Monday, March 30, 2026
Day 6 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. Walked to breakfast at Cafe Beignet with Patrick: one almond croissant each, small latte for Patrick, large chai latte for me. The croissants were edible but disappointingly dry. Pre-checkout of Hotel Monteleone. Finished packing. Here is my needlessly detailed review of our traditional king bed hotel room 882 in Bienville Tower at Hotel Monteleone. check-in was only a short wait in line and was efficient and friendly. The room is clean and tidy and much smaller than we are used to. The carpet is in very good to excellent condition. We have a nice view of the Mississippi River facing southeast over rooftops that aren't as pretty. The mini fridge contains only two cartons of plain water. The coffee machine is a Keurig-compatible Hamilton Beach. The condition of the room is between decent and good. There are some seams or cracks in wallpaper and molding that could be repaired. Two outlets were loose in their boxes, and one had a plate screw missing. The left door to the TV cabinet has a detached hinge that needs to be reaffixed. The plastic toilet seat has sharp edges that were not sanded smooth after being removed from the mold, and it is not securely attached on one side. Two lamps have one-way bulbs when they should have three-way bulbs. The thermostat appears to do what we set it to, but we wished there were a lower fan setting than the lowest one. The iron works very well. The plastic iron holder on the inside of the closet door is broken and missing a few chunks in places. The art is very nice: a very large Audubon print of a great blue heron, and a smaller Th. Muller map of old New Orleans. The lamps appear to be reproductions of vintage Chinese Longquan celadon porcelain table lamps featuring raised floral motifs on a plain wood base. The water pressure is high, and hot water arrives quickly. Flushing is noticeably noisy, which could be annoying if one person is napping or sleeping. The television and television system feel ancient. The safe works well. The bathroom interestingly has fluorescent bar lighting along two walls which includes above the bath tub and shower. It doesn't seem unsafe; it's fully enclosed. I found it unusual—and useful—for lighting to extend into the bath tub area. Bath products are from C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries and are pleasant. It helped to bring an extension power cord for powering a phone on a nightstand while sleeping; only one nightstand has an alarm clock with 2 power outlets and 2 usb-a ports. The housekeeping staff sometimes speaks very loudly to each other in the hallway which makes it a bit difficult to nap during the day to recover from jet lag, but earplugs are an easy solution. We also occasionally heard neighboring guests talking late at night. All the pillows were too soft for me, but I resolved this by rolling one bath towel under my pillow to give it more support. I used the blanket stored in the closet for extra warmth. The curtains slightly overlap and block outside light completely, but the outline of the front door leaks some hallway light into the room, and a few devices on the ceiling have LEDs that blink at regular intervals. While preparing for hotel departure we noticed that we saved $60 by scheduling Uber 30 minutes in advance instead of ordering whenever we were ready. Rode Lyft to MSY. We arrived at the airport extra early because of potential delays related to the government shutdown and lack of funding for TSA, but getting through security was surprisingly fast—perhaps 10 minutes. Southwest flight from MSY to AUS. Complimentary alcoholic beverages due to extra legroom seats. Snacks on the flight: pistachios, pretzel twists. In the airport at Austin we got food to go from Austin City Market: deli chicken fajita taco (hot), which we ate at the gate, and black forest ham and provolone cold sandwich which we saved to eat on the plane. Southwest flight from AUS to SFO. Complimentary alcoholic beverages due to extra legroom seats. Snacks similar to the previous flights. On the plane, I read from books on Kindle and began playing Monument Valley 2 on my iPad Air which I think I had started long ago and never finished. Rode UberX home. Dinner: TJ's chicken schwarma bowls from frozen, water. We watched YouTube then half of Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride. To bed.