Virtuoso Life - May/June 2008 - (Page 45) MEAL TICKET La Samanna underscores St-Martin’s reputation as a foodie isle in the Caribbean gastronomic with its five-day “gastronomic week.” Beginning June 18, the 81-room hotel will host several chefs from Orient-Express hotels and ‘21’ Club restaurant in New York, each paired with a different winery in multicourse dinners. Six-day stay from $3,495 for two, including breakfast daily and nightly chef’s dinners. Gourmets’ retreat: La Samanna. Fashion Cycle Paris has gone vélo-mad with the introduction of Vélib’, a citywide bicycle program. Guests of the 191-room Hôtel Plaza Athénée stand out from the public fleet aboard cherry-red bikes with matching leather panniers as shopper’s totes. The bikes are complimentary, but enamored guests can take one home for about $3,000. Doubles from approximate $1,038, including breakfast. Phoenix Rebirth After a $17-million makeover, Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North has emerged with 210 refurbished rooms with WiFi, flat-panel TVs, and MP3-player docking stations, along with a new restaurant, Talavera, featuring seafood and game. A backlit onyx bar brings sophisticated flair to the lobby lounge, but the hotel’s perennial draw – the best sunset perch in the valley – remains unchanged. Doubles from $205, including breakfast. Onyx Bar & Lounge in Scottsdale. Far East field trip: The Peninsula Beijing. While renovating the MANDARIN ORIENTAL, PRAGUE, a former Dominican monastery, workers discovered more than 370,000 relics. Among the most impressive were the remains of a Gothic church dating to 1330, now illuminated beneath the glass floor of the spa. * * Florist Jeff Leatham uses some 9,000 blooms weekly in public arrangements at the FOUR SEASONS HOTEL GEORGE V PARIS. * Logs used in guest room fireplaces annually at New Hampshire’s MANOR ON GOLDEN POND: 25,000. For more trivia and stories, turn to page 122. BY ELAINE GLUSAC M AY | J U N E 2 0 0 8 45
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