We said goodbye to room #228 in Baton Rouge this morning at 9:00, and arrived at Room #4 in New Orleans before 11:00.
The 1896 O'Malley House was originally directly on the corner lot at Canal Street & Pierce, built by Paul Broyard, a "free man of color" in the Colonial Revival Style. In the late 20's it was moved (how, I have no idea) two lots down Pierce to 120 so that the Tessitore family could construct the pharmacy on Canal. The Consulate General from Venezuela then. purchased this house. By the 70s, the home had been divided into 5 apartments. It wasn't until 1998 that the home was restored and converted into a B&B. Luckily, many of the architectural details had remained, including all of the cypress woodwork, coved ceilings, 9 foot pocket doors, the incredible stairway, and the pine covered attic (where our room is located.)
We have our own driveway!
The marble and cypress carved mantle is original.
the private courtyard, currently with no takers thanks to the weather.
the second floor has the larger rooms. You have to keep going up to get to ours.
I've included all the photos of the house, but those weren't taken as soon as we arrived. Since I'd arranged for us to stow our luggage (bonus -- they moved it all to our room while we were out!), we got the car parked, got our key, directions, and decided to grab the streetcar to the French Quarter for lunch while the room was readied.
The streetcars, however, are not running in New Orleans while they undergo additional construction, which will allow for an additional line. So in their place, the NOLA busses pick up and drop off at all streetcar locations. The one at Canal and Carollton is about a two minute walk from the front door. We purchased our all-day pass ($3) and promptly missed the stop we should have taken. We got off at the end of the line near the Riverwalk and decided to loop back around to the Acme Oyster House recommended by Brent, one of our hosts at the O'Malley.
So we walked along the Mississippi River and took in the Woldenberg Park installations
Before cutting back into the pavement at the JAX Brewery, around past Cafe du Monde (insane lines, even back at the kitchen) and then across to Jackson Square.
But by the time we turned up at Acme, the lines were out the door and Sam was D.O.N.E. As in, take me home, I don't care if we ever eat again, just get me out of here.
So we caught the bus back to the quieter climes of Mid-city, grabbed some ice cream and water, and basked in the AC. After her shower, she had regained the ability to speak and we did a 3:30 linner as take out from across the street at Theo's Pizzeria (also, very good.) And then she fell asleep.
Not quite what I had in mind for our first of two days in NOLA, but August is a killer and the Quarter is brimming with people and panhandlers and noise and smells. After the three days on the road, it's not quite the tonic I'd hoped.
The B&B, though, is lovely and quiet sanctuary, with two adorable Golden Retrievers (Porter, 5, and Jackson, 2) and a scrumptious breakfast in the morning to anticipate, as well as the cemetery tour.
And 12 hours of sleep doesn't sound half bad right about now.
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