 in the United States and #16 in the world.  What do you have to lose? Nothing.  You deserve good memories.

You Have a Friend in New Orleans

When do you wish the wind to stop blowing?  In New Orleans in summer, let it blow.  Let it blow.  Let it blow!  Every breeze is welcome.  You have a friend in New Orleans.  I know.  I live here.

Breakfast is served.

Everyone is happy to be in New Orleans.  If you are bored here, you've got a whopper of a hole in your imagination.  Everyone is happy in New Orleans.  Everyone has a friend in New Orleans.  Even the ducks:

Quack. Quack.  Quack!  Quack.

19 million tourists visited New Orleans last year.  That's more than the number of people who visited Hawaii.  If the great State of Louisiana can be compared to the great State of Hawaii, then New Orleans is Wikiki.  Fun and frolic.

In Hawaii they have "aloha culture."  In New Orleans, we have "laginiappe culture."  What's lagniappe?  It's a little something extra, a small top-off surprise after you've paid for what you bought.  Lagniappe is more.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.

You a friend in New Orleans.  I know two of them that live on Esplanade Avenue.  You'll make more friends when you are here.  There are no strangers in New Orleans.  Everyone is a friend you haven't yet met.  

We look forward to meeting you.

Have a great New Orleans day, today!
-La Belle Esplanade

You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue.  The best New Orleans memories are made on our street.

Crawfish New Orleans Style

You can spot the skunk ape behind the bush

Let's take a look of an idealized French Quarter for a few minutes.  Yes, we're back to our Elvis marathon...




I wish someone would call me King Creole, but I'm from Connecticut so that's never going to happen.

Do vendors wander the French Quarter streets in mule carts singing about crawfish nowadays?  No.  Nor do they sell gumbo from a hand-pulled cart or carry baskets on their heads as they tout their wares to all who can hear.  It's a myth.  It was a myth in 1958 when Elvis came to New Orleans to shoot a movie.

Played at a theater near you

According to the film's plot, after Elvis' character's mother died and his father lost his job as a pharmacist, the impoverished family moved to the French Quarter.  Let me tell you something: today, there are very few, if any, impoverished families living in the French Quarter.  The Quarter has some of the priciest real estate in New Orleans.  A lot of it is rented out on AirB&B.

I'm not going to recap the whole plot of King Creole.  It makes about as much sense as anything in New Orleans does.  The movie is one part folderol, one part balderdash, one part myth-making, another part of nostalgia, and a dollop of sentimentality.  Toss in a  dash of bitters and the whole shebang makes for a satisfying and toe-tapping cocktail.  Sounds like any day here, really.  That's why Frau Schmitt and I love where we live.  All the world's a stage...etc.  Etcetera.

Frau Schmitt is usually right about these things.

Does a remix add any value to the original?



Regular readers already know that your humble narrator has established a reputation as being an old fuddy-duddy.  I'm not so interested in the myth and the overall narrative and the cotton candy and the pecan pie on the other side of the levee.   I just enjoy wandering our city on foot, saying hello to everyone I encounter along the way, engaging in idle chitchat and learning some actual news from the street.  We live in an amazing city.  I could make up stories about what I do every day but the prosaic truth of my errands and to-and-fro are profound and entertaining enough.

We really do live in an amazing city.  We don't eat crawfish everyday.  We don't eat jambalaya or gumbo or barbecue shrimp every day.  We do eat well, though.  In New Orleans, it is almost impossible not to eat well.  We are content.  In New Orleans, it is almost impossible not to be content.  Most people are positively, genuinely happy.  It's that kind of a city.

If you want to escape your cares, come to New Orleans.  Life is different here.  Come as a visitor but stay like a friend.  You can stay at La Belle Esplanade...where every morning is a curated New Orleans breakfast salon.  We look forward to sharing our city with you.

There was a song from the King Creole soundtrack that hit #1 on he Billboard Top 10.  It wasn't Crawfish.  It was Hard Headed Woman.  I wasn't alive then so you can't blame me.  How does a Youtube fan video compare to the original film clip in which the song first appeared?  I'm not here to judge.




New Orleans is all things to all people.  It is The City That Care Forgot.  

A tip of our fedora to Megan and Lauren!
À votre santé, nos amies.

Between the Moon and New Orleans

We haven't used this picture in a while

When you get caught between the moon and New Orleans, the best that you can do---THE BEST THAT YOU CAN DO---is fall in love.

It is easy to fall in love with New Orleans.  It is easy to fall in love in New Orleans.  It is easy to fall in love in New Orleans on top of falling in love with New Orleans.  It is easy to fall in love all over New Orleans.  Wanna fall in love?  Stay at La Belle Esplanade, in New Orleans.

It is easy to fall in love, well, period, really, wherever you are.  It takes two to tango and the right setting, but that has nothing to do with this next clip, which has nothing to do with anything but a fond regard for Jerry Lewis.  Just hit play and keep reading.  There is nothing memorable to watch here...



And then there's Falco.

We only include today's Jerry Lewis reference because a regular reader, who shall remain unnamed (Hi, Kevin), has come out publicly as not being a Jerry Lewis fan.  I can't blame him.  I'm not a particularly great fan of Mr. Lewis, myself.  Neither is Frau Schmitt, who is German by birth, not French.  Frau Schmitt is usually right about these things.

What about Elvis?



Today, we are blessed to have a couple who were married in Las Vegas staying with us.  They weren't married by Elvis nor by an Elvis impersonator, but, whenever I think of Vegas, I think of Elvis.  Whenever I think of Elvis, I think of the Rolling Elvi, a krewe of Elvis impersonators who ride motor scooters in Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.  You see, there is always a thread that binds these posts together whether you realize it or not.  Be patient, dear reader, your humble narrator will tie the whole shebang together in the end one way or another.

If your brain is flaming and you don't know which way to go, you can always choose the obvious place to stay in New Orleans: some hotel in the French Quarter.  

Have a good time.  Plenty of people do.  You'll be one of them.  There is nothing wrong with that.  When you're walking around the French Quarter nursing a Hand Grenade, think of me, please.  That's all I ask.

Cooler heads usually prevail.  If you take the time to do a little research, maybe you'll make a reservation at the #1-ranked inn in New Orleans, and you'll find yourself staying at La Belle Esplanade.  We only have five suites.  If you are tempted (and you should resist every temptation but the one to stay somewhere good memories are made every day) make a reservation early.  We're a small boutique operation and we fill up far in advance.  

Well, we could talk about this all day.  As Kevin likes to say, and as Elvis used to like to say, too, enough of all this conversation.  Let's get to the satisfactioning....



When are you coming to New Orleans?  When are you going to visit La Belle Esplanade?  When are you going to really fall in love?  Don't you prefer a little more fire and a little less spark?

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade
...where the rest comes easy.

Lonely Planet's Top Pick for Tremé

The three most colorful houses on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, LA

I've been shopping for new eyeglasses.  I'm nearsighted, which means I do not wear glasses to read, but I do wear them to drive or, even, to walk around town in order to see what I'm walking towards.  While I like surprises, I don't like walking up to a McDonald's drive-thru on Canal Street when I think I'm going to Dis and Dem on Banks Street.

Dis and Dem on Banks Street, New Orleans, LA

At Art & Eyes, a rather pricey but very tasteful optical shop on Magazine Street, Meredith was showing me frames and she kept showing me black frames and brown frames and dark blue frames.  I said, "I'm not afraid of color.  Do you know the three colorful houses on Esplanade Avenue between Broad and Claiborne Avenues?"  Meredith said, "You mean on the uptown side of the 2200 block?"  I said, "Yes."  She said, "Yes, I know them.  Is that where you live?"  I said yes again.  She brought out the most colorful frames she had in the shop.

I still haven't made a decision.  Whether or not new eyeglasses are in my future is a matter still left up to fate. 

Regular readers who have been following La Belle Esplanade's saga for awhile will remember when the lovely lady writer from the Lonely Planet Guide came to visit our inn.  This was an unsolicited visit by us, as all of our positive (and negative) publicity is.

I just picked up a copy of the 2016 Lonely Planet Guide for New Orleans.  You can get your own copy, too, and I recommend it.  I don't always agree with the recommendations, but they are generally spot-on.

A line drawing of our inn

What don't I agree with about the Lonely Planet's recommendations?  The book says that if you want to stay in our neighborhood, a car is required.  Very, very few of our guests arrive with a car.  Those that do usually drive here from Texas or some other nearby state and they leave their car parked in front of our inn for the duration of their stay.  

We are located under a mile from the French Quarter in one direction and about one mile from City Park in the other direction.  Our neighborhood is full of details and surprises that you'll never notice from your car window.  New Orleans is a city best experienced on foot.  In that sense, we live in a pedestrian city.  That isn't to say that it's boring here.  Far from it.  It's delightful here.

Illustration from the Crescent City Bike Tours brochure

I mentioned what the Lonely Planet Guide said about needing a car to Kristine from Crescent City Bike Tours while she had a bike tour stopped across the street from our inn.  She was talking about the three colorful houses on the uptown side of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, as she often does when she pedals visitors down our street.  I like Kristine, as most people do, and, whenever I see her leading a tour I'll often amble across the street to chitchat and catch up and to trade a little harmless idle gossip.

When I told her that the Lonely Planet thinks visitors need a car to visit our part of the city, Kristine said, "What!?!  We didn't take a car to get here!"  That makes sense since she's in the bicycle rental business and all her party were astride one-speed cruisers.  

She continued, addressing the people on her tour, "As much as I recommend taking a bike around New Orleans, walking really is the best way to enjoy the city.  There is so much to see here, especially in this part of town."  In this case Kristine was very much like Frau Schmitt.  Kristine, like Frau Schmitt, was right.

I can't vouch for everything Kristine says though she is a very accurate tour guide.  I'll never quibble about her professional ethics while I can quibble, and I often do, about some of the things I overhear said by other tour guides in our neighborhood.  In this instance though, like Frau Schmitt, Kristine is definitely in the right.  Kristine added, "I would never rent a car if I was staying here and, believe you me, if I was visiting New Orleans, I would stay at La Belle Esplanade.  It's the Number One Bed and Breakfast in the City."

Kristine was right about that, too.  We've been rated the #1 B&B on Trip Advisor for 21 months now, since April 2014.  We're hoping to set a two-year record in that coveted slot (21 months is already a record).  Time will tell.  I hope I didn't just jinx us.  We don't pay to be rated number one.  It is all based on the honest reviews our guests have written about their stay at La Belle Esplanade.

The bedroom in our Clio Suite

Bidding Kristine and her tour group adieu, I settled into one of the antique chairs in our lobby and flipped open the 2016 Lonely Planet Guide to New Orleans to page 186.  On page 186, La Belle Esplanade is listed as the Top Choice place to say in Tremé and/or Mid-City.  Here is what page 186 says:

"A little quirky, a little saucy, and the co-owner wears a jaunty fedora --- a devil-may-care touch that ties the whole colorful shebang together.  Furnishings in the five themed suites vary but look for chunky headboards, plush chairs, Gibson girl portraits and claw foot tubs.  Bright, monochromatic walls keep it all pretention-free.  Savor crawfish pie and other tasty Southern fare for breakfast. 

"There's a small Museum of Curiosities in the entryway.  The fedora-wearing co-owner writes a very amusing blog for the B&B's website; and the place is a ten-minute walk from the Jazz Fest grounds."

When Amy, the Lonely Planet writer, stopped by, we gave her a full tour of the house so she saw every suite.  She ran her finger over some of the headboards, checking for dust.  Spotless.  If I had written the write-up, I would have emphasized different aspects of the inn, but she did a judicious job of describing what we offer here.  A tip of my jaunty fedora her way for a job done well.  Thanks, Amy!  You are welcome to come back anytime.  Next time, stay with us.  You'll have to pay the going rate, of course.  As I've tried to make clear above, we do not solicit paid endorsements and we do not try to influence what anyone has to say about their experience at our inn.  We do our utmost to exceed expectations and to share all the reasons why we are in love with this magical city we call home.  Honesty, as it always has been, is the best policy.

Who was that jaunty co-owner Amy was writing about?  He is none other than your humble narrator:

One of La Belle Esplanade's two innkeepers

If you are bored in New Orleans, it most probably isn't the city's fault.  I don't like to judge, but if you don't like your time in New Orleans, it says more about your own state of mind than it does about the endless delights New Orleans has to offer.  It's magical here; it's pure magic.

I could write more about this topic all night but you have other things to do than keep reading.  I know it's spellbinding, but let's move on to the next thing in our day-to-day lives, shall we?  This blog has some pretty deep archives so there is plenty more to peruse if you choose to.  Keep checking in regularly if your appetite isn't satisfied by reading the archives.  There is nothing worse than a dead blog so your humble narrator tries to keep things freshly updated regularly, whether the content is noteworthy or not.

One of those things you should be doing instead of reading old blog posts, or more recent ones, is you should be planning your trip to New Orleans.  What are you waiting for?  Now you know where you should stay and it isn't just the Lonely Planet Guide that thinks so.  We are a small boutique operation that caters to people who want to feel at home in New Orleans.  Home is where the heart is.  You'll like our part of the city and you won't need a car.  Trust me on this.  Frau Schmitt, like Kristine, would agree.

Until we meet in person,
à votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade
...where the rest comes easy.