Once a year, the New Orleans Museum of Art hosts Art in Bloom, a flower arranging show amid the paintings and sculpture in the galleries.  Mrs. King, who is the better half of this operation, and I went the first hour that the show opened.  The museum was full of garden club ladies, the kind of people who like looking at flower arrangements.  They were wearing bright, spring-colored dresses.

Most of the arrangements were on the second floor, in the permanent collection.  This gives the florists (if that’s what they are called) a chance to study the work they are reacting to in blooms.  I particularly liked the one in front of the Dorthea Tanning painting in the permanent collection.  I can’t remember the picture’s title, nor am I going to look it up to confirm it’s Dorthea Tanning.  Take my word for it.

The exhibit only stays up for about a week, so the time to see it is now. Really though, any visit to the New Orleans Museum of Art is worth it. The whole museum will take about an hour–an hour and a half if you study everything. The museum isn’t really known for anything in particular, but the collection is very good and there is a little bit of something fore everybody.

Mrs. King and I went to the third floor, to the Asian and Oceanic Art floor. In the Oriental painting room was ikebana, the Japanese are of flower arranging. Like all things Japanese, the displays about absence as much as presence. There are new ink paintings in the Oriental room. They keep the lights low to preserve the paper.

Any trip to the Art Museum is worth it, located in City Park, a little over a mile’s picturesque stroll from our inn. On the way, stop for lunch at Liuzza’s-by-the-Track, or sit outside at Santa Fe to watch the world go by.

You are on the right website if you are looking for a place to stay in New Orleans. You can stay at an AirBnB in some unknown part of town. I know you can because I drive around. I see the look of disappointment of people’s faces when they try to punch in their door code. Come to a real inn.

Come to real New Orleans. This is La Belle Esplanade. You belong here.