In January my husband and I traveled to one of my favorite of cities, New Orleans. I just love their food. One can go to a hole in the wall and get well executed meals with out spending a lot of money. But one can never go wrong with Antoine’s, Commander’s Palace, Emeril’s, Arnaud’s, Brennan’s, or K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen among many other well known locations.

We spent two nights there prior to boarding a cruise with Norwegian. Having stayed directly in the French Quarter before, this time we stayed in the Faubourg Marigny district, one of the city’s best kept secrets.

The Frenchmen Hotel with its tropical brick lined courtyard, each of the 27 rooms are individually decorated with period furnishings reminiscent of the refined New Orleans homes of the 1850s was a perfect location to experience the ambiance of New Orleans without all the crazy tourist activity of the French Quarter.

Located on Frenchmen Street right on the edge of Esplanade Ave, one of the French Quarter’s most famous streets, with its ancient live oaks and frequent sightings of horse-drawn carriages, Esplanade is a bounding street of the Quarter, so you are steps away from the action, without sleeping in the middle of it. What a unique eclectic little neighborhood this was! Jazz clubs, restaurants, and neighborhood bars (including a hookah bar), all on this funky street within a block or two of our room.

Now our room had to be the smallest room I have ever stayed in, with the door barely skimming past the edge of the queen size bed, and a bit of creative maneuvering to get the luggage inside, but cozy it was. With night’s quite chilly outside, inside the room we were warm as toast. The room opened directly onto the courtyard, and included a complementary continental breakfast with fresh pastries delivered from a local bakery.

We located a great deal on www.bookit.com, and while parking is at a premium, through bookit.com it even included free on site gated parking. While parking can generally run around $25 per night, we felt we had snagged quite a deal. We definitely will be back again – and the price was right! Why would any one want to stay in one of those shiny new hotels when one can experience the true essence of New Orleans? Since we were there two weeks prior to Fat Tuesday, there were parades, and one came right in front of our hotel.

Another hotel worth looking into is The Lamothe House, located right on beautiful Esplanade Street.