Poor Nicolas Sarkozy! When he promised to be president of a France that "wakes up early," he didn't realize that he might have to give up sleeping late. And when he declared on the campaign trail that he'd cut off the golden parachutes of failed CEOs, it wasn't readily apparent that people might examine the gilded gifts that CEOs offer him. Nor, it seems, did a candidate who promised to make the French work more and harder--and with a thinner social services net--conclude that he might need to forego the extravagant tastes long granted to French presidents in favor of a more sober presidency. After learning on May 6 that he would become France's next president, Sarkozy and his family retired to the palatial Hotel Fouquet's Barrière on the Champs Élysées, with its sleek and elegant suites at rates from 1,500-2,000 euros ($2,000-$2,700). The next day, they were transported to an airstrip at Bourget, outside of Paris, where a luxurious Falcon 900 EX jet zipped them off to Malta. Sarkozy may have campaigned on increasing the purchasing power of the French, but such a round-trip journey--including an elaborate in-flight meal--is hardly a bargain at more than 80,000 euros (about $108,000). Fortunately, the jet is owned by a company run by his longtime industrialist friend Vincent Bolloré.

Ever the glad-hander, Sarkozy ignored the VIP arrival's section at the Maltese airport and joined with the common travelers, according to a detailed report in Le Parisien, the USA Today-like French publication. But he and his family returned to the lap of billionaire luxury soon after when they boarded the Paloma, a 2.5-million-euro 60-square-meter über-luxury yacht. The multilevel cruiser, with its 12 cabins, Jacuzzi, four plasma-screen televisions and stunning array of additional accessories, was upgraded in a 5-million-euro renovation a few years back, according to the Parisien, which took relish in the details. But Sarkozy's increase-the-purchasing-power discourse took another hit when word hit the French press and television that the yacht rents for 173,693 euros (more than $235,000) per week--in low season anyway. (If he'd waited until high season, the week would have cost another 20,000 euros.) Fortunately, the boat trip was a gift from Bolloré, as both the industrialist and Sarkozy later made clear. The high style of the sejour spurred no less of a luxury authority than Italian billionaire (and former conservative prime minister) Silvio Berlusconi to comment that "Sarkozy has taken me as a model." Yes, the Parisien picked up that quote, too. And yes, President-elect Sarkozy has finally made the big leagues.