So Jennifer Anniston and Justin Theroux are officially engaged, sealed with an emerald eight-carat diamond. While speculation runs akimbo about where (Greece, where she lived for a year or so as a kid, is high on the list of possibilities) and when (perhaps as soon as “We’re the Millers?” wraps in October), I’d like to propose we “leave the love birds alone” and, instead, satisfy our luxury-wandering souls with a look at the wildly chic places they’ve already visited.
Take the Paris Ritz, for example. Ever since 1898, when it opened on the Place Vendome, this palatial hotel has pretty much owned the gold medal in hotel luxury. It’s where Coco Channel lived for 35 years, where Princess Di and Dodi Al-Fayed enjoyed their last dinner and where Ernest Hemingway fantasized he’d spend heaven. Although no one’s saying whether Jenn and Justin’s June getaway to the Ritz included the Imperial Suite, an official French National Monument with 20-foot ceilings, Louix XVI furniture and a four-poster bed modeled after Marie Antoinette’s, we do know it included such outings as romantic dinners at the Eiffel Tower, shopping the arcades of Palais Royal and relaxing walks through Jardin des Tuileries.
In Rome, the Wanderlust co-stars chose Hotel de Russie, an updated 19th-century palazzo enviably situated between the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo. It’s near Via Condotti (can someone say shopping?) and the Vatican (which Jenn enjoyed in a rules-breaking short grey dress) or, for those who’d rather kick it on-site, there’s a tiered hillside garden (complete with butterfly sanctuary), one of Rome’s best spas (with its own Turkish bath) and the al fresco Stravinskij martini bar.
Next up was Capri and JK Place, an intimate, 22-room property on Marina Grande that, thanks to designer Michele Bönan, has an eclectic art collector’s vibe with retro 60’s statues, antiques, stacks of art books, potted orchids and billowing white curtains. The 19th-century villa turned resort is perched on a cliff overlooking the Bay of Naples and to get back and forth to their 60-foot yacht, Liberty of Lymington, Jenn and Justin rode a 3-minute funicular with views of Vesuvius.
Congratulations! And don’t forget to write!!