Lausanne--As prisons go, the famed Beau-Rivage hotel nestled on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva with breath-taking views over the snow-capped French Alps must count as one of the world's most luxurious.
But after six days and nights of living within the confines of its magnificent 19th century frescos and marbled columns, even top diplomats were beginning to go a bit stir crazy as they seek to hammer out a historic framework deal with Iran.
"Don't you guys have a life?" top US diplomat John Kerry joked with journalists who mobbed him as he left a dinner in one of the hotel's top-class restaurants late Monday with his French and German counterparts.
But he swiftly corrected himself, saying reporters had a "better life" than the negotiators.
Not only have they been debating, arguing, discussing, dining and even breakfasting together, but it has been virtually impossible to leave the hotel without being chased by camera crews from the world's media desperate for a snippet of information.
Despite the cold, rainy weather, Kerry did manage to take at least one of his famous bike rides during a break in negotiations, and slipped in to join a birthday party at a nearby bar.
And a video of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi jogging along the banks of the lake caused a storm on social networks in China, where the private lives of politicians are rarely reported on.
Opened in 1861, the Beau-Rivage, with its 168 guest rooms including 26 junior suites and eight suites, has hosted a few historic events in its day.
And many of the 20th century's most famous personalities -- Victor Hugo, Marilyn Monroe, Coco Chanel and Tina Turner to name just a few -- have passed through its halls.
The former dictator of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, spent several months in the hotel in 1996, reportedly running up a bill of $1 million, before he left, fleeing into exile in Morocco where he died the following year.
AFP
