A simple quiz to judge how much you might, or might not, like Le Richelieu: You walk into a turquoise bathroom (even the toilet is turquoise), and see that, while being clean and very well-maintained, the main fixtures appear to be nearly 40 years old. Do you think (A) "Wow, how cool!" or (B) "How dated and awful!" If your answer is B, then Le Richelieu might not be your ideal hotel. If your answer is A, well, then it's definitely worth checking out.

While our bathroom was retro-cool turquoise, we did get a peek at another one that appeared to have been recently updated, so they're not all time capsules. But we loved ours anyway.

Our room on the 4th floor was clean, roomy and had a shockingly large walk-in closet, complete with iron and ironing board, which would make it a great room for an extended stay.

Also, while at least one recent review complained of being able to hear activities in an adjacent room, our room seemed quite well sound-proofed. We never heard anything from neighboring rooms, and even people in the hallway sounded a bit muffled. We could, however, hear a folks out on balconies on the floors below us (the 4th floor lacks such balconies) on a couple of occasions when they got a bit boisterous. Maybe the person who had the noise problem was in a different wing of the hotel.

Street noise also wasn't much of an issue. The hotel is located in a quiet, largely residential corner of the French Quarter. This location makes for a nicer experience in many ways, but might not be convenient for everyone. It is quite close to Decatur St. and the Frenchmen St. scene over in the Faubourg Marigny. But it's a little bit of a walk to Jackson Square, more of a walk to the more raucous part of Bourbon St., and a real hike to and from Canal St. But you can hop on the nearby Riverfront Streetcar line to ride over toward Canal St.

One thing I would note is that, even though we were there in mid-April, our top-floor room got a bit warm in the late afternoon, and we didn't have any real control over temperatures in the room, but we did have a window that actually opened. Especially with that window, the heat wasn't a problem for us, but I might have mild qualms about it getting too hot on the 4th floor if I were staying here during the summer. The 2nd floor might be a better choice in really hot weather.

Overall, we really liked the hotel, its location, and most notably, its decent rates and free parking.