Les Fleurs Suite at La Belle Esplanade

Nothing is cookie-cutter here.  We don't like to call La Belle Esplanade a bed and breakfast because it isn't Grandma's house stuffed full of antiques and gewgaws and knickknacks and puffinstuff.  Life is too short to live in a shabby museum.  Les Fleurs Suite at La Belle Esplanade is unique, the way everything about La Belle Esplanade is unique.

We prefer to call La Belle Esplanade a tiny artisanal hotel.  The design and decor are unique, the service is personalized, you'll visit New Orleans like you belong here.  You do belong here.

Words to live by.

Unlike any hotel.

All this and more.  Visit New Orleans like you belong here.

Les Fleurs Suite at La Belle Esplanade is on the ground floor of the house.  It has two main rooms separated by pocket doors that slide into the walls.  It's pretty cool.  

A view of the sitting room in Les Fleurs Suite.

The private sitting room is the perfect place to look up historical things in our neighborhood and hatch plans for the day's adventures.  Both the sitting room and the bedroom have decorative fireplaces that are original to this 1883 mansion.

The private bath is equipped with an antique claw foot tub that has a shower.  There is a private porch that faces Esplanade Avenue.  Les Fleurs Suite at La Belle Esplanade is in the front of the house.  

All our suites have all the amenities you would expect from a boutique hotel.  One of the amenities that you can't get from any other hotel, though, is the authentic experience of staying in a real New Orleans neighborhood.

Privacy on the porch behind the wild ginger.

When you sit on your suite's private front porch, tucked behind the wild ginger bushes, you'll live what it's like to be in love with New Orleans.  When people walk by, they'll say hello.  They'll compliment your house.  You don't have to tell them it isn't your house.  La Belle Esplanade is the headquarters for your New Orleans adventures.  Be a New Orleanian.

Everyone thinks we speak French in New Orleans.  "Les Fleurs Suite" at La Belle Esplanade means The Flower Suite.  We try to make our suites as interesting as this wonderful city we call home.  You never know what pleasant surprise you'll find if you pay attention.  Good memories are made every day in New Orleans.  The best memories are made at La Belle Esplanade.  

Back-to-back winner of the TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Award, La Belle Esplanade has been named the #2 small inn in the United States and #16 in the world.  Go to our website to read more about Les Fleurs Suite and more about La Belle, itself.  We live in a beautiful mansion in a very, very interesting part of New Orleans. 

A typical breakfast at La Belle Esplanade.  Good food and good conversation.

Mardi Gras 2016 Is Heating Up

A happy couple on Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA

After last installment, I was hoping to just cruise along with photo essays of our trips to the various krewe dens last weekend.  I took a lot of photos and, believe it or not, I'm feeling a little lazy, so just posting photos for two weeks seemed like a surefire recipe to coast along easy street.  Unfortunately, our web traffic from the last post slowed down to a trickle.  Who woulda thunk that you all come here for the scintillating prose?

It's nice to know.  And, lesson learned, let's get back to the usual wordy folderol for which this blog is so well known.  Give the people what they want.  I will, however, continue using the photos of this year's floats as illustrations.  I've got more than a hundred pictures so there is no point in letting them lie idle.  

On that note, let's start with an old picture with which regular readers are more than familiar:

Tammie the Housekeeper

With Mardi Gras around the corner, the season is heating up.  By that I mean that our inn is getting busier, though the weather has been in the 60s to 70s (Fahrenheit), as well.  With more to do around the house, Tammie the Housekeeper has been around more, pitching in and making sure everything is ship shape, spotlessly clean and in good working order.

Tammie the Housekeeper told me that she has a new boyfriend.  "He's a philatelist," she told me.

When I remarked that this must make for some very interesting evenings, Tammie just gave me that sly sidelong smile she has that I've come to recognize means I will regret asking any more questions.  I changed the subject, instead.  "How do you like the new curtains Frau Schmitt hung in the Clio Suite?" I said.

The Roman Garden Float in the Rex Den

I've always liked that statue used for the Roman Garden Float.  As regular readers know, I am a student of art history.  Mind you, I've never used my knowledge of art history for more than impressing people at cocktail parties.  I am not a professional art historian.  I am an innkeeper, but, I like to think that if I ever get on Jeopardy! I'll ace the art history category in the form of questions.

In case you didn't know, this is a statue of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, being suckled by a she-wolf.  The wolf statue is Etruscan (5th century BC).  The babies underneath were added during the Renaissance (15th century AD).  Roman statues for 400, anyone?

The original:

Rome's founders

Does New Orleans have any founding myths?  Not on par with the founding of Rome.  You can read about the brothers Iberville and Bienville who founded New Orleans, but I'm pretty sure they weren't suckled by a she-wolf.

The truth be told, I find the story of the founding of New Orleans to be a bit confusing and tedious.  If you want to learn more about it, I recommend the book Bienville's Dilemma, by Richard Campanella.  It's very well written and not as dry as some other histories of New Orleans.  All histories of New Orleans tend to be complicated, however, no matter who is telling the story.

Remember, I am not providing the link above to make any money if you choose to buy the book.  It is provided for information purposes only.  As I always tell the guests when they ask if we charge for the two cans of beer we provide in our suites' refrigerators, "We are not here to nickel and dime you."

Garden of Eden Float in the Rex Den

The serpent in the Garden of Eden was the Devil.  Though I've often wondered if I've run into the Devil over the years I've lived in New Orleans, I can't say he's ever taken the form of a snake.  I've seen plenty of actual snakes here over the years, though, let me tell you.  

Before New Orleans was a city, it was a swamp.  Now, snakes aren't slithering down the street the way some people imagine, but they are around.  I often see snakes in the neglected back corners of City Park where few people venture.  They're big ugly black snakes, too.  They give me the willies, but they're usually more afraid of me than I am of them, or so I assume since they disappear as soon as they spot me.

Egyptian Garden Float in the Rex Den

Richard Campanella, the chap who wrote the book I linked to above, is the resident geographer at Tulane University.  He does fine work.  Rumors that he and I collaborate are unfounded and unsubstantiated.  I don't think he could pick me out of a police lineup, which is a good thing to be able to say about oneself under certain circumstances.

Some people ask me why I don't have a website under my own name.  In fact, I do, but at the moment it isn't much to look at.  It just directs people to visit labelleesplanade.com.  Richard Campanella has a website under his own name.  It's richcampanella.com.  If you are interested in New Orleans historical geography, and its current geography, for that matter, you should check it out.  Just like you can waste a lot of time perusing this blog's archives, you can waste equally much on Mr. Campanella's website.  

And, with all of this text written, read, and out of the way, it is time to sign off until next time.  Tune in a couple days from now when you might hear me say...."So, what exactly do you and your new boyfriend do at night, Tammie?"

Until then,
À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast
...Good memories are made on our street!

Mardi Gras Preview (Part I)

Inside the Rex Den

Mardi Gras Day is about two weeks away.  If you don't live in Louisiana, you may not know that.  This morning, three of the bigger carnival crews opened their dens to the public and Frau Schmitt thought it would be nice to spend our morning looking over this year's floats.  She is usually right about these things, so I agreed.

What follows is pretty much a photo essay of some of what we saw in the Rex Den.  I'm going to have to break this into sections because, frankly, the panoply of subject matter is a bit overwhelming.  

The theme for Rex's parade this year is "Royal Gardens."  I don't remember which float is supposed to represent what royal garden.  After going to three of these warehouses, each bigger and noisier than the last, it all became a happily dizzy blur.

Another float in the Rex Den

I'm going to take a stab at this one and say it represents Versailles.

Another float in the Rex Den

Another float in the Rex Den

Another float in the Rex Den

Is this Shakespeare's Garden?  I don't know.  Sometimes something random gets tossed into the mix.  I know Rex is very fond of Shakespeare, so maybe the krewe just wanted to celebrate his 400th anniversary---which I assume means birthday in this case.

Another float in the Rex Den

You've got me which garden this is supposed to represent, but this pink-fringed white salamander was my favorite float of the day.

Another float in the Rex Den

That's a papal tiara, which doesn't get much use nowadays during the reign of Pope Francis.  In fact, the last pope to wear one was Paul VI, in 1963.  This float obviously has something to do with gardens in the Vatican, but which one I cannot say.

Thus concludes our photo essay for the time being.  Don't worry, I have scads and scads more photos to share between today and Mardi Gras Day.  If you are thinking about coming to New Orleans, you now have an inkling of what you will see.  If you weren't thinking about coming to New Orleans, maybe I've whetted your appetite.  I think we still have a few slots open during the big parade weekends.

And, in further news, I would like to both thank and congratulate two regular readers from The Shire City.  That's right, we received a SASE from funny, sunny and wunnerful Pittsfield, Massachusetts, founded 1761.  

Any other regular reader (or first-time visitor to this blog) who wants to earn an honorable mention in these pages, click here to find out how!

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

The Music Never Stops in New Orleans

Our dining room

I am not sitting in our dining room as I write this.  In fact, it is afternoon, long past breakfast time.  I have to put something as the first picture because this is going to be a video-heavy installment, my favorite kind.

It is getting close to Mardi Gras Day.  Because of this, there are marching bands practicing all over the city.  We ate lunch uptown this afternoon while running errands, and a school band marched past the restaurant windows.  We were eating at Martin Wine Cellar, nothing fancy.  

In New Orleans, you can go to the liquor store to have a sandwich.  You can also go the deli to buy a bottle of wine.  How do we tell these two kinds of establishment apart?  It takes practice.  

When I'm puttering around the inn and nobody is around, for a change of pace I like to listen to a little soft Chinese pop music:


I don't speak Mandarin, but I think they're singing about New Orleans.  That's what my heart tells me.

Mardi Gras season just started the other day.  The first parades of the year rolled on January 6.  It's a short season this year.  Mardi Gras Day falls on February 9.  We were talking to Marc at Martin Wine Cellar and he said he doesn't like a short Mardi Gras season.  Just about everyone we know agrees with him.

We still have some nights empty if you are thinking about visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

Even though it's a short season, we aren't too busy, yet.  It's still early and people who aren't from New Orleans don't know that Mardi Gras is unfolding before our very eyes.  It's a magical time to visit New Orleans.  

Since we aren't too, too busy just yet, Tammie the Housekeeper isn't around as much as she usually is during other times of the year.

Tammie the Housekeeper

When Tammie isn't around, Frau Schmitt and I do most of the housekeeping.  It's nice to keep in practice.  The other day, Tammie left her iPod at the inn and I noticed it in a drawer in the lobby.  Naturally, I wanted to see what it's like to be Tammie the Housekeeper while performing housekeeping duties, so I put on the headset.

"You might learn more about Tammie than she wants you to," Frau Schmitt told me.  She is usually right about these things, but I didn't listen.  Instead, I listened to what Tammie the Housekeeper listens to on her iPod.



I should have listened to Frau Schmitt.  

I'm sitting on the back balcony of Le Pelican Suite.  I'm overlooking the neighborhood.  It being a Saturday, the high school down the street isn't in session so that marching band isn't practicing today.  They won't march around the neighborhood until we get closer to Mardi Gras Day.  Instead, some pick up brass band is marching around the streets in back of our house.  They aren't bad but they could use a little practice.  They sure are enthusiastic, though, and their enthusiasm is infection.  Even though they don't always keep the beat, I find myself tapping my foot as I type.  I don't have any sense of rhythm to speak of anyway.

We live in a very interesting city.  You never know what you'll see. Come down and find out for yourself.

Like my grandfather, I've always preferred the Conway Twitty version, myself:


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

Calling New Orleans Home.

It's amazing what a zoom lens can capture

Regular readers of this blog often think I walk around with a camera around my neck all the time.  Untrue.  Other people think I have a cell phone that takes pictures.  That's untrue, too.  The photos I post here are just a fraction of a fraction of a percentage of what I see everyday wandering around this kaleidoscopic city we call home: New Orleans, Louisiana.  When something interesting presents itself, I'm always thinking I should have my camera, but I never do.  Most of my life is undocumented in either pixels or film, like most people throughout history, I suppose.  I'm a dinosaur.  Let your imagination and intuition be your guide.

Spend enough time in New Orleans and you'll be blinkered before you know it.

No wonder these posts ramble from topic to topic without much continuity.  That's the way it is when you walk around New Orleans.  You never know you'll find when you turn a corner.  A person needs to be on his or her toes to react and respond to the magic in the streets.

The band plays on

A German guest and a Canadian guest from Montréal went to the Rock 'n' Bowl for Zydeco Night (every Thursday), and the German half of this pair told me that, for her, it was like being in a movie.  New Orleans is like that.  Life is but a dream in many ways, but in New Orleans dreams become real.  Dance like nobody is watching.  You have to be dead from the neck up if you don't enjoy Zydeco Night at the Rock 'n' Bowl.  You've gotta be dead all over if you don't enjoy New Orleans.  Something's wrong with you if you don't have a good time in The City that Care Forgot.  

A parade went by our house the other day.  It was the Friday before Mardi Gras.  If you don't live here, you don't know what that means.  If you are here during Mardi Gras season, or if you live in New Orleans, it means everything.  We live in a magical city. 

New Orleans isn't magical only during Mardi Gras.  It's magical all the time.  It is nothing like where you are from.  Let me be frank, I have no vested interest if you visit New Orleans or not.  If you don't come, someone else will.  Let me tell you this, though: if you visit New Orleans, you won't be the same again.  It's like riding a motor scooter, or a little Fiat 500, or a Mini Cooper, or a great big yellow 1979 Cadillac with fins in the back.  It will change your life.  It's like parachuting, or parasailing; it's paranormal without being occult.  Who does the kind of voodoo New Orleans does?  Nobody. Nowhere.  No how.  Don't ask.

It's a parade in front of our house

I don't know what happens in front of the house you live in but I can make uninformed suppositions.  I've lived in plenty of houses where nothing much happened in front, or in the back for that matter.  It's nice when life is predictable and uneventful.  It's less exciting and interesting, but at least you know what to expect.  Now, I'm gonna tell you a secret: it's better when magic happens in front of your house.

It's better when magic happens on every street in your town or city.  I'm not talking about garbage cans being emptied on time or the recycling bins, either.  I don't mean that the mail shows up at the same time every day or that the FedEx guy drops by when you're Amazon package is scheduled to arrive.  I'm talking about real magic.  I'm talking about music.  I'm talking about an unpredictable improvised rhythm of a day.  What do I mean, exactly?

Come to New Orleans.  Then, I won't need to explain it.  Seeing is believing.  Living is living the good life, at least for as long as your vacation lasts.  Remember:  Nobody ever said their stay in New Orleans was too long.  Everybody says the opposite, and that they wish they didn't have to leave.

Speaking for Frau Schmitt and myself, we're here for the duration.  We call New Orleans home for a reason.

À votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

New Orleans, LA vs. Yonkers, NY

It's Mardi Gras season

The first of the big parades is tonight: Krewe de Vieux, followed by Krewe Delusion.  We're not going this year even though they both pass by the end of our street.  There's no real reason.  Everyone who is staying with us will tell us about in the morning, after all.  Like many things we've done before, this time we'll live vicariously through our guests.  

Instead, we'll be going to the second line parade that is going through our neighborhood tomorrow afternoon.  Not that a second line parade has anything to do with Mardi Gras, but I don't want you to think that we just sit around the inn like shut-ins.  If none of this New Orleans-specific talk meant anything to you, don't worry--- that's the end of it for today.

Congratulations are in order 

We had our three year anniversary in September and it took me this long to buy Frau Schmitt a present.  We've been married longer than three years (it isn't germaine to this article to say for how long), but we're in our third year of business.  That sign is the first thing you'll see when you walk in the door.

Mardi Gras flowers

Every time I'm on Oak Street, uptown, I say it looks like another Magazine Street.  I say the same thing about Freret Street, which is also uptown.  Now, I like Magazine Street, who doesn't? but do we need three of them?  Apparently some people think we do.

I got to thinking about it the other day when I was reading the Wall Street Journal in the library at the New Orleans Athletic Club.  Yes, my gym has a library.  It also has a bar.  It also has a boxing ring.  I could take fencing lessons if I chose.  It's a wonderful place.  It costs a bit more than Anytime Fitness on St. Claude Avenue, but we feel it's worth it.  I can't read the Wall Street Journal in a leather armchair at Anytime Fitness.  What a life, I'll tell ya.

Anyhow, there was an article about what the best college town is.  The author made the case for Yonkers, NY, which is where my brother-in-law if from.  He's a stand up guy. 

I don't subscribe to the WSJ online because I can just read the paper at the gym, so I can't reread the article now.  The gist of it is that all the top ranked college towns are all the same---latte swilling hipster cities overflowing with craft cocktails and alternative music scenes, while Yonkers is more diverse and down to earth.  Yonkers is the opposite of hip (some would say).

New Orleans is like nowhere else.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  We enjoy our neighborhood.  It isn't like any other in the city.  I'm not saying it's better or worse.  It's just different.  If you like that kind of thing, you'll probably like it here.

À votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast. 

Krewe de Jean d'Arc Parade 2015

Saint Joan of Arc

In case you didn't know, and most people outside New Orleans don't know this, the Mardi Gras season starts on January 6, which falls on this next Tuesday this year.  

Two parades open the Mardi Gras season.  One of them is the Phunny Phorty Phellows, which began as a Mardi Gras Krewe in 1878.  The Phellows ride the St. Charles Avenue streetcar to announce the beginning of the season.

Seven years ago, the Krewe de Jean d'Arc was formed to parade on Joan of Arc's birthday, which happens to also be January 6.  That's why there are two parades now to usher in the season.  Here's a video of last year's Joan of Arc parade:



We would like to direct your attention to this video to just after 1:09 in its presentation.  The whole thing captures the spirit of the parade, which, if you're in town, you should catch.  

Frau Schmitt and your humble narrator have a special place in their hearts for the Krewe de Jean d'Arc, as well as for Saint Joan herself.  Whenever we pass the Joan of Arc statue at the beginning of the French Market, we stop to admire it.

Side of the Tic Toc Cafe, Metarie, LA

We'll only be half full on January 6th.  Like I say, few people know that Mardi Gras starts then.  That's too bad, but in some ways, it's good.  For the people who are here and they're in the French Quarter, it's an unexpected delight.  Most things in New Orleans are an unexpected delight.

We hope we'll see you there.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

A Day in New Orleans

Amtrak poster for the train to New Orleans

People always ask us what it's like to live in New Orleans.  Do we ever get tired of it?  Does it ever become routine?  Boring?  Is it all really just made up to trick the tourists into thinking it's better than it really is?  I'll tell you the answer to these questions.  The answer is: Nope.

Here are some pictures to prove it:

Terranova's Super Market, New Orleans

I go to Terranova's to buy sausages that we serve at breakfast.  Four generations of grocers and expert sausage makers.  They make the sausages by hand.  I've seen it with my own eyes.

Buttermilk Drop Bakery, New Orleans

On Sundays, I go to the Buttermilk Drop on the corner of O'Reilly and North Dorgenois Streets to pick up buttermilk drops for breakfast.  If you think O'Reilly is an unlikely street name in a city with French roots, you don't know your history.  He was governor here under the Spanish.  If you think a buttermilk drop is just another variation of donut, well, you're mistaken there, too.  It's more a little fried cake.

The waiting room in my optometrist's office

Over the fireplace in my optometrist's office there is a picture of her predecessor, who founded the optometry practice, standing next to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King was nominated and accepted as the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference right here in New Orleans, in Central City, in 1957.  There is a sign in front of the site where it all happened.  I can tell you how to get there.

My dentist has his office across the street from where my optometrist has hers.  I stopped in to confirm my next appointment and my dentist didn't have any patients.  He and I sat on his front porch discussing the neighborhood until it was time for his lunch hour.  That's what it's like to live in New Orleans.

Prytania Theater lobby, New Orleans

There are pictures of old movie stars hung throughout the lobby of the Prytania Theater, which is a single screen affair and a family operation.  Rene Brunet has operated movie houses in New Orleans his whole life.  He is in his 90s now.  He wrote a book if you are interested.  Naturally, we keep a copy in our lobby.

Hilbert's by Accident, New Orleans

Tulane Avenue used to be one of the busiest streets in New Orleans because it used to be the main way to get into town from Baton Rouge.  It's streetscape is a collection of old motels and shops of curious composition, like Hilbert's by Accident.  It's an auto body shop.  The front window:

Hilbert's by Accident, New Orleans

The sign:

Hilbert's by Accident, New Orleans

When my dentist and I were talking, he said, "Food, music and Mardi Gras.  That is what keeps New Orleanians together.  We hold these in common.  People in other places don't have that."  He has lived here all his life.  Nothing surprises him.  When I told Frau Schmitt what my dentist had told me, she said, "He's right."  Frau Schmitt is usually right about these things.

To wind up this photo show, allow me to present the House of Broel.

House of Broel, New Orelans

What's inside The House of Broel is the subject of another post, another day.  This is what it's like to live in New Orleans.  It is one magical thing after another.

Until next time,
A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Mardi Gras is coming

Photo courtesy of a recent guest

In our neighborhood, we know when it's Mardi Gras season because we have two high schools a few blocks away on either side of us.  Joseph Clark is towards the French Quarter and John McDonough (pictured above) is towards City Park.  

Mardi Gras parades are not like 4th of July or Memorial Day parades in other parts of the country, but they do have something in common.  They all include high school marching bands.  

As Mardi Gras day approaches, the bands in our neighborhood are practicing.  They march through the neighborhood most afternoons.  The musicians practice and the cheerleaders practice.  It is nice to hear and nice to see.  You can tell when it's happening because the sound travels.  Listen for the tubas and the drums, they carry the farthest.  

As I'm sure I've written before, living here is like magic.  You never know what you are going to see.  We smile a lot in New Orleans.  It is hard not to, especially during this time of year.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Around the corner in New Orleans

Odyssey House

If you've had breakfast in our dining room, you've probably heard me say that you never know what you'll find around the corner in New Orleans.  I've probably written the same there here more than once.  It's true, even if you walk around the same corner every day.

The other night, I was walking the dog and I was struck by how brightly the Odyssey House is lit.  It's like their shooting a movie there.  This isn't unusual in New Orleans, but they aren't shooting a movie at the Odyssey House.  They just keep it lit that way for some reason, a beacon in the night.

If you walk to the lakeside intersection of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, where we are, and turn uptown on North Tonti Street, head two blocks to the intersection of Governor Nicholls Street.  That's the Odyssey House looming up ahead.

It used to be a home for African American widows run by the Sisters of the Holy Family.   I'm not sure when it stopped being a widows' home.  I may have to head out to the convent in the East and ask Sister Agnes or one of the other nuns when that happened.  My guess is the 1990s, but that is only an armchair historian's educated guess.

The sisters' order was founded in our neighborhood by Venerable Mother Henriette Delille, a free woman of color.  They used to operate out of the French Quarter, but they moved out to New Orleans East.  Based on the current convent's architecture, I'm guessing that happened in the 1960s.  Any relation to the timing of Vatican II seems purely coincidental.  The sisters still wear habits.

Corner of N. Tonti and Gov. Nicholls Streets

The sisters sold the widows home, which is an incongruous three story brick building surrounded by shotgun houses that are more typical of the neighborhood.  Willie Mae's Scotch House, which serves the best fried chicken in America according to the Food Network, is about six blocks further uptown on North Tonti.  Lunch only.

So, what's the Odyssey House?  If you are thinking about making a reservation with us, I may as well tell you now because I'll tell you when you are here.  It's a residential treatment facility for people with drug abuse problems.  They are good neighbors.  If this bothers you, you may want to book a room in the French Quarter where the drug-addled blithely roam the streets before they're ready to seek help.  

When the dog and I see people doing group calisthenics in the morning behind Odyssey House, I'm always tempted to join in, but I have to pick up pastries and fresh bread for our guests.

This week, our guests have heard and seen a marching band practicing two blocks up Esplanade Avenue, lakeside, in the afternoon.  They start outside John McDonough High School, where they are headquartered, and they march through the neighborhood making loops up one street and down the next.  They are practicing for Mardi Gras, when they will march in I don't know how many parades. Every day they get better.  There are cheerleaders, too, who get more synchronized.

If you've had breakfast in our dining room, you've probably heard me say that it is like magic to live here.  I sometimes say that it's like a movie.  It is, even when nobody is filming.  You never know what happy surprises you'll find around the corner.  Until you get here, that is.  Don't be a stranger.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

When does the Mardi Gras season begin?

The middle of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue

The Mardi Gras season begins in New Orleans on January 6.  On that day, the Phorty Phunny Phellows ride the streetcar down St. Charles Avenue and the Krewe of Jeanne d'Arc parades through the French Quarter.

Frau Schmitt and I are members of the Krewe of Jeanne d'Arc.  If you were walking down Esplanade Avenue the other evening and saw two people in monk's robes riding scooters to the Quarter, that was us.  Hello.  You never know who you'll bump into in New Orleans.


Frau Schmitt and your humble narrator are in our forties, so we have a soft spot in our hearts for music from the 1980s.  Think Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD).  You can skip the first minute of the video above.  You can skip all of it, really, or keep reading while the soundtrack plays...

What was nice about marching in the Twelfth Night parade were all the people lining the streets to wish the krewe a happy Twelfth Night.  It was Joan of Arc's birthday, and her feast day.  At one point, everyone wished this tradition to carry on for centuries.  

For centuries.  That is how New Orleanians make traditions.  They think about the present, but they make what they do in the present worthwhile for the future while remembering the past.  Good memories are made  in New Orleans, now and forever.

2216 Esplanade Avenue

It is Carnival season in New Orleans.  If you want to come on Mardi Gras Day, you are welcome to do it, but I have a secret to tell you.  The best time to come is the weeks before Mardi Gras Day.  That is when New Orleanians celebrate for themselves.  There are parades every weekend.  Some are more extravagant than others.  Some have block-long floats while others are just a gaggle of people who just want to dress up and celebrate while they walk the streets.  The walking parades are the best.

There is a parade down Esplanade Avenue.  It is made up of elementary school children in little floats pulled by pickup trucks and junior high marching bands.  That's our favorite, even more than 'Tit Rex and Krewe de Vieux.

The welcome mat is out

New Orleans is a place where magic happens every day.  We love living here.  It is an enchanted place.  When you visit New Orleans you won't leave disappointed.  The whole city makes sure of that.  We do our part.  Wherever you stay, we hope you enjoy yourselves.  If you do come to New Orleans during Mardi Gras season, we know a nice boutique inn where you can stay and get the royal treatment.

Follow your NOLA:

  

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

What does Mardi Gras look like?

It takes a lot of work to make Mardi Gras happen

We were privileged to be able to take a tour of the Rex den this afternoon.  If you are not from New Orleans, this won't mean anything to you.  Allow me to explain...

The parades held during the Mardi Gras season are the work of local, volunteer associations called krewes.  Members of a krewe pay to build the floats, sew the costumes, and collect the items thrown from the floats when they parade.  Rex is the King of Mardi Gras.  The Krewe of Rex is his krewe.  Every krewe has a den located somewhere in the city where they store their gear and meet in the months that lead up to their big day.  

The Rex den is on South Claibourne Avenue.  You wouldn't know it from the outside, but once you step inside, you know.  I haven't adjusted the photos.  The colors really are that lurid.

Frog Float

The theme for Rex's parade this year is "All Creatures Great and Small."  Here is a preview of some of the floats:

Mosquito Float

Detail of Mosquito Float flower

Snake Float

Not all the floats depict naturally occurring creatures, of course.  These are for Mardi Gras, a mythical time of year.

The Unicorn Float

There is also a siren, a kraken, a cyclops, a polar bear, a panda, a lion, and a praying mantis off the top of my head.  You'll have to come see them on Mardi Gras Day.

Of course, Mardi Gras is not just a day, it is a season.  For the two weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, there is at least one parade just about every night of the week.  Think about visiting New Orleans between weekends to participate in the spirit of the holiday.  A lot of krewes put in a lot of work to make their parade outstanding.  

It isn't just the Krewe of Rex that has palettes full of throws.

What Mardi Gras looks like in January

That picture is just a sample of all the boxes and bags of beads and knickknacks stored in the den.  It's like that all over town, in what look like abandoned warehouses on the outside.  They are really the headquarters where Mardi Gras magic is concocted.  

New Orleans is more crowded than usual this time of year.  Every parade, even the Mystic Krewe of Druids and the Mystic Krewe of Nyx, who parade on a Wednesday evening this year, will be crowded, but the crowd will be more local and more into the spirit of things.  You won't have to wait so much in line to get a good meal, and you'll have room to really catch some good souvenirs if you visit a parade route in the middle of the week.  

Good memories are made in New Orleans.  What does Mardi Gras look like?  It looks like nostalgia for simpler times when the world was without trouble.  New Orleans is like that every year.  They don't call it the City Care Forgot for nothing.

If you are looking to experience the more local side of Mardi Gras, we know where you can stay.  Don't plan on coming on Mardi Gras Day or during the Superbowl.  Come in the middle of a week to savor the best part of living here.

A votre sante.