Flowers in New Orleans

The Best Written Blog in New Orleans.

It’s not me who says this is the best written blog in New Orleans.  I’ve been told that more than once, and by people who know what they’re talking about, too.  There aren’t any official awards, so it’s and unofficial designation.  Go through a few pages.  I’m sure you’ll agree.

I used to write this blog a lot more often and it used to be a lot less about our boutique B&B hotel.  La Belle Esplanade has suspended all our marketing operations.  Who has the money?  I find myself with a lot of free time on my hands, so, I am going back to writing our blog daily.

You should check in on this best written blog in New Orleans daily. I promise that I’ll do my best to make it interesting.  Do you have something else to do during quarantine?  Let this post be the test.

La Belle Esplanade also sponsors the 2nd-best blog in New Orleans.  It’s called A New Orleans State of Mind.”  YOU CAN READ IT HERE.  The guy who writes that blog is really doing an excellent job.  He’s a regular Lafcadio Hearn, which is a reference only a New Orleanian or lovers of Japanese ghost stories will understand.

Frau Schmitt, who is the better half of this operation, and I, your humble narrator, take a long bicycle ride every morning.  Our gym is closed for social distancing, so we ride our bikes around the city, exploring our neighborhoods, taking streets we haven’t been down in a while.  There are no guests at the inn.

New Orleans is an organic city.  It is always changing.  New Orleans traditions are always adapting.  There is always something interesting popping up, somewhere.

WHERE DO I GET MATERIAL FOR THE BEST WRITTEN BLOG IN NEW ORLEANS?

The stuff from which these essays are woven are the collected experiences I have on any given day.  I try to weave the present with my collected knowledge of this wonderful city we call home.  New Orleans perseveres.  Not even Nature can keep this good city down for long.  NOLA 300.  Still going strong.

If you want to read about three people that nobody outside of specialists and New Orleans know anything about:  Paul Morphy, Lafcadio Hearn, and Louis Moreau Gottschalk.  Now you have your homework.  When you are done with that there is more.  There is always more to learn about New Orleans.  This city is an onion of layers.

I always say that you will never know what you’ll find when you turn a corner in New Orleans.  Expect the unexpected in the most pleasant way you can expect anything.  New Orleans is a city full of pleasant surprises.  I know we have a reputation for vampires and voodoo and ghosts, but, I don’t know anybody who lives here who believes in that stuff.

I see it happen all the time.  Some lady will walk into a bar, not a French Quarter bar or a Frenchmen Street bar, but a back of town bar like the Rendon Inn (since 1933).  She’ll be wearing a white dress and a tignon (look it up) and she’ll introduce herself as a voodoo priestess.  “Aw, sure, go on!” everybody will say.  Not even her necklace of chicken bones impresses anyone.

NEW ORLEANS IS MORE PROSAIC THAN YOU THINK.

I walked the dog today:

Most days in New Orleans contain more puzzles than solutions.  It is only after repeated exposure that things start to make sense and then you’ll be transported into an authentic New Orleans state of mind.  You will figure that out as soon as you are outside the French Quarter and off the typical tourist map.

You should take time to smell the flowers  anywhere you are.  When you are in New Orleans, you should take the time to get a whole snootful of what’s floating in the air here.

Flowers in New Orleans
For the next month, we’ll have the opportunity to stop to smell the flowers.  These are somebody’s garden in Faubourg St. John.

Frau Schmitt, who is the better half of this operation and I, your humble narrator, and our dog, wish you only the best in the upcoming weeks.  Be well, friends.  Remember, you have two friends on Esplanade Avenue when you are ready to visit New Orleans.  We’re here for you.  Don’t, please, don’t be strangers.

À votre santé, nos amis,

Your friends at La Belle Esplanade