The Room of the Seven Gables

New Orleans travelog #3
Hotel Lemoyne - Saturday, 22 Apr 2023, 11am

I'm trying a different approach to the problem of getting backlogged on blogging about trips. Oh, I'm still absolutely sure I'll get backlogged, but recognizing that it's pictures that hold up my flow, I'm going to try keeping up with things day-by-day with text and then add color (heh) with pictures as I have time, in separate entries. That's why one of the first things I did in New Orleans, take pictures of our slightly unusual hotel room, didn't appear in yesterday's blog. (Nor did pics from Bourbon Street; those will come later.)

As we rode in from the airport I noticed the architecture around New Orleans. I pretty much always notice the architecture everywhere I go. When I was younger architect was one of the careers I aspired to.

New Orleans is an older city, by US standards, and has long been a trade hub. As we passed downtown I saw a lot of Art Deco buildings... that were abandoned. That's the other part of Nola's history.... It hasn't always done well. A history or endemic corruption and inability to adapt to changing economic forces has left the city a shell of its former self, economically.

Anyway, our hotel! No, it's not a shell of its former self. But it is an older building that's been repurposed and/or retrofitted over time. To get to our room on the second floor, we took the elevator up, then walked to the end of the corridor, then out a door to the outside, then down a few steps to and outdoor walkway.



"Which of these doors is ours?" I wondered.

The answer, strangely enough, is All of them!



The hotel upgraded us to a suite— yay, elite status! But it's an oddly laid out suite. It's 10 feet deep and 50 feet wide. The door enters to a sitting room (above). A short corridor passes the bathroom to the bedroom.



In the bedroom there's a second TV and an armchair (not pictured). And all those windows!

Leaving the room was slightly easier than getting to it the first time. Just around the corner from our balcony/breezeway is a stair. It leads down to the pool area. We can cross the pool deck, enter through doors into the lobby, then out the lobby to Dauphine Street, just 1 block from the famed Bourbon Street in the heart of the French Quarter.

Dinner and Brunch in New Orleans

New Orleans travelog #4
French Quarter - Saturday, 22 Apr 2023, 1pm

As I noted in my previous blog, I'm trying to stay up to date with blogging about this trip but also being cautious not to let picture processing hold things up. Thus I'm combining some photos from dinner last night with lunch/brunch today.



Last night we dined at Oceana. It's a restaurant all the staff at our hotel recommended. Right away that made me suspicious.... I've traveled in places where touts and shills are a problem. When everyone on staff is recommending the same place it sure sounds like they're being paid to endorse it. Buuut after we walked around the 'Quarter for a while we decided this restaurant looked at least as good as anything else in the price range. It was also one of few restaurants with a line for tables. That suggests t's good... or has paid for lots of shills.



The food at Oceana turned out pretty good. I had a blackened redfish with delicious crawfish etouffe on top and sides of jambalaya and New Orleans style corn. I washed it down with two New Orleans beers: Abita Amber Lager and Faubourg blonde ale. And a dish of bread pudding for dessert.

As I ate I was especially amused by the mural on one of the wall near us (above).

"In America there is New York, San Francisco & New Orleans.
Everywhere else is Cleveland."

Having visited most of the US I'd say that's close to true.

For lunch today we went back out into the 'Quarter with no specific plan in mind. Well, actually, we had a number of plans for things we'd like to visit, but a specific lunch/brunch spot was not one of them. After visiting a few antique and jewelry stores on Royal Street we found Court of the Two Sisters.



The Court is something I vaguely recall hearing good things about when I was in Nola years ago. I feel like I was here drinking one evening with friends in the courtyard and was told to come back for their awesome brunch. Well, more than 20 years later, here I am. It's good New Orleans doesn't change that fast.



The Court serves a buffet brunch. Buffets aren't generally our thing anymore but this one had items listed on the menu that appealed to each of us: omelets for Hawk, and prime rib for me. Plus plenty of other stuff to make it interesting. And the pricing was not outrageous.

Again the food was delicious. I filled myself on a few slice of prime rib with plentiful sides of steamed shrimp, jambalaya, grits and veal grillades, garlic mashed potatoes, and creamed spinach. Oh, and small slices of red velvet cake and pecan pie for desert. Yeah, that's probably going to be my main meal for today.