Posted on 12/26/2007 1:08:54 AM PST by Cincinna
French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew in to the Egyptian city of Luxor on Tuesday aboard a private jet accompanied by his new love, ex-supermodel Carla Bruni, to spend Christmas on the banks of the Nile. French billionaire Vincent Bollore provided the plane that brought Sarkozy, Bruni and nine others from Paris to the pharaonic splendour of Luxor, where the recently divorced Sarkozy will relax for a few days ahead of an official visit on December 30.
The group travelled from the airport to the Old Winter Palace hotel in a 16-vehicle convoy, with the pair walking hand-in-hand up the stairs to the hotel, Bruni wearing sunglasses as the French president waved at some tourists.
The group had boarded in a private hangar in Paris to avoid prying lenses, while paparazzi awaited the couple in Luxor seeking intimate shots of the pair.
Egyptian security forces were deployed discreetly around the town, and a French journalist and cameraman were briefly detained overnight by police for filming the couple's hotel.
Sarko, as he is known by both supporters and opponents, will be staying in a 1,100 dollar (760 euro) a night suite in the Victorian elegance of the Old Winter Palace on the east bank of the Nile, an Egyptian source said.
Council workers were seen on Monday giving a fresh lick of paint to the riverside opposite the hotel, with the town thronged by foreign tourists spending Christmas in the balmy winter air of southern Egypt.
Sarkozy and his second wife Cecilia announced their divorce in October after 11 years of marriage. Since then, he has been publicly seen with Bruni but has remained tight-lipped about his relationship with the model-turned-singer.
The couple were first photographed together on December 15 at Disneyland Paris in a "coming out" that some saw as a means of moving on from Sarkozy's controversial red-carpet reception for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's visit to Paris.
The president is due to fly to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday, before travelling to Cairo on his first official Middle Eastern visit for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday.
However, almost all media attention is focused on Sarkozy's relationship with Bruni, who turned 39 on Sunday, heiress to a tyre fortune whose former boyfriends include rock stars Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton.
The use of the tycoon's plane to fly the president to Egypt will also draw media attention after Bollore, one of France's richest men, treated Sarkozy to a big-budget holiday to Malta soon after his election in May.
At the time, both Bollore and Sarkozy -- whose friendship goes back 20 years -- denied accusations of a conflict of interest, saying Bollore's business and media empire had no dealings with the French state.
After Luxor, the presidential delegation will travel to Sharm el-Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula to be joined by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his partner Christine Ockrent behind the high walls of a luxury villa.
The property has its own private beach and security will remain tight given the possibility of roving photographers in speedboats. Sharm was also the site of a 2005 terrorist bombing that killed 65 people.
Sarkozy travels to Cairo on December 30 where he will head a 200-strong French delegation for a 24-hour official visit, before heading back to Paris to see in the New Year.
The French are very different from you and me.
How can a man be so politically brilliant, and be such a dumb-a$$ when it comes to women?
What about his children? What about Christmas with family?
The kids aren't better off with mama?
yitbos
Actually his sons have reached an age where he will have to keep them away from his new love. In a previous relationship she went from the father to the son....
Bruni, who turns 40 today, has spent most of her life in France and has enjoyed a colourful love-life, ranging from musicians such as Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger (while he was married to Jerry Hall), to writers and philosophers - she ran off with one of the latter, Raphaël Enthoven, while she was living with his father - and now to politicians.
We’ve gone from “presidential elections” to “presidential e*ections.” in France.
This is something that must have a buy named “Bill” salivating at being able to have a life like that.
Bill Clinton is dying with envey......Sarko is not best in love as he might be in politics.
It is as it seems, if you the USA elects Hillary, Sarko will be the leader of the free world. He will do justice to the West I pray.
He should be with his family on Christmas I agree.
envy even
Oh, please.
Women make men stupid. It's the history of civilization.
Read the Bible. Read Shakespeare.
When his wife walked out on Sarko, it activated his secret stupid center (we all have it).
This babe just pushed the stupid button, and, here we are.
>> How can a man be so politically brilliant, and be such a dumb-a$$ when it comes to women?
It’s called “thinking with the wrong head”.
Is it just me or does Sarko resemble Steve Carell?
After dealing harshly with the rioting yutes he needed a little R&R. /s
It’s just you... ;~D
LOL
The children probably spent Christmas with her and the new boyfriend sking in Switzerland.
Yes, women do make make “stupid”. Most happy women are married to stupid men and I’m glad I am one of them.
I am guilty as the next of getting a lot of my exercise from jumping to conclusions. Hopefully next year I can put on the jogging suit instead of the pj’s when I log on to my favorite site.
Until then I have one more week left!
Since this babe is a smokin’ hot ex-supermodel, I hereby invoke the Ann Coulter rule:
No posting about this story without photos to support the facts.
“Women make men stupid. It’s the history of civilization.”
And unfortunately, the history of much of my dumb, stupid, mistake ridden life.
It would have been faster and cheaper to have just thrown myself off of the roof in my 20’s.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.