for the Washington Post's FW magazine
One imagines it possible that the flowers are painted to
match the citrus-hued furniture. Anything seems possible in a place where a
sign announces that today the ocean -- not the beach -- is closed due to stormy
waters.
This is The Breakers, after all. The
many star and diamond studded Italian Renaissance hotel that presides over the Palm Beach waterfront
like the world's most splendid cruise ship, though there's no reason to
disembark.
Like a cruise ship, the resort is
capable of comfortably mingling guests of all ages and pedigrees, from the
brilliantly bejeweled to the elaborately tattooed. Kids as well, with day and
evening camps, playgrounds and game
rooms to keep them out of your ...coif.
Modeled after the Villa de Medici,
filled with tapestries, murals, gilding,
and chandeliers dripping Venetian crystals the size of mangoes, The Breakers,
built in 1926, is tended by a chicly-clad staff of two thousand.
At crack of dawn, teams of workers appear to prune the very
air along with microcosmic snippets of errant grasses that have dared to breach
the perfect gap between paver and lawn.
Throughout the day the stone chalices (dare one call them
ash trays?) that dot the property are instantly cleaned and raked.
Set on 140 acres, there are four
pools along the half mile stretch of beach ocean front, two golf courses, ten
tennis courts, and eleven boutiques, including branches of Ralph Lauren,
Guerlain, and Lily Pulitzer, of course.
The spa offers everything from manicures
to full-day indulgences, three fitness centers serve those who
prefer the treadmill, and complementary classes are offered in belly
dancing, pilates, and yoga. Given the level of service it comes as a shock that
you're expected to swab your own yoga mat.
