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 Elysian Bar, New Orleans

The Elysian Bar in New Orleans has been open for about a year.  The Elysian Bar is part of the Peter and Paul Hotel.  The Peter and Paul Hotel is situated in the rectory, convent, school, and church building of the former Saints Peter and Paul Parish in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana.  The hotel has about 70 rooms.  It has been named one of the top hotels in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine.  If you want to hang out in a hotel bar, the Elysian Bar is a nice choice.  I've been there more than once.

The napkin at The Elysian Bar

I usually go to the Elysian Bar when it's slow.  Summer afternoons are a great time to visit the Elysian Bar.  The bar opens at 10:30AM and it closes at 12:00AM.  Apertivo Hour is from 3:00-6:00PM daily.  These times come from their website.  I haven't verified all of them personally. 

I don't mind talking to guests who are staying in large hotels.  I know that hotels of 70 rooms are not considered large---they are boutique.  I live in New Orleans.  

If I were visiting New Orleans, I don't think I'd go out of my way to meet people from Peoria that I'll never see again.  You can do that anywhere in the French Quarter or on Frenchmen Street or in any hotel bar.  When the first thing that someone asks you is, "So where are you folks from?" you know you are in tourist New Orleans, not in the part of the city where people live.  There is more to New Orleans than you will read in any guidebook. 

It is very nice inside The Elysian Bar.  The snug interior doesn't feel claustrophobic because of the interior architecture and design.  You'll find a lot of yellow.

The Elysian Bar.

The Elysian Bar is a cocktail bar.  Fine wines and fine cocktails.  There is a curated (small) selection of canned and bottled beer.  I'm sure you can order a rum and coke if you really want it, but it's not gonna be Capt. Morgan.  Most people at The Elysian Bar order a spritz drink or a cocktail with an arbitrary name they've never heard of.  It'll all be good.  They have a lot of ingredients.

They have celery bitters.

My favorite flavor of bitters, even better than Peychaud.

If I were staying at the Peter and Paul Hotel, I would go to The Elysian Bar more often.  As it is, I go when I'm in the neighborhood.  It's an experience.  The locks on the bathroom doors are like on airplanes.  When you slide the bolt inside the bathroom door, a wheel on the outside changes from vacant to occupied.  No one ever has to knock.

I will say that I think The Elysian Bar is in the best of its class.  Once you walk onto the premises you'll realize why there is no other bar like it, not only in New Orleans but in the world.  It is one of a kind.  The atmosphere is comfortable and cozy, classy.  The drinks are excellent.  Try it.  You'll like it.  When you've had enough of it, there is a whole wide wonderful city waiting for you.

This is not a paid endorsement.

A word from our blog's sponsor:  

A hotel with 70 rooms is a small hotel, especially in New Orleans.  There are 36,000 hotel rooms in the city of New Orleans, not counting the suburbs.  La Belle Esplanade is a microscopic in our market.  We only have five suites in a colorful mansion on a beautiful street.  Our hotel is tiny and artisanal, with hospitality on a craft level.  The best New Orleans memories are made when you make La Belle Esplanade the headquarters for your adventure.

Each of our five suites has a sitting room, a bed room, a private bath with clawfoot tub, and a private balcony.  You can't be afraid of color.  La Belle Esplanade is located close to the things tourists want to see in every direction but it is also in a real neighborhood where you can visit New Orleans like you belong here.  Make yourself at home in style.

Ranked the #1 inn in New Orleans since April 2014 by TripAdvisor, La Belle Esplanade has also been called #2 in the U.S., and #16 in the world, having won the Travelers' Choice Award twice, back-to-back.  Go to our website, see what we have to offer.  There is tourist New Orleans and there is real New Orleans.  You belong here.  

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.

Dead Duck in New Orleans City Park

You never know what you'll find in New Orleans.  Ours is a city of mystery and surprises.  Some of the surprises are pleasant.  Some of the surprises are unsettling and weird.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.

I'm not gonna tell you about the time I found all the sacrificed animals in burlap sacks under trees in City Park.

I'm not gonna tell you about the time I encountered the Skunk Ape.

I'm not gonna tell you about the time I found the voodoo painting in  the crotch of a tree way back in City Park where nobody goes.  You can see that painting in our lobby.  

I'm not gonna tell you about the time I found the pile of pineapples where there was no good reason for pineapples to be there.

I'm not gonna tell you, today, about how I discovered the secret nudist colony in City Park.

I'm not gonna tell you about The Suicide Oak.

I'm not gonna tell you about the demon skull that was kicked into the bushes on the bank of Bayou Saint John.

I'm not gonna tell you about the time I was walking our dog on the back trails of the park and we met a crow that spoke French.  I'm not gonna tell you what that crow said to us before it flew away never to been seen again.

I'm not gonna tell you what it means to fall in love with New Orleans.  You'll find that out when you get here.

The great City of New Orleans is an onion of a place.  It contains layers under layers under layers under even more layers.  The more you peel off, the more you'll feel like crying over how beautifully mysterious it all is.

Instead, I am gonna tell you about the dead duck I found in City Park the other morning:

You never know what you'll find in New Orleans.  Some things will make you smile with equanimity and perfect understanding.  Some things will make you scratch your head in puzzlement.  Why?  Why does New Orleans exist?  Why is New Orleans the way it is?  Answer: Because God dictated it should be so.

Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.  

--- If you are looking for someplace to stay when you visit New Orleans, I happen to be an innkeeper.  I run the #1-ranked place to stay in New Orleans (it's been #1 since April 2014 according to TripAdvisor).  You could do a lot worse.  Believe me.  You can choose a lot worse.  If you are looking to experience authentic New Orleans off the usual tourist radar, you know where to find us: in the bright orange house with blue shutters on Esplanade Avenue: La Belle Esplanade.