It has been said in the past, by local New Orleanians, that when you have a house on St. Charles Avenue, "You have arrived!". They were talking figuratively as to your success in life. We find the statement true as-well but, in the manner of luxurious comfort within a Bed and Breakfast stay in the Historic Garden District of New Orleans. This 1891 built, Thomas Sully mansion offers turn-of-the-century charm to match its historic location. Thomas Sully (1855-1937) was the leading architect in New Orleans during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth.

Mr. Sully designed this home for the Picard family in 1889 and the structure was completed in 1891. The home is an example of the Queen Anne style of the period. The architecture is characterized by the wrap around front porch and double Ionic style columns supporting the porch above.

Many years ago, during height of plantation growth. Owners of plantations, who might live days away by horseback but only a day away by the way of the Mississippi river, would build town homes within the City of New Orleans and surrounding areas. Mr Picard was a plantation owner and this historic house was built to be his families town home at that time. The Historic Garden District, was formerly located in the town of Lafayette which was annexed by New Orleans in 1852.

In front of this beautiful five story mansion is the Saint Charles Ave street railway. It is the oldest operating streetcar line in the world, caring passengers through the streets of New Orleans since 1835. They run twenty-four hours a day and visitors can purchase an unlimited usage pass for three days at a very affordable price.

The Avenue Inn includes free parking at the rear location of the property, but for the three nights we stayed here we never moved our vehicle. We rode the street car or walked.

The reason for this was to live life like a native. There is so much to see and you will miss a good deal if you are driving around town.

The Avenue Inn innkeepers/proprietors, Joe and Bebe Rabhan, are consummate professionals and care deeply about the quality of their Inn and the experiences of their guests. You feel you are at home in their Inn. Joe explains the history of the home to all its guest when they check-in and acts as your personal concierge during your stay. If there is something you want to experience at the Inn or around New Orleans, I can think of no one better to ask than Joe or Bebe. There have been several weddings at the Inn.

After check-in, Joe showed us to our room. Absolutely grand, the furnishings of the room take you to a time of quality and craftsmanship. Several of the furnishings are from Joe and Bebe's private family collection. If you have the time, peruse the Inn's commons area and be sure to check out the main parlor fireplace and Joe's grandfathers "Our Family's Story'. The innkeepers have a pretty interesting historical background themselves.

A part of their way of saying thank you for choosing the Avenue Inn, Joe and Bebe leave you a gift basket of local items like coffee, teas, pralines and other items to be sampled or taken home with you.

Joe and his guest were right on the money, wow! How could I have come to New Orleans so many times and have remained ignorant as to what was around me. I thought I had did my home work -only to find that this walking tour put on by Gray Line Tours and Southern Comfort was fun and very educational. I never saw myself as a tour kind-of-guy, but this is absolutely a sensational tour.

Want to know where the "$" was invented? How did "Dixieland" get its name? Why is Canal Street a dividing line in New Orleans? This tour answers these questions and many more as you explore the majority of the French Quarter and the inner sanctums of many of the restaurants and bars. Our tour guide was a Mr. Joe Gendusa with Gray Line Tours, he is very entertaining in his descriptions and introductions of the culture, people, and customs which you are introduced to along the tour. I highly recommend Joe as your tour guide for this tour. You may check them out on the web yourself, the link is in the left hand side of this article.

Here are some of the many highlights you can expect to see during the tour.

Fantastic tour! We had a lovely time walking throughout the French Quarter and dining in a very nice restaurant next to Jackson Square before heading back to our Bed and Breakfast. We headed back to the Avenue Inn by meeting the Street Car on Canal Street. It is quite a nice ride and you feel apart to the city by riding on it. I will warn you though, have exact change or better yet get a one or three day pass. They do not give change on the street car.