New Orleans' Indigenous Plants

New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city connected to the rest of the world, even if it doesn't look one.  The Port of New Orleans is the third-busiest port in the United States.  You may not think much of New Orleans is indigenous.  Ours is a city built of brick and stone and concrete, nothing that is naturally found in this part of Louisiana.  New Orleans' indigenous plants flourish in this sub-tropical climate.  Everything flourishes in New Orleans: plants, vegetables, daydreams, good memories----even you.

Animal, vegetable, mineral, and spirit.  These are the things from which New Orleans is made.  This most convivial city blossoms with wishes come true, even at night.

Passions bloom  yellow in the New Orleans side street shadows.

Look around.  New Orleans' indigenous plants sprout from the over-rich damp soil in front yards, in back yards, in the parks, and between the cracks in the sidewalks.  Everything flourishes in New Orleans.  Ask anyone who lives here.  They'll tell you the truth.  In a city of love, the first thing to wilt is hatred.  Love makes New Orleans wake up every morning to embrace the oncoming day.  All is good. There is nothing so sweet and parti-flavored as a day spent in New Orleans.  

Lucky are those who thrive in New Orleans.

New Orleans indigenous plants are everywhere.

What are New Orleans' indigenous plants?  I'm not a botanist so I can't really tell you.  Creole tomatoes are not a particular breed, they are just tomatoes that grow in New Orleans soil.  They are the tastiest tomatoes of all.  This is true of anything that grows in New Orleans.  It you find it in New Orleans, it's gotta be good.  The prettiest flowers grow in New Orleans.  Bees love New Orleans pollen.  They make the sweetest honey from their harvest.

Open your nose.  Flare your nostrils.  Inhale.  Aaaaaahhhhh!  Those are New Orleans' indigenous plants that you're smelling.  That is New Orleans' atmosphere.  There is no other perfume so sweet and intoxicating as the scent of a New Orleans day.

A house on Bayou Road in our neighborhood.

A word from our sponsor:

La Belle Esplanade is a small artisanal hotel on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, on a historic and picturesque New Orleans street that is a jungle of New Orleans' indigenous plants.

If you want to discover what it means to really fall in love with the authentic New Orleans, visit La Belle's website.  See what La Belle offers.  If you like what you read, you can stay at a lot worse places in New Orleans; a lot worse.  La Belle has been ranked the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014.  Two-time winner of the TripAdvisor Travelers' choice award: #2 small hotel in the United States and #16 in the world.  

Get your New Orleans on and visit like you belong here.  You do belong here.  We only have five suites so we tend to fill up early.  Plan ahead and make a reservation today.  You won't regret it.  The best memories are made in our part of New Orleans.

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.  

Nocturnal New Orleans

I you know want to read about me picking up some strippers on Bourbon Street, and those kind of nocturnal New Orleans adventures are common if you have the money to pay for them.  Me, I like a different kind of New Orleans at night.  I live in New Orleans.  I don't need to pay money to hang out with strippers.  Some of them are my neighbors.  Everyone in New Orleans has to make a living satisfying tourists' appetites one way or another.  Our city's economy is dominated by the hospitality sector.

Full moon in the nocturnal New Orleans sky.

Even a person who is pure of heart and says their prayers by night, may become a werewolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the moon is full and bright.  Shine on Harvest Moon.

Nocturnal New Orleans is full of legends.  People in New Orleans do talk about ghosts and vampires and zombies and voodoo and headless corpses.  The people who talk about these things are the ghost tour guides and the people who take the tours.  Card-carrying citizens of New Orleans, the people who live here, aren't easily taken in by flimflam.  

Native New Orleanians are walking encyclopedias of nocturnal New Orleans facts.  They know all the daytime facts, too.  Every New Orleanian knows more about this city than is contained in a French Quarter walking tour.

Just another regular New Orleans house on a regular New Orleans street.

The people who live in New Orleans don't begrudge visitors to our fair city their flights of fancy.  We know New Orleans is Romantic with a capital 'R.'  Caspar David Friedrich would have found plenty of subject matter in New Orleans.  An introspective and ancient city, New Orleans has accrued its share of legends and lore.  There is more.  There is always more.

The real stories about nocturnal New Orleans are better and more believable than the stories you've heard.  There is a whole wide, wonderful city outside the French Quarter, off Frenchmen Street, and off Magazine Street away from the Convention Center.  Every neighborhood has a story.

In the heat of the night, stories unfold in every New Orleans neighborhood, on every New Orleans street.  You are a member of the cast of your own movie.  Nocturnal New Orleans loves you.

Flowers bloom in the dark in New Orleans.

Don't forget to check out our sponsor's blog after you've spent enough time steeping yourself in The Authentic New Orleans State of Mind on this blog.  When you are ready to visit nocturnal New Orleans, you know where to stay: La Belle Esplanade.

Smell New Orleans Flowers

My mother will tell you that, even as a child, I have always been one to stop to smell the flowers.  That's why I'm happy to live in New Orleans.  I smell New Orleans flowers every day.  They're everywhere.

Here is Exhibit A:

Smell this New Orleans flower.

I'm no botanist.  I don't know the names of any flowers not called roses, daffodils, or tulips.  If I knew all the kinds of flowers I see in New Orleans, I'd be an encyclopedist.  There is that many flowers.  Anyone who wants to walk down any street, any street, any, to smell New Orleans flowers can do it whenever they want to.  New Orleans air is a perfume of sweetly scented pollen---not the kind you're allergic to.

New Orleans is a city full of details, floral, arboreal, architectural, culinary, and cultural.  It is easy to get lost in a New Orleans state of mind.  There is so much to look at, so much to taste, to touch, to smell, and to hear.

People who live here love it for very good reasons.

Exhibit B: another New Orleans flower.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like to smell New Orleans flowers.  Nobody is that hard headed.  When you visit New Orleans, you should stay in a real neighborhood, a neighborhood with lots and lots and lots of flowers.  Which leads us to:

You should smell this New Orleans flower.

A Word From Our Sponsor:

La Belle Esplanade is a small artisanal hotel that offers craft New Orleans hospitality.  When you visit New Orleans, you should do it like you belong here.  You do belong at La Belle Esplanade.  You can read our other blog, over there.  It is just as full of the New Orleans state of mind, but it tends to feature more of the inn.  Written in the same sparkling style of prosody!  If you like this blog, you'll like the other one, too.  

New Orleans On Your Side

New Orleans is on your side.  Wanna make good memories that will last the rest of your life?  New Orleans is here for you.  It has been here for 301-derful years.  New Orleans will endure forever.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.  It's nice here.

New Orleans is here for you.

301 years of history is nothing compared to all the things that happened on the site of New Orleans before the French founded the city.  It has always been a bourbon monarchy.  It always will be.

I stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of Esplanade Avenue and N. Broad Street.  A bicycle tour pulled up next to me.  The tour guide turned around.  "After this intersection, we are about to enter what's called Esplanade Ridge.  It's a bit more well-to-do up there, as you'll see."

I asked him, "What do you call the neighborhood you're leaving now?"  

"This is Tremè," he answered loudly, looking at his tourists in tow while casting his arm at the neighborhood behind us.  

I didn't argue.  Why make a guy look bad in front of his customers?  If a person doesn't know any better, that doesn't make him a liar.  It's not like French Quarter ghost tours are known for their adherence to the facts.  What's the harm of a little know-nothingness on a bicycle tour along Esplanade Avenue.

With New Orleans on your side, anything is possible.  Most of the people on any given tour aren't going to remember every(any)thing, anyway.  They'll remember the landscape, not the fact that the tour guide didn't know what he was talking about, especially if nobody asks any questions.  

Esplanade Avenue is a beautiful street with plenty to see and enjoy, even without narration.  The best way to explore Esplanade Avenue is on foot, without a guide.  You'll learn more that way.  Esplanade Avenue is a beautiful historic street full of details.  It is like no other street in New Orleans, or, in the rest of the world.

New Orleans is a city of stories.  The more, the merrier.  Enjoy everything you do in New Orleans.  New Orleans is on your side.  Don't believe everything you're told unless it's from a reliable source.  New Orleans isn't just a city of true stories.  Lies abound in this city of hucksters and flim-flam.  Which brings us to:

A Word From Our Sponsor:

To get accurate insider New Orleans information when you visit this wonderful city we call home, La Belle Esplanade is a small hotel on Esplanade Avenue.  Close to the tourist "must-sees" but in a real neighborhood where people choose to live in New Orleans and add to the culture that makes this great city unique.  Visit New Orleans like you belong here.  You do.  Discover what it means to fall in love with New Orleans.  

This colorful mansion can be your New Orleans headquarters.

Ranked the #1 place to stay in New Orleans by TripAdvisor since April 2014.  You can get a lot of bad or disinterested advice when you stay in New Orleans, or, you can stay at La Belle Esplanade.  Our two goodwill ambassadors are here to help you make good memories that will last the rest of your life.

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.

  

Make Good New Orleans Memories

Catch as catch can, a day in New Orleans is a plate holding a generous slice of paradise pie.  Dig in.  Get your knife and your fork.  Grab your spoon.  Hunger makes the best sauce.  Make good New Orleans memories while you are in this wonderful kaleidoscope of a city we call home.  Welcome.

People who live in New Orleans have nothing but good memories.  It's one danged lucky thing after another in New Orleans.  The sun shines even when it is raining in New Orleans.  The best things in life are free in New Orleans.

Open up your heart to the New Orleans State of Mind.

Twenty years from now, no matter where I find myself, I'm going to wake up after having a dream about my time in New Orleans, a sweet dream.  I am going to wake up smiling.  You don't even have to try to make good New Orleans memories.  The good memories will take care of themselves.  If you are smiling now, you must be thinking of New Orleans.  Lucky you.

It's Tuesday and I'm grooving on a sunny New Orleans afternoon.  Where are you?  What are you doing?  You belong in New Orleans.

 Today, I was in Lakeview, Mid-City, Tremé, the 7th Ward, the French Quarter, the Central Business District, and the Lower Garden District.  I had only skimmed the surface of today's many New Orleans delights.  With open eyes and an open heart, New Orleans will treat you right.

Some kids were putting on a puppet show today in their front yard on Marshall Foch Street.  That was fun.

This can be your New Orleans headquarters.  Make it so.

A few words from our sponsor:  

You can make good New Orleans memories, most people do, or, you can make great New Orleans memories.  Get out of the French Quarter and visit a bar or a restaurant in a real neighborhood that isn't in the guidebooks.  There is much, much more to New Orleans than what you'll read in the guidebooks.  That's why people live here.  Home is where the heart is.  The #1 place to stay in New Orleans is La Belle Esplanade.  It's a small hotel that may not be fore everyone.  It's for people who want to visit New Orleans like they belong here.  You belong here.  

À votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade

You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue.

Pick Yourself Up In New Orleans

New Orleans is a hard habit to kick.  Once you've got New Orleans under your skin, you've got to come back to scratch an itch that can't be satisfied anywhere else.  Some people have New Orleans in their blood.  Some people live in a New Orleans state of mind.  They are all lucky people.  I know.  I'm one of them---aaaaand---I live in New Orleans, too.

Your humble narrator.

Ink-a-dink-a-doo.  Fiddle-dee-dee.  

The stars are reflected in the wakes of the barges that head up and down the Mississippi River in front of the French Quarter.  Fortune tellers crowd Jackson Square in front of St. Louis Cathedral----even at 3:00AM.  When the sun rises, New Orleans is all aglow; the white herons are tinted pink as the clouds before anyone but beignet cooks are awake.  New Orleans is a city of details.  New Orleans is a city of light.  

When I want to be happy I close my eyes and I think of New Orleans.  Then, I open my eyes and I am already here.  You belong in New Orleans, too, if only for a week.  One week in New Orleans is better than one month anywhere else.

New Orleans is a tonic.  It's a spritzer.  It's a pick-me-up.   

In a New Orleans state of mind, there are no strangers; there are only friends you haven't yet met.  In a New Orleans state of mind, three 25-cent martinis are enough for one person over the course of a three-course lunch.  In a New Orleans state of mind, beads sparkle dangling off the branches of every tree, so pretty.  In a New Orleans state of mind, sno-balls are something you eat, not that you throw.  In a real New Orleans state of mind, you'll feel like you belong here.  Why?  Because you do belong here.

New Orleans is calling you.

Kitty-Kat knows you belong here.

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 Will Survive Hurricane Barry

The phrase I heard the most today?  "Somebody shut that Weather Channel off!"  No one I know in New Orleans is freaking out over the storm predictions.  New Orleans will survive Hurricane Barry.  How do I know?  I live here.

I didn't take any pictures of the flooded streets the other day.  I'm not going to take any tomorrow, either.  Instead, I give you a picture of a squirrel in City Park.  He is as concerned about Hurricane Barry as any other New Orleanian.  Que sera, sera.

Mr. Nutty

When you watch TV, you think the world is ending, especially when a tropical storm is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.  In New Orleans, we take these things in stride.  I have a prediction:  Hurricane Barry will not be anything like Hurricane Katrina.  Get Katrina out of your mind.

New Orleans will survive Hurricane Barry.  New Orleans, like you, has miles and miles of heart.  New Orleans perseveres.  New Orleans will go on.  NOLA forever.  New Orleans strong.

New Orleans has stick-to-it-iveness and gumption and bravado.  New Orleans is devil-may-care about whatever the weather wants to dish out.  With a cavalier laugh and mischievous wink, New Orleans will live to fight another day.  New Orleans is resilient.  Nothing can keep this good city down.

Two pigeons on a lion in New Orleans City Park.

New Orleans' spirit is as immortal as it is infectious.  New Orleans is about seizing the day.  New Orleans is about making good memories, tonight's better than last night's.  New Orleans will survive Hurricane Barry.  For the people who live here, thinking otherwise is preposterous.

New Orleans streets flood city-wide 2-3 times a year.  It doesn't make the national news but it does happen.  People who live are used to it.  We adapt.  We survive.  

Tropical rains inundate New Orleans every summer, more times than anyone outside the city realizes.  It happens all the time.  We've adapted to it.  We thrive.

NEW ORLEANS' PROTECTION AGAINST HURRICANE DAMAGE

Our lady of Prompt Succor is the patroness who has a special place in her heart for New Orleans.  She is also the patron of all of Louisiana.

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us.

Every day, New Orleanians ask our Lady of Prompt Succor to pray for us, to intercede for our city to spare the people who live here from loss of life and property due to hurricane damage. 

NEW ORLEANS WILL SURVIVE HURRICANE BARRY

There will be wind and there will be rain.  Then it will all blow over.  It will be a memory.  New Orleans will still be here.

When you are ready to visit New Orleans, La Belle Esplanade will be here, too.  Go go our website to see what we offer as the #1 small hotel in New Orleans and (according to TripAdvisor) the #2 small hotel in the United States AND the #16 in the world. 

Friday, July 12, 2019: Wherever you are today, whatever the weather, we hope you'll have a great New Orleans day today.  Stay dry, friends!

A toast to New Orleans!

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.