Les Fleurs Suite (updated)

Antique bed, Les Fleurs Suite

I forget whose idea it was to name everything in French.  When we're talking amongst ourselves, we always call it Flower.  "Remember those nice people who stayed in Flower?" Frau Schmitt will ask me, and I know exactly who she means.  

Our guests who get into the spirit of things call this Les Fleurs Suite, and they should.   That's what it says on our website.  It's this suite and it's one of our favorites.  The sitting room is pink and the bedroom is peach.  I forget whose idea it was to pick those colors but, with the blue ceiling and the all the antique furniture, it has a calming effect.  It's on the ground floor, which makes it Tammie the Housekeeper's favorite suite.

View from the front porch

As usual, I took all these pictures with my phone.  Les Fleurs Suite has its own private front porch that faces Esplanade Avenue.  You get to the porch through the front bedroom window that goes down to floor and up into the ceiling.  The bed frame used to be full-sized.  It used to be in Clio , but we got a new bed for up there.  We took this bed to the restorers and they turned it into a queen.  Les Fleurs Suite has a queen-sized bed - no need to call about that.   The only other suite with a queen bed is Clio.

Sitting room, Les Fleurs Suite

We added a new leather love seat to go with the velvet chair in the sitting room.  The sitting room also has the leather chair that matches the love seat.  You can't see it in this picture because I was sitting in it.  Even with the antique wardrobe and dresser, there's plenty of room in this first room of the suite.  

As for the second room, the bedroom, it has plenty of space in it, too, even with the antique queen bed and the other antique furnishings.  We already saw a picture of the bed, here's what it looks like to look from the bedroom through the sitting room:

Bedroom view of the sitting room

You'd think I took these pictures at different times of day on different days, but the light is beguiling in our house, especially when you use your phone to take the pictures.  There is a private bathroom off the bedroom, equipped with an antique claw foot tub in case you want to take a soak.  The tub is equipped with a shower head - no need to call about that.  The hand sink, however, is in the bedroom because it's more European that way.

The reason this is called Les Fleurs Suite is because of the botanical artwork on the walls.  Some are photographic prints.  There is a paper mache flower from a Mardi Gras float.  Over the mantle in the sitting room, there are some original oil paintings by a local artist we like to collect.  

Two private rooms, a private bath, and a private porch that looks out over Esplanade Avenue.  The wild ginger in front of the porch is coming back after almost dying from cold last winter.  Esplanade Avenue is a beautiful street and the front porch presents an interesting and ever-changing view.  

It's a main street, but it isn't terribly busy for a main city street.  Cars go by and people walk by, too.  The tour buses and bicycle tours stop across the street to snap pictures of the house.  We live in a kind of landmark: most colorful house on Esplanade Avenue.

The best way to make a reservation is online through our website: labelleesplanade.com.  There's no need to call unless you have questions.  In that case, we'll be happy to answer them.  We're not always home though, so email is generally more efficient.  

I'm not trying to discourage you from calling, it's just that we put everything up on our website.  We don't think anybody likes surprises.  When somebody calls, they have to wait for me to pull up our website to check availability or to check our policies.  

Tammie the Housekeeper

Tammie the Housekeeper is a whiz with the cleaning, but she prefers not to have anything to do with computers.  That's why she never answers the phone.  The answering machine can take a message as well as she can.  She's usually busy getting the suites ready, stocking the complimentary refrigerator, making sure ever suite has coffee, tea, a bag of Zapp's potato chips, and putting a praline on the pillow.  We wouldn't be as successful as we are without good housekeeping.

We look forward to meeting you.

A votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Unintentional Art in New Orleans

Columbus Street, New Orleans, facing riverside

I noticed something on Columbus street the other day when I was walking the dog.  I didn't recognize it at first, but I kept looking at it and kept looking at it until I finally realized what it was that set my New Orleans-sense tingling.  It was perfect.

Plantation home, Columbus Street New Orleans

It was a couple of houses past my favorite house on the block between North Miro and North Galvez Streets.  My gaze kept being drawn back to the space between parked cars and I couldn't figure out why.  Then it hit me.

A tree grows in the 7th Ward

All of our guests this week are New Englanders.  We don't know why, but we have something in common to talk about if nobody wants to talk about New Orleans.  I was talking to the fellow from New Hampshire, and he was going to walk around the neighborhood to take pictures.  I told him about the new tree on Columbus Street.

Art or life?

It's a live oak sapling planted inside the hollow stump of a dead live oak.  The trunk is hollow from termite damage.  Somebody sawed off the stump nicely, making it obvious that intentional care had been taken in the planting of this new tree in place of the old.  It's like something a conceptual artist gets commissioned to put in a public park.  Here, it's just part of the 7th Ward landscape.  You never know what you'll find when you turn a corner in New Orleans.  

I was thinking that while the dog and I walked around our neighborhood:

Colorful Creole homes, New Orleans, LA

I always appreciate the orange door on the periwinkle house, but I'll always be a sucker for the facade of the yellow house.

House on North Prieur Street

Luckily there are street signs everywhere in this neighborhood.  These houses are on the corner of North Prieur and Columbus Streets, two blocks down from the tree.

Things are safer than they appear in New Orleans

A recent guest, one from Alaska no less, sent us a link to his blog today.  He wrote that he wasn't sure if we'd be interested in a guest's reaction to New Orleans, but, if so, he thought he would share a link to his blog.  We are always interested.  If anyone else wants to share a link, we'll be happy to read it.

This is what it's like to live in New Orleans.  I asked our guest if we could share his link here.  He said he didn't mind at all.  Without further ado: here is the link.  I know exactly what he means.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Something Amazing in New Orleans

Feast day of St. Jean d'Arc

The Feast of Saint Joan of Arc was actually about three weeks ago. One of our guests snapped the photo above.  Today is a different celebration.

I know it's been a few days since our last update, but tune in tomorrow.  I saw the most amazing thing a few blocks, two blocks, actually, from our house.

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

Outside New Orleans

Facing Uptown on Chartres Street

We don't leave New Orleans often.  When you live on a beautiful street in a beautiful city, there isn't much urge to venture too far.  We do get some guests who rent a car in order to take a trip out to the plantations. 

We always recommend a plantation tour, if you're interested in that.  There are tours, though, that will drive you out to the plantation so that you don't have to rent a car.  On the bus, there's a guide who will describe what you're driving through and the history of the area.  It's very interesting.  On the way back, most people nap.

Some people want to rent a car anyway.  If you want to, there's no reason not to.  Some people say, "We don't want the touristy version.  We want to see the real Louisiana."  Renting a car is certainly one way to do that.

If you want, I can tell you the exit number for the best gas station upriver.  It's past Destrehan.

Gator's One-Stop

Since we get our wine from a winery upstate, we always stop at that exit.  Nobody says "upstate" here, but you're not from here either so you know what I mean.  I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about that gas station that makes me want to pick up some cracklin's and a bottle of Gatorade.

Gas station off the Interstate 10

People ask what it's like outside New Orleans.  Well, it's Cajun country, to start with.  It's a different world out there.  The food is different, for one thing.  The accent is different, too.  It's much more rural, i.e. there's more wildlife.

There are alligators out there.

There are alligators out there

Gator's One-Stop is in Mississippi, not Louisiana.  It's in the small print in the photo above.  These aren't pictures of the gas station I'm talking about.  That one is even better.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.