Lobbies With a View

"It's been said that the French Quarter begins in the lobby of the Hotel Monteleone. In fact, this venerable establishment sits majestically at the foot of Royal Street giving guests the best point of departure for all things New Orleans."

In contrast to this point of emphasis on Monteleone's webpage, we saw the hotel as providing an entrance to the decorative sights of Christmas.

The colorful lights in the lobby caught our attention and drew us into the hotel.

We caught a glimpse of the Carousel Bar just to the right of the of the entrance to the lobby. This unique bar, which revolves very slowly "...is a part of New Orleans history. A favorite of New Orleans locals, it has a wild circus motif and is often filled with colorful local characters telling stories about Hotel Monteleone and our celebrated city."

(Just in case some of the "colorful local characters" did not want to be included in a photograph of the bar, we took a quick shot [above] and moved on.)

We took a seat in the lobby and spent time studying the table display (left) and people-watching.

One of the scenes that unfolded before us was that of a wedding party that seemed to be searching the lobby for someone. Had I been a bit more prominent in my presence, I could have picked up a few bucks, since the person they were looking for was the photographer.

We moved on to another hotel in the Quarter.

"Often referred to as the 'Jewel of the French Quarter', the Royal Sonesta New Orleans offers great choices in dining and entertainment...all located within our doors" (sonesta.com).

The lights of the trees and the brilliance of the chandelier provided examples of other "jewels" of the hotel.

I thought the lobby was beautiful. The somewhat muted red of the ribbons was the perfect shade to pair up with the gold of the walls.

"The Royal Sonesta Hotel is located in the heart of the historic French Quarter on one of the world’s most famous entertainment corridors, Bourbon Street."



I'm sure that these hotel lobbies are beautiful at other seasons, but at Christmas, they are magnificent.