New Orleans Rain
If you didn’t know it already, it does rain in New Orleans. You wouldn’t know it because, even when it’s raining in New Orleans, everybody is happy. When it rains it pours in New Orleans but there is nothing so refreshing as a New Orleans rain. When it rains, it pours in New Orleans. Coincidently, that’s the motto of Morton Salt. I always use iodized salt and Fact #6 of this Morton Salt link will tell you all you need to know why. You’ll see very few goiters in New Orleans, I’ve never seen any, and it always seems like the sun is shining in our fair city—even when it’s raining. There is something jaunty about a New Orleans rain. Maybe it has to do with the Rain Goddess in City Park.
New Orleans rain is refreshing. Even though I’ll complain about how cold it is, unless you live on the Equator, you’ll find New Orleans weather balmy and refreshing. It’s a rare bone-chilling rain that falls in our fair city. Besides, the streets are clean after a New Orleans rain. The rain washes away a multitude of sins. Maybe that’s why people look forward to it.
City Park is at the end of Esplanade Avenue, which is the street on which our humble boutique inn is located. La Belle Esplanade is located at 2216 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119. Drop us a note in the mail any time you want. You’ll find me to be an excellent pen pal. Just remember, you gotta write ’em to get ’em.
Our inn doesn’t have the word “inn,” “hotel,” “guest house,” or any other indication of what our business is about in its name. Why? Because, as a business, Frau Schmitt (who is the better half of this operation) and I, your humble narrator, decided that we want the guests who stay with us choose to stay here because of the magical street on which we live. We live on a beautiful street. Good memories are made on Esplanade Avenue. Good memories are made on Esplanade Avenue even during a New Orleans rain. When it rains in New Orleans, it still seems like the sun is shining. Everybody is happy in New Orleans.
The rain goddess statue in City Park is right behind the New Orleans Museum of Art. It’s near the entrance of the New Orleans Botanical Garden. The statue is a fountain that is turned on during the day. Rain comes out of the statue’s cloud, but it doesn’t rain from the statue at night. Don’t be fooled. It does rain at night in New Orleans. It rains more often at night than it does during the day, most seasons.
The statue is not atmospherically correct. When the fountain is turned on, the rain comes out of the top of the cloud, not it’s bottom. The rain goddess, like most people, doesn’t like to get wet. We call that artistic license. The sculptor was an artist. He was Enrique Alferez. He was an art deco genius. His sculptures are found throughout City Park and they are concentrated in the Botanical Garden.
What is it that makes New Orleans rain so rejuvenating? So refreshing? Why do people laugh when it rains in New Orleans, holding their heads upturned toward the clouds with their mouths open to drink in as many drops as they can? New Orleans rain is a distillation from Heaven. New Orleans rain makes you feel alive, both in body and in soul.
There is nothing so life-giving as New Orleans rain.
If you are looking to sing in the rain while you stroll down a beautiful New Orleans street, I can think of no better place to stay than La Belle Esplanade. You’re on our website. Poke around, read all the pages about our amenities and suites, read the deep archives of this blog and discover what it’s like to wake up in a New Orleans state of mind. In a New Orleans state of mind, the sun will always be shining in your heart.
When it rains in New Orleans, you’re guaranteed to have adventures in New Orleans. You may even shake hands with a crawfish:
If a crawfish pinches you, it’ll tickle. Everything in New Orleans will tickle your fancy.
Life is good in a New Orleans state of mind.
À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade
…where every morning starts with a curated breakfast salon of good food and good stories about what happened the day before. There will be more good food and good stories every day after this.
Monday, May 22, 2017: It didn’t rain today, but it rained yesterday. New Orleans rain is a blessing. Be thankful you’re alive enough to feel it and laugh about it. Only a corpse is bored in New Orleans.