Today I am kicking myself for not purchasing a dress for an upcoming holiday party while in Europe last week, but as I searched from the Eiffel Tower to the Bastille for the perfect cocktail attire, my husband was constantly whispering in my ear, “you realize what that costs in dollars, right- you should wait till that style hits the US.”

While Europe was amazing, all week long there were constant reminders on the weak American economy, from the below amusing/disturbing CNN International clip, to hearing a couple in line at the Louvre discussing how “UNREAL the exchange rate is now, and how they are leaving for New York to go shopping the following weekend.”

This led me to think. If New York is cheap for the Brits and other EU residents, how disgustingly cheap is New Orleans??? Are we like visiting a 3rd world South American country? So I realized it is time for everyone to email their Europeans friends, family and colleagues and sell New Orleans. The economic impact could be huge.

Here are some rough price conversion comparisons to sell my point:

Hotel Stay (December 15th Nightly Rate)

New Orleans Ritz Carlton- $169 USD (113 Euro)

Small hotel room in a 1 Star Paris b&b (85 Euro/ $126 USD)

Fine Dining

Commanders Palace Revillion 4 course dinner- $42 USD (28.27 Euro)

Lunch at Cafe Marly overlooking the Louvre: club sandwich, 4 potstickers, 1 coke and a coffee (42 Euro/ $62.32 USD)

Shopping- to compare apples to apples- The Gap

Everything at the European Gap was 70 Euro, it was a very strange pricing strategy

Gap dress similar to one I saw at the Paris Gap- $69 USD (46 Euro)

Now imagine the 2:1 pound. Spread the word, it’s cheap and we laissez les bon temp roulez….