Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Good memories are made in the wash

Ode to Joy soap
Little things mean a lot.  There are angels in the details.  I know I've already mentioned that we have soaps handmade in New London, Connecticut.  

When people think about staying in a bed and breakfast, they are, naturally enough, usually interested in two things: What's the bed like?  How's the breakfast?  I know I've already written about the beds at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, right down to the bedspreads.  I also know that I've previously described our breakfasts and what goes into them.  

Good things bear repeating.  It is time to talk about Olive and Oud soap again.
Perfect morning soap
We got a new shipment today.  We have the best smelling mailbox on Esplanade Avenue and we are proud of it.  If you want to have the best smelling mailbox on your street, Olive and Oud soap is available for sale to the discerning public.

As professional licensed innkeepers, we always do our best to make every day start with a perfect morning.  Little things, like miniature artisanal soap and good coffee with chicory, mean a lot.
Tammie, the housekeeper
I asked Tammie, the housekeeper, her opinion of one of the new soaps.  We only keep hand cut one-inch cubes of Olive and Oud soap in stock.  I opened the box and picked a cube at random, then I tossed it to Tammie, the housekeeper.  She plays shortstop on her softball team.

She held it under her nose.  She rubbed a little on her wrist and smelled that.  I followed her to the kitchen.  She washed her hands, then she washed her face.  When she was done, she was smiling.  She is only a housekeeper part time.  Her full time job is as a dental hygienist.  She has perfect teeth.

"This soap is perfect," she said.  "It reminds me of the sun shining on the oleander in the back garden.  It reminds me of breakfast with an old boyfriend.  It's like tossing off the covers in April on a bright day.  It's like it just stopped raining.  It's like a perfect morning.  It's like ice cream for breakfast."

There are angels in the details.  If you want, you can buy Olive and Oud soap online.  If you just want to try it before you buy it, you can stay at a colorful New Orleans bed and breakfast inn.  

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

New Orleans Garden Party

Springtime in New Orleans
Everything comes up oleander in New Orleans.

The oleander is blooming in our back garden.  We had our first crop of figs, but the birds ate them before they could ripen.  Do you know what New Orleans is like?  It’s like fresh figs in April.

I was out in the garden this morning admiring the orange blossoms when the oleander caught my eye.  I had just been watching the fish in the fountain when the scent of the orange blossoms caught my nose, so I wandered over to get a better whiff.  Just then, a light breeze blew through, just a tickle really, and it swayed the oleander branches.
Snowfall in New Orleans
It was early.  I had already been to the bakery.  I had some business earlier in the Bywater, so I went to a bakery further downtown than I usually am.  Our guests were in for a treat.  Frau Schmitt had been busy in the kitchen and I was busy reading the newspaper, as I usually do when Frau Schmitt is in the kitchen.  She mentioned to me that this would be a good time for me to take out the trash.  She is usually right about these things.  

I am usually allergic to chores, but, as an innkeeper (as opposed to a bookkeeper), I enjoy every errand that lets me putter about the grounds.  Someone asked me for career advice recently.  My gray hair makes me look smarter than I am.  I told him, “Do what you do best.”  
The ceiling in the lobby

Our inn is a work in progress.  It takes two people to make good memories.  La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast was built in 1883 and restored in the late 1980s.  We’ve done a little replacement carpentry and plasterwork.  We’ve repainted the whole thing except the ceiling in the lobby.  We’ve replaced all the artwork, remade the dining room, and we serve a Creole buffet of a breakfast: every day one hot bite, one fresh sweet; a selection of jellies and pickles from St. Bernard Parish; a rotating roster of po’ boy bread of various lengths and crustiness; other things, too.  Too many to mention.  The coffee has chicory.  The dining room atmosphere is convivial and bright.  Sometimes, we have ice cream for breakfast.
12-and-a-half foot ceilings
If a bartender makes a perfect sazarac and nobody drinks it, is it art?  A bed and breakfast without guests is an empty building.  When we have guests, the place comes to life.  Good memories are made in New Orleans.

Being an innkeeper isn’t as easy as we make it look, but it does have its rewards.  I was out in the garden this morning while Frau Schmitt was in the kitchen.  We were both doing what we do best.  

She was preparing a memorable breakfast of local ingredients selected and arranged to her exacting specifications and sense for pleasing detail.  Our guests would be down in a half hour and the dining room would be full of good cheer and interesting conversation.  Stories would be told, questions asked, histories shared, and jokes exchanged.  Questions would be answered and taste buds would be tickled.

I was dawdling in the garden, admiring the oleander. 
Stop to smell the flowers
If you are looking for an eccentric and colorful bed and breakfast in New Orleans, I have one I can recommend.

A votre sante,

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Second day of Jazz Fest

Ordinary men
At breakfast this morning, the morning of the second full day of Jazz Fest, our guests asked if we enjoyed the first day of Jazz Fest.  We did.

We didn't make it to the Fair Grounds.  As professional innkeepers, we were on standby all day.  Instead, we went to the Animal Rescue New Orleans Golf Classic dinner.  

There were a few members of the 610 Stompers at the dinner.  They looked like ordinary men who possess ordinary moves, but we couldn't be sure until we got a look at their shoes.
Golden dancing shoes
The Stompers looked like they were having a good time.  Everyone was having a good time.  The band was playing.
It ain't got a thing if there isn't a tuba
The 610 Stompers were standing next to some Pussyfooters.
The music was good and the food was very good.  The company was good.  I sat next to an Englishman and we hobnobbed and toasted each other.  He and Frau Schmitt have become very good friends.  It turns out he knows Tammie, the housekeeper.

The floorshow was good.  When two Pussyfooters get together there is a purring party, when more than two get together, there is synchronized dancing.  
Extraordinary women
When there are 610 Stompers nearby, well, you know what happened after that.
Extraordinary moves

The closest thing to crime this weekend has been some heavy petting.  It takes two to tango and it takes a crowd to make a party.  It's been as busy as it has been peaceable and pleasant on Esplanade Avenue this Jazz Fest weekend.  In other parts of New Orleans, too.  That's the way things usually are.

We asked our guests how they enjoyed their first day of Jazz Fest.  They spent all day at the Fair Grounds.  They are staying with us from Day One until the last note, then they are spending an extra day in New Orleans after Jazz Fest for good measure.  Smart people.  There is no such thing as too many good times and good memories.  That's the gumbo New Orleans cooks best.

"It's nice to stay in a bed and breakfast in walking distance of Jazz Fest's front gate," they said.  Frau Schmitt and I agree.  She is usually right about these things.
Tammie, the housekeeper
While I was writing this, Tammie, the housekeeper, was looking over my shoulder.  "It's bad enough that you always have to call me the housekeeper," she said.  

She pointed over my shoulder, "Do you always have to post that drawing of a woman smoking a pipe when you talk about me in this innkeeper blog?"

I told that I don't have to, but I know she's camera-shy.  The drawing that I always use when I mention Tammie, the housekeeper, has a mole on her left cheek.  I added that.  She doesn't really.  I've also never seen her smoke a pipe either, though I wouldn't mind seeing that.  

Tammie, the housekeeper, told me I could take her photograph, but the one I took didn't do her justice.  I chose not to post it.
This is not Tammie, the housekeeper
Jazz Fest 2013 is well underway with new adventures every which way.  As the people walking past our front porch say all day, "Happy Jazz Fest."

A votre sante.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Another Side of New Orleans

Not La Boef Gras
As regular readers and bed and breakfast guests know, there is nothing an innkeeper enjoys so much as telling variations on a story.  

I was looking through my scrapbook the other day and noticed that I have taken a lot of pictures of statues that most visitors to New Orleans never see.  This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.  As regular readers and guests at La Belle Esplanade Bed and Breakfast know, Frau Schmitt and your humble narrator spend much of our time in the neighborhoods less visited.  

Anybody want to go to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard?  

The coroner's office is located there and it is a sight to see.  To get an idea of how things run in New Orleans, take a look at the corner office's link:  neworleanscoroner.org.  The site used to have information about, well, the accomplishments of the elected coroner, mostly.  As of this writing, its domain is name is available for sale.

You don't say
Behind Brown's Dairy, which abuts Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, there are two monumental fiberglass statues of cows.

The bigger one is black and serious about producing milk.  The smaller one is brown and seems a bit more lackadaisical about the matter.
Separated at birth
For an added sense of scale, here they are in front of the house next door:
Add caption
They must have names, but I don't know them.  I do, however, always make a point to visit them when I'm in the neighborhood.  

Another place I stop by on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, which doesn't have a website, is the Central City Market.
99-cent breakfast and free cell phones in New Orleans
The starbursts read:  BOILED SEAFOOD.  FRUIT AND VEG.  CHICKEN NUGGETS.  HOT LUNCH.  The side of the building tells why I usually come here.
Best sandwiches in New Orleans
Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd has a wide and shady neutral ground. It's a good place for a picnic.

Here are the three most frequently asked questions we answer in order of appearance:

1.  Which way is the French Quarter?

2.  Is this neighborhood safe?

3.  Where do the locals eat?

If you are thinking about staying in New Orleans, think about staying at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  It is very rare for anyone to have a bad meal in New Orleans.  Your hosts have been around town.

A votre sante.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Two Statues in New Orleans

Mother River
If you find yourself under the twin spans of the Crescent City Connector, the bridge that connects the East Bank of New Orleans to the West Bank, you'll see a statue that most people don't ever see.

It is called "Mother River," representing the power, beauty and history of the Mississippi River.  Her outstretched hands symbolize the source of this great waterway.  Her robes and drapes represent the river's constant flow through the heartland of the United States before it converges here to form the great port of New Orleans.  She is raising her arms to salute the mariners and shore workers who make our ports and waterways safe and productive.  

That's not me writing.  It's what the plaque says.

New Orleans Port Authority Building
The statue stands in front of the New Orleans Port Authority Building.  You have to go really out of your way to find it, and you really have to go out of your way to get back.  Hence, it is a little seen sight.  It is not a tourist attraction.

So, while you don't really have a reason to be down here...
New Orleans Crescent City Connector
consider yourself reminded of the debt of gratitude we all owe to the mariners and shore workers who keep our ports and waterways safe and productive.

Robert E. Lee Boulevard, New Orleans
There is another statue that also isn't a tourist attraction, though it is seen by more people.  It is Mary, Queen of Vietnam, on Robert E. Lee Boulevard.  

Tourists don't visit Mary, Queen of Vietnam Roman Catholic Church very often.  Parishioners do.  Pilgrims do, too.  The church is also the site of the Vietnamese Martyrs Shrine.
Vietnamese Martyrs Shrine,  New Orleans
Speaking for myself, I am rarely on Robert E. Lee Boulevard.  When I am, though, I usually make a quick U-turn after I've realized that I just passed the church.  

I am not a pilgrim.  I'm usually on my way to the Soul Train store on Chef Highway.  I still like this statue:
Mary, Queen of Vietnam
So, if you find yourself on Robert E. Lee Boulevard, maybe going to the University of New Orleans, or to Southern University at New Orleans, you have another reason to stop.

In context
If you find yourself in New Orleans, you have a place to stay.
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast
You can stay on Esplanade Avenue.

A votre sante.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Downtown New Orleans

Fraternal twins
Downtown is different from Uptown in New Orleans.  Like Chang and Eng, and yin and yang, they are connected by a common spine.  We call it Canal Street.

Uptown of Canal Street, where some, not all, cross streets are called South, is Uptown.  Downtown of Canal Street, where cross streets are called North, even when they tack southeast, is Downtown.

Algiers, on the West Bank, which is due south of the Canal Street ferry, is the third half of New Orleans.  I'm not even going to think about talking about how The East fits into this.

"We've been staying with my sister, a block away from Guy's Po' Boys," Lenore told me this morning at breakfast.  "We've been in New Orleans a week, and for our last two days, we thought we should stay in Downtown."  Smart move.  They had dinner al fresco at Santa Fe.  It was 80 degrees yesterday evening.

Downtown is different from Uptown in New Orleans, but not in the way it is in other cities.  Uptown, you'll find the silk stocking district, the red-white-and-bluebloods, the old money, the seersucker set.  Downtown, things are more relaxed.  The tricolor is the same, but it is pronounced blue, white and red.  Wherever you are in New Orleans, you are in New Orleans.  

There is a family resemblance on every street.  It is in the city's DNA.  Every stranger is friend you haven't yet met.  There is no denying it.  There is no horrible part of New Orleans.

We live downtown.  We like it here.  We will probably be buried here.  There are worse, worse places.

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

A City Full of Good Memories

Apartments are common in New Orleans
When people say New Orleans is dense, they don't necessarily mean that the city is stupid.  What they usually mean is that there are a lot of people in New Orleans, and they are packed closely together.  That much is true.

There are about 360,000 people who officially call New Orleans home.  They vote at the ballot box, they pay sales taxes, they get mail delivered to their New Orleans address, and they make their livelihoods here.  

There are also about 12,000,000 people who visit New Orleans every year.  They vote with their feet and their plane fare, they pay sales taxes, they address the city with respectful affection, and they make neighborhoods more lively than they would be otherwise.  

There is no love like familiar love.  Ask anyone who has lived in New Orleans for more than a month.  There is also no love like new love.  That's the kind of love that people bring to the city every day of the year, though less so in August.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us
You never know who you'll bump into and you'll never know who you bump into, again.  New Orleans is as busy as a bigger city, and it is as friendly as a smaller town.  Something is always going on, and everything overlaps like the boundaries of Mid-City.

Everybody is ready to give directions and recommendations, to tell you their story, and to introduce you to the chef.  If they saw you on the streetcar yesterday, they will buy you a drink.  You looked thirsty then, so you must be mighty thirsty now.  Anything for a pal, even a go-cup.
Separated at birth
There are all sorts of people in New Orleans.  They have adventures in the city, strolling arm in arm, holding hands, cheek to cheek and joined at the hips.  Love is in the air in New Orleans when you and the city see things eye-to-eye.

There is the kind of love that is inspired by finding a soul mate in the right person.  There is also a love that comes from being baptized in the spirit of a sensuous city.  There are places in this world that are magic.  One of them is in Louisiana, U.S.A.  

Right before the Mississippi River ends, it gets bigger, more curvaceous, and muddier.  Old Man River, like good times, just keeps rolling along in New Orleans.  The tides you see today are made of different water than they were yesterday, but its the same waterfront.  So is everything back from the sliver by the river.  All of  New Orleans is different every day, but it always full of love of place and love of people.

You can make a home here, whether for a two-day stay or a lifetime.  History lasts for eternity, one good memory after another.
There are all kinds of homes in New Orleans
There are all kinds of homes in New Orleans.  All of them have plenty of room, no matter how small they look from the outside.  A shotgun shack can stretch back a dozen rooms, not counting the camelback.  Some homes are more eye candy than others.
2216 Esplanade Avenue at night
Do you know what's the best thing about being an innkeeper in New Orleans?  We get to live here, and every day we get to see the city through fresh eyes.  Be a New Orleanian wherever you are. New Orleans is dense with good memories.  The rest of the world needs good New Orleans memories.
Our Lady of Rocheblave and Our Lady of Dourgenois
A votre sante,

(Nighttime photo courtesy of Ann Warner)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A horrible part of New Orleans

Day breaks on Esplanade Avenue
I remember when we got our first online review for La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  It was titled, "Great Rooms.  Horrible Partof Town."  It was half right.  It was published during our second week in business. 

The middle of Esplanade Avenue is not a horrible part of New Orleans.  It is an oasis more than anything else.  Esplanade Avenue is a well-traveled, picturesque street.  If you were at a sidewalk cafe in the French Quarter, would you leave your cell phone on the table while you went to use the rest room?  Only if you are the most trusting soul in the world.  If you do, we hope you have plenty of quarters to call a cab from a pay phone.

If you want to tempt a thief, leave your cell phone unattended within three feet of his or her reach while you take a shower, indoors and out of sight, before changing clothes for a night out.  Then, act surprised.

You don't read about it often, but the French Quarter is ground zero for hustles, scams, and petty theft.  Esplanade Avenue, not so much.  Not at all, really.  An isolated incident is more preventable inconvenience than tragedy.  A new replacement phone was in the mail as soon as the lack of foresight was reported.

All types of people walk Esplanade Avenue, some more honest than others, and it is never wise to tempt fate.  Unless it is their birthday, people don't walk around with dollar bills pinned to their chest in New Orleans.  If your phone is stolen on Esplanade Avenue, your pockets are guaranteed to be a few ounces lighter after you stroll along Frenchmen Street.  If you use common sense you will go far in this city where good memories are made and remade every day.

Is there a horrible part of New Orleans?  It depends on how you define the term.  One person's trash is another person's treasure.  Home is where the heart is.  You can be both lost and found in New Orleans, a world of its own.  Frau Schmitt and I call New Orleans home without regret or trouble, 365 days a year for three years and counting.  366 days during leap years.

Since we got that first review, we tell people who stay in Les Fleurs Suite that they should not leave valuables unattended on the front porch while they shower and change their clothes.  Our advice is usually met with a roll of the eyeballs.  Of course.  We're not in the middle of nowhere.  We are in the beating, singing, dancing heart of a city known all over the world.

There is no horrible part of New Orleans.  The 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue is no exception.  All the reviews that have followed that first one have been nothing but complimentary, not only of the inn and the hosts, but also of the neighborhood.  It is an oasis like nowhere else.  We live in Treme.

Some people like the bland, pre-packed experience that a skyscraper chain hotel offers on Canal Street or in the Warehouse District.  Other people, who have their wits about them, prefer spending a few days and nights in the rest of a big, big-hearted city.  New Orleans is bigger than the French Quarter.  There is magic around every corner for people who have their senses attuned to savor pleasant serendipity.

Keep your wits about you and your valuables close at hand, wherever you are.  Don't be lulled into false complacency by idyllic surroundings.  New Orleans is a living breathing city full of friendly folk, as well as the few bad apples that can spoil a barrel.  In some ways, it is like Des Moines or Denver.  In most ways, it is a different, better, more pleasant world altogether.  We have been in business for seven months.  We have yet to see anyone walk out our front door unhappy.  If you want to stay in a controlled environment, you can charter a cabin on a Carnival cruise ship.

Good memories are made in New Orleans.  Good memories are made at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.
2216 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans
A votre sante.

Monday, April 8, 2013

A New Orleans Vacation Neighborhood

An Esplanade Avenue balcony at night
Do you know what Michigan's motto is?  "Si quaeris peninsulam ameonam circumspice."  If you seek a pleasant pennisula, look around you.  Do you know what they say in New Orleans?  "Papa doit manger!"  Daddy's got to eat.

If you seek a pleasant city, come to New Orleans.  You won't leave hungry.  

As I've mentioned before, Downtown is different from Uptown in New Orleans.  Most people spend most of their New Orleans vacation Uptown; in the Garden District, on St. Charles Avenue, or in the Warehouse District when they're not in the French Quarter.  We know one smart couple who have spent their first three days in New Orleans (their first visit to our fair city), and they have yet to cross Canal Street.

They have been to the French Quarter, of course, and they have been to Frenchman Street.  They have spent much of their time in Treme and Bayou St. John.  They have four days left to squander in New Orleans, and they plan on heading uptown at some point, but even today, they plan on taking another self-guided tour of our surrounding neighborhoods.  They'll be happy to tell you they haven't wasted any of their time in this part of the city.  The look in their eyes when they recount their adventures tells the whole story.  
An Esplanade Avenue bed and breakfast at night
Your humble narrator has spent the bulk of the past three years just a few blocks on either side of Esplanade Avenue.  It's been an easy burden to bear.  Our little bit of New Orleans has enough to keep somebody occupied for a lifetime, let alone a vacation.  There is that much to see.  There are that many people to meet.  There is that much to eat.

Plenty of people tell us that they want to experience New Orleans like a local.  Nobody has taken me up on my offer to come with me when I walk our dog before I go to the bakery every morning, but I understand.  The beds in all of our suites are snug and comfortable.  It takes the promise of Frau Schmitt's breakfasts, the scent of coffee with chicory wafting up the stairs, to raise sleepy heads.  

If nobody wants to share a daybreak cigar with the dog and I as we sniff around Barracks Street or Governor Nichols Street or Ursulines Avenue or Columbus Street or Laharpe Street, or Lapeyrouse Street, or Galvez, Miro, Tonti (TONT-ee, not tonti-EYE), Rocheblave or Dorgenois Streets, I understand.

Instead, you can go to Santa Fe for dinner, at 3201 Esplanade Avenue.  If you want to watch the basketball game, Michigan is playing tonight, after all, you'll be out of luck.  There is no TV at Santa Fe.  Luckily, the food is good, so you savor it with a carafe of sangria and check the game's score on your phone.  During the first half, you'll say, "These are the best shrimp I've ever eaten."

As you pay the reasonable bill, you ask the waiter if he knows of a bar with a TV nearby.  He draws you a map to Pal's Lounge on North Rendon Street.  You walk off dinner through some of the most beautiful moonlit streets you have ever strolled.  "There's a bar in this neighborhood?" you wonder aloud.  Of course there is.  You're in New Orleans.

You turn a corner.  There it is.  There are no strangers in New Orleans, only friends you haven't yet met.

Walking home, after the game and after a few too many ginger-infused cocktails, you find where you're staying, at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  It has been a walk to remember.  The best stroll you've ever had.  The ambient temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  The light's been left on for you.
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast at night
In a few hours, I'll be walking the dog before I head to the bakery.  Tomorrow, I'm going to Blue Dot Donuts to pick up some bacon and maple long johns.  I'm only going to buy two, but guaranteed somebody in front of me is going to order a dozen, saying, while they do so, "Papa droit manger!"  Daddy's gotta eat.

If you don't choose to join me before the sun comes up, I understand.  The promise of donuts and Lake Pontchartrain crab cakes will get you out of bed by 9:00.  It will be the food you need to fuel the next day's adventures.  You won't start the day hungry.

A votre sante, and,
A tip of the fedora to our friends from the Mitten State,
Si quaeris civitas ameonam circumspice

Friday, April 5, 2013

2014 New Orleans Bike to Work Day!!

Two pedals will set you free.
April 9, 2014 is Bike to Work Day in New Orleans.  Two pedals will set you free.

As recent visitors to our street know, Esplanade Avenue is being repaved.  Two of the current four lanes of automobile traffic will be replaced by two lanes for cars and two lanes for bicycles.  Our street is about to get a little bit nicer, if you can imagine that.

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast is serving as a hub during Bike to Work Day.  We'll be out front in the morning with coffee, maps and Bike Easy surveys.  We'll be out front until the coffee runs out.  If you want to relax in the middle of your morning commute, sit in our garden for a spell on New Orleans Bike to Work Day.

Many of our guests borrow our bicycles when they stay with us.  
Our fleet of cruisers
"It's the best way to see the city," they say, afterward.  We think so, too.  That's why we offer the option without charge.  You should see as much of New Orleans as you can.

There are currently 50 miles of dedicated bike lanes in New Orleans, with another 20 planned or under construction.  Esplanade Avenue is about three miles long.  You'll notice more on foot, but you see more on a bicycle.  It's the best way to see the most of the city.

Even if you are on a street without a bike lane, New Orleans is remarkably flat.  You won't strain your lungs or your legs unless you are spinning fast.  You wouldn't know it, but Esplanade Avenue runs on top of Esplanade Ridge.  It is imperceptibly higher than the streets surrounding it.  That's the way hills work in New Orleans; like obstacles, you don't notice them.  Nothing is steep.

If you are in the neighborhood on Bike To Work Day, feel free to stop by, even if you don't have a reservation.
2216 Esplanade Avenue
It's the orange house with the blue shutters.  You can't miss it.  For other hub locations: there's a map at this link.

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

A Difference Between Housekeeper and Innkeeper

Tammie, the housekeeper
"I read your blog," Tammie, the housekeeper, told me the other morning.  "Why do you always have to refer to me as the housekeeper?" she asked.  "I am more than a housekeeper, you know?"

She is also a mother, a grandmother, and a licensed dental hygienist.  She performs all her roles equally well.  "You and Frau Schmitt make beds and dust and mop, too.  Why do I have to be singled out as the housekeeper?"

I answered that she is La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast's housekeeper, and she should be recognized as such.  "People don't see you as much as they see us," I answered.  "What you do is behind the scenes when the house is empty.  Why should we, the innkeepers, get all the credit?"

"Let's ask Frau Schmitt what she thinks," Tammie said.  "She's usually right about these things."

We asked Frau Schmitt, who thought about it awhile.  "He's right this time," Frau Schmitt told Tammie, the housekeeper, ruefully.  "An innkeeper isn't a housekeeper.  We couldn't do it without you.  People should know that."

With the matter judiciously settled, I asked Tammie, the housekeeper, if she had seen where I had left my glasses.  "They're on the desk in Les Saintes Suite, Mr. Innkeeper," she told me.
The desk in Les Saintes Suite
Tammie, the housekeeper, was right.

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Smoking in New Orleans

Everything is glamorous in New Orleans
People from elsewhere are often surprised that smoking is still common in New Orleans, and it's not just the coronas rolled at the New Orleans Cigar Factory.  Smoking is still allowed in bars.

It takes some getting used to.  After their first night out, many of our guests express their surprise.  "We outlawed that years ago!" they say.  New Orleans is a haven for people trying to escape restrictions.  Live and let live is written into the municipal code.

Before they went out on their first night, the couple from Brooklyn who stayed with us recently asked about smoking in New Orleans.  They wrinkled their noses when we told them they were probably going to be exposed to secondhand smoke.
No smoking in this dining room    
The next morning, over breakfast, they were more enthusiastic.  "I haven't come home smelling like a stale ashtray in years," Ivan said.  "I smelled my hair when I woke up and I felt like I was in college again!" Nadia piped up, cheerfully.  

New Orleans makes people feel young.

Some people say New Orleans is behind the times.  Others say it is a world of its own.  The city and its people play the game of life by different rules, that's all.  Laissez les bon temps rouler is not just a phrase to print on a tee shirt.  It is a motto for setting priorities.
A New Orleans bed and breakfast inn
Smoking is neither encouraged nor discouraged at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  It is, however, limited to outdoors.  The furniture on the private balconies is equipped with ashtrays, but if you are going to smoke on the balcony, close all windows and doors.  We don't want to charge you for deodorizing the suite, which is more work than you think if you have an asthmatic staying next week.
A La France Suite view of the gardens
You are always welcome to enjoy smoking tobacco in the gardens in back.  It's beautiful there.  With the tinkling fountain and the breeze rustling the leaves of the palm, pecan and fig trees, it's not just a smoker's paradise.  A recent guest from Des Moines spent a morning on her needlepoint in the garden.  I asked why she wasn't out exploring the city.  "It's nice to sit in the sun, here," she told me.

If you have a hankering for tobacciana while you're indoors, you can always study the exhibits in our cigar box museum during breakfast.  Your host will be happy to discuss the collection.
A view of the cigar box museum
A votre sante.
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