Tag Archives: hotels

The BEST places for Christmas Travel

Rockefeller Center christmas tree
Rockefeller Center christmas tree, Manhattan, New York

Pamela Douglas Webster talked yesterday about some best books for Christmas. That got me thinking about sharing some other bests. And while Pamela was talking about staying at home for Christmas, I have places to go and sights to see.

I recently received an e-mail from Hertz. They polled their customers about many different holiday habits (like road trips, of course!) If I were going on a road trip of Christmas travel, I would follow the Hertz guide to their favorite light shows. Continue reading The BEST places for Christmas Travel

New Orleans Literary Landmark Hotel Monteleone

Royal Street Stroll in front of Hotel Monteleone
Royal Street Stroll in front of Hotel Monteleone

Destination: New Orleans

Authors: Galore

Did you know that the United States organization Friends of Libraries U. S. A., designates Literary Landmarks? So when you travel in the U. S., you can check their site, visit the haunts of writers past and present, and in a few cases, stay at the same hotels. Checking state by state on the Friends of Libraries Site, you can also get some ideas of literature that came from the state you are visiting.

I just returned from New Orleans, where I stayed at my favorite hotel, Hotel Monteleone, conveniently on the edge of the French Quarter, and walking distance to everything (just ask my aching feet). But best of all, when I walked through that glorious lobby with the towering Grandfather Clock, I was walking in the footsteps of Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty and other outstanding authors.

You can even stay in a suite named for one of those three authors–although that does not mean they stayed there–it just means that the suite is decorated in a style that presumably would suit the writer. A few books by Truman or Eudora or Tennessee lie on tables for your reading pleasure.

Truman Capote loved the hotel and returned frequently. Once when he was being interviewed on the late night talk show of Johnny Carson, Capote claimed that he was born in the Monteleone. In fact, his mother and father were staying there when she went into labor and was transferred to a nearby hospital. But it made a good story to say he was born in his favorite hotel. And Capote was made of stories. Continue reading New Orleans Literary Landmark Hotel Monteleone