● Earlier this year, the St. Regis announced that it would be opening 10 new properties across the globe in the near future, and the first in this new line has finally opened in Florence. It’s an 81-room hotel housed in an historic 15th century building overlooking the Arno, and the second St. Regis property in Italy. If you don’t check it out, then consider our friendship over.

Fourth of July at the St. Regis Washington, D.C. Early evening. Near triple digits outside. AC blasting. Feeling rich from cashing in some credit card points. My better half lounging on the enormous bed, flipping through a complimentary copy of Town & Country magazine—Donna Karan says it's not about me, it's about we. She's wrong. It's all about me as I polish off my shower beer and shave before dinner at Zaytinya. There's a remote control on the counter between the sinks, but where's the TV? Power on. An image magically appears in the middle of the bathroom mirror. The TV is inside the mirror! So ingenious, so unnecessary, so ... wonderful. I find the channel broadcasting the Independence Day concert taking place down the street. There's some Muppets, Jimmy Smits introducing Gladys Knight, and I'm shaving and watching TV at the same time without cutting my lips off. It's amazing, and I'll suffer greatly when I'm once again forced to shave with a non-TV-impregnated mirror. O luxury items. How you vex me.

It’s debatable how the ambition-averse French (for the record, that’s a compliment) view Ducasse, Inc. -- and the global “branding” of what was once a sacred and strictly indigenous vocation. But as Americans, we’ll gladly latch on to the symbolism of a revered French chef settling in two blocks from a xenophobic White House, “audaciously hoping” it is a significant harbinger of change to soon come. And despite Monsieur Ducasse’s spotty stateside success, praise for his Adour NYC has been as lavish as its gilded interior. His new DC outpost, opening this September and sporting elegantly modern interiors by the Rockwell Group, completes the transition of the St. Regis from gloriously stuffy old-money citadel to the city’s most formidable modern luxury hotel.