Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

For the fifth year in a row, France has topped a list of the best places in the world to live.

International Living magazine’s 30th Quality of Life Index surveyed almost 200 countries across nine categories, including cost of living, culture/leisure, environment, and safety/risk.

“In France, life is savoured,” said International Living publisher, Jackie Flynn. “I don’t think anyone would disagree that France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, where there is so much pride in all the small details. The French love little window boxes filled with flowers, tidy gardens, pretty sidewalk cafes and clean streets.”

International Living paid particular attention to provincial France, praising the affordability and services outside Paris, especially for retired people and their families.

Australia jumped up the rankings from fifth to second place on the strength of its economic recovery, while the US dropped from third to seventh. International Living claimed that sustaining the ‘American Dream’ had escalated out of the reach of many.

Top Ten
1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. United States
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy

The UK’s position? A lowly 25th behind the Czech Republic and Lithuania.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can help you book some of the finest luxury hotels in Paris and in many other areas of beautiful France.

Some evocative pieces of old Paris have been sold at auction.

The pièce de résistance of the sale, ‘Paris Mon Amour’, at the Drouot auction house, was a set of 40 original iron spiral steps from the Eiffel Tower.

“I have been thinking for many years about organising an auction concerning Paris,” said Christophe Lucien, who put the sale together.

The moment arrived when officials of Nogent-sur-Marne, east of the city, asked Lucien to sell the section of the Eiffel Tower staircase bought by the town in 1983.

“I thought that was the perfect opportunity because there is nothing more symbolic of Paris than a staircase from the Eiffel Tower,” said Lucien.

Things moved quickly. “I just spread the word and everybody started to pull out objects related to Paris from their drawers and cupboards. In almost every French family there are some souvenirs of Paris.”

Apart from the Eiffel Tower steps, the 301 lots included a taxi counter dating from around 1920, a lamp-post from the Champs-Élysées, a pair of wooden Metro (underground/subway) seats and an old rusting iron public urinal known as a vespasienne.

Perhaps the oddest lot of all was a piece of dried bread. During the siege of the famished French capital at the end of the Franco–Prussian war, someone stuck the piece of bread – then a great rarity – on a piece of cardboard. It carries the inscription: ‘Historic souvenir of 1870-1871.’

by Andy Moreton, with Associated Press

If you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic and historic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.

The leading business publisher, Forbes (of ‘Rich List’ fame) recently announced its experts’ pick of Europe’s most luxurious hotels.

Among them are the following six which are available to book at the best rates through Luxique. Alongside is a snapshot of the jury’s verdict:

• Le Meurice Paris: ‘Modern elegance, with the opulence of Versailles.’

• Claridge’s, London: ‘The destination of choice for the world’s celebrities and royals.’

• Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat, St Jean Cap Ferrat, France: ‘A legendary hotel that epitomises and exudes old-world glamour, while simultaneously offering modern amenities for today’s discerning traveller.”

• Hotel Adlon Berlin: ‘An historic masterpiece, in a prime location, provoking a sense of awe upon arrival.’

• Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal, Budapest: ‘Behind the opulent and grand façade lies the fully restored 19th-century spa where guests can enjoy anything from a mud or seaweed bath to an array of full-body wraps.’

• Villa d’Este, Lake Como, Italy: ‘A much-vaunted palazzo hotel that has dazzled royalty, celebrities, billionaires and chic in-the-know jetsetters for more than a century.’

by Andy Moreton, with acknowledgements to Richard Carnell of Forbes.com.

Some of the most important museums in Paris have been hit by strike action. Parts of the Louvre, as well as the Pompidou Centre and the Musée d’Orsay, were closed on Wednesday.

The strikers are upset about a government policy to replace only one in two of retiring public servants. After first being applied to government ministries, it’s now being extended to organisations owned by the state, including museums. There’s a fear that this will cripple French museums.

The work stoppage began at the Pompidou modern art museum on November 23rd and unions had warned that the strike could spread.

The Louvre welcomes 8.5 million visitors a year, the Pompidou Centre 5.5 million.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique has a super selection of luxury Paris hotels – both classic and modern.

One of the oldest restaurants in Paris, La Tour d’Argent, is putting 18,000 bottles of vintage wine up for auction.

They include such sought-after tipples as Chateau Lafite Rothschild (1970, 1982 and 1997), and Chateau Cheval Blanc (1928, 1949 and 1966).

La Tour d’Argent, which enjoys an enviable position overlooking Notre Dame cathedral, is a fixture on the Paris dining circuit. It dates back to 1582 and is most famous for its pressed duck.

The bottles for sale were selected from the 450,000 or so that are kept in what is one of the world’s largest and finest cellars. The restaurant says it wants to cut down, vary and modernise its selection.

The auction, set for December 7th and 8th, has captured the imagination of France’s connoisseurs of the grape. A spokesman for the auctioneers said:

“To wine lovers, these cellars are like Mecca, like a cathedral. It’s the holy of holies.”

Some very old spirits will also be sold. When four bottles of 1875 Armagnac Vieux were finally unearthed from the labyrinthine wine cellar, they were found to be covered in a black fungus that looked like matted cat fur.

But they are not the oldest lots in the auction. There are three bottles of a Clos du Griffier cognac from 1788 – the year before the French Revolution. The starting price is 2,500 euros (£2,250/$3,685) a bottle.

It’s thought the whole sale will fetch up to a million euros (£900,000/ $1.47 million).

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.

A new exhibition which opened last week at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris celebrates the life of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

The exhibition explores the paintings, sculptures, furniture and jewellery that helped France’s most famous and flamboyant monarch shape his all-powerful image. Some of the 300 pieces have not been seen publicly since the French Revolution in 1789.

Born in 1638, Louis ascended to the throne at the age of four and reigned for 72 years until his death in 1715.

It was Louis who decided to turn his father’s hunting lodge at Versailles into the dazzling centre of his universe, moving his court, government and military command there. The exhibition includes a 17th century painting of the reconstruction of Versailles, which has been loaned by Queen Elizabeth II.

Perhaps the most surprising portrait of Louis is a profile made from a wax mask of his face, dating from around 1705. He’s seen toothless and frail at the age of about 66.

Louis XIV, the Man and the King runs until February 7. Details are on the Versailles website.

by Andy Moreton

Versailles is about 12 miles south-west of the centre of Paris and a visit there is a pleasant way to spend a day while staying in the city. Luxique can offer the pick of the luxury hotels in Paris, as well as the elegant and newly refurbished Trianon Palace, which nestles in woodland less than a mile from the Palace of Versailles.

The next time you visit the Louvre in Paris, you might feast your eyes on the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo … and the quarter pounder with cheese.

Yes, the ancient museum is to get its own McDonald’s – not actually inside the building, but among other retail outlets in the stone-walled underground approach called the Carrousel du Louvre.

Inevitably, there have been protests – just as there were when another American chain, Starbucks, opened a café close to the museum’s entrance last year.

“This is the last straw,” said one art historian at the Louvre, who declined to be named.

“This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours.”

The museum said in a statement that it welcomed the fact that visitors could enjoy ‘such a rich and varied restaurant offer’.

While Gallic gastronomes might wring their hands at this pervasion of (junk food), the ordinary French seem to beg to differ. While business in brasseries and bistros has been in freefall, McDonald’s opened 30 outlets in France last year and welcomed some 450 million customers – up 11 per cent on the previous year.

by Andy Moreton

The Louvre is just one of the wonderful places to visit in France’s romantic capital. Let Luxique help you book rooms at a luxury hotel in Paris.

If you find yourself in Paris this summer, you’ll find that you won’t have to watch your step so much.

Paris has been known in the past as ‘the capital of dog mess’, but stringent fines have led to a marked improvement on the streets. The number of fines issued for mess offences have dropped from almost 5,000 in 2004 to fewer than 2,000 last year.

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, had been determined to fix a problem that had had its fair share of adverse publicity. In a Paris-based episode of Sex And The City in 2004, the heroine Carrie fouls her expensive stilettos on the Champs Elysees. And apparently the Japanese used dog-messing as an argument against Paris’s bid for the 2008 Olympics.

François Dagnaud, who works for the town hall’s hygiene unit, conceded that problems persisted with the dense poodle population of the chic 7th and 14th arrondissements. To change owners’ habits, some 90 inspectors are due to carry out ‘commando operations’ in these areas in the autumn.

There is another simpler reason for Paris’s cleaner streets: the number of dogs trotting around the capital has plummeted in the past three years, dropping by a third from 2006-7.

by Andy Moreton

You can get clean away with a bargain if you book your luxury hotel in Paris through Luxique.

Politicians in France are once again debating one of the more contentious issues in France – whether shops should be allowed to open on Sundays.

French laws are much more restrictive than those in the US and UK, for example. Sundays have been protected since 1906, although bakers, butchers and other small shops are allowed to open until noon.

Carole Landry, a journalist based in Paris, says keeping retail businesses closed has helped cement the tradition of the Sunday family meal that many in France still hold dear.

But there has been a clamour for change over the past twenty years, with recent polls suggesting that a majority of the French believe shops should have the freedom to open on Sundays. Paris’s temple of shopping, Galeries Lafayette, has said this would create between 300 and 400 jobs and boost sales by 10 per cent.

If passed, this amendment to the law would allow shops in designated tourist areas and special commercial zones to open on Sundays.

President Sarkozy has long been a strong supporter of change. After a recent visit by Michelle Obama, President Sarkozy asked: “Is it normal that on a Sunday, when Madame Obama wants to go shopping in Paris with her girls, I have to make phone calls to get them to open?”

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers a choice of a wide range of luxury hotels in Paris and many other French cities.

Any visitor to Paris who’s been brave enough to rent a car knows all about the problems of driving there (try negotiating the giant roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe in the rush hour!)

And then there’s the parking. If you happen to choose a forbidden area, you could find a dreaded sabot de Denver (‘Denver boot’ or wheel clamp) when you return.

And don’t think it’s any better for the locals. One anonymous car-owner, apparently fed up with looking for a place to park his car, has paid 470,000 euros (£404,000 / $662,000) for a prime spot on the bank of the River Seine in the heart of the city.

It was put up for auction by the Paris City Hall for a starting price of 200,000 euros (£172,000 / $281,000), but the bidding soon went mad. The final purchase price is said to be roughly the equivalent of that for a three-room apartment in a more modest neighbourhood of Paris.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique’s city guide will show you how to get the best out of public transport in the French capital and we’re proud to offer you a choice of the best luxury hotels in Paris.