Ooh La La... Such Gallic Romance

*Wear form-fitting black. Alternate with form-fitting black.

*Before you go, memorize your arrondissements—if not all 20 Parisian neighborhood sectors, at least èmes 5, 6, 7, 14 and 15: the primary neighborhoods of the artsy, intellectual Rive Gauche (Left Bank of the Seine). Travelers get points for not walking around with open guidebooks and their noses buried in maps. Once you learn your arrondissements, a discreet folded scrap of paper is all you’ll need. In French, the First Arrondissement is written in an address line as 1ème or 1e. 1ème is the fashionable heart of Paris on the Right Bank (Rive Droit) and home to the city’s most glamorous hotels, shops and fashion houses. Also the Louvre, the Palais Royale and the gilded statue of Joan of Arc. 18ème is Montmartre (Sacré Coeur, Moulin Rouge and the famous Montmartre Cemetery of the artistic and intellectual elite). 4ème is the center of the Marais: home of Victor Hugo, Notre Dame, the Picasso Museum, intriguing antique shops and interesting cafes. 8ème includes the Champs Élysées, the most overrated boulevard in Paris. Not counting, of course, the Arc de Triomphe, which absolutely must be seen at night.

*Spend an afternoon with Eros and Psyche at the Louvre. Save the rest for another time.

*Indulge in one very romantic, very public kiss. It’s so Parisian.

*Buy something rose-infused from au nom de la rose (46 Rue du Bac, 7e, Rive Gauche).

*Sleep late, dine late. Do less.

*Linger way too long, Hemingway style, in one of Papa’s favorite Latin Quarter cafés. La Rotonde and Closerie des Lilas (6ème) and La Coupole and Le Dome (Montparnasse, 14ème), also were frequented by Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Jean-Paul Sartre, Samuel Beckett, Degas and other authors, artists, philosophers and intellectuals. Before you go, re-read Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast.

*See Musée d’Orsay’s exhibition Hands, by famous early 20th century photographers, which includes the hands of dancer Isadora Duncan, playwright George Bernard Shaw and painter Edgar Degas. Additional September exhibitions include Cezanne, Seurat, Van Gogh, Picasso and other masters. The wonderful architecture of the museum, built in 1900 on the banks of the Seine as a railway station, is worth the visit.

*Book the Sex and the City dalliance at Plaza Athénée. The final two episodes of HBO’s Sex and the City were filmed at the fashionable Hotel Plaza Athénée, where beyond-gracious service belies all those snooty stereotypes, and the color red signifies pampering without limits. You’ll recognize it by the signature red awnings overlooking Avenue Montaigne, the potted red geraniums and the sophisticated red touches in the décor, pillow amenities and gift-wrapped surprises. Your Sex and the City package includes Continental breakfast, a "cosmopolitan cocktail"—Carrie Bradshaw’s favorite drink—at Le Bar du Plaza Athénée, and a Plaza red umbrella, one of Carrie’s must-have accessories. Oh, and the official Sex and the City book, Kiss & Tell. Rates, depending on the room/suite your romantic interlude requires, range from a740 to a3,590 per night.

Even if you don’t spend the night, stop in for a drink at Le Bar—focal point a surreal blue iceberg-like bar—and watch the beautiful people of Paris and the world flow in and out.

*Spend a weekend a belle etoile at Hotel Le Meurice. Fully half of the Belle Etoile Suite, the most glamorous hotel suite in Paris, is a 2,500-square-foot landscaped terrace, affording a stunning 360-degree panorama of the city and its monuments: the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Sacré-Coeur. Skip a day trip to the Eiffel Tower and savor the spectacular night-lighted monument from your terrace or your marble bath. An extremely famous pair of lovers recently shared a romantic rendezvous in this seventh floor signature suite, as have others whose names you know (as might be expected, at a12,000 per night), but Le Meurice will never tell.

For slightly less opulence and significantly less square footage, but just as much romance, ask for the La Vie en Rose package, an immersion in pink petit fours, personal Le Meurice robes, rosé champagne, fresh roses and spa privileges at Spa Caudalíe. And of course, a languid, Parisian-style late checkout to savor every romantic moment. Depending on the room or suite you choose, rates range from a690 to a1610 per night. For a few Euros more, the honeymoon package includes a romantic dinner, an actual (heavenly) star named in your honor and a bed covered in rose petals.

The spa, of course, is all about vinotherapy. At Spa Caudalíe, sister to the original Les Sources de Caudalíe in Bordeaux country, one can get wrapped in merlot, massaged in sauvignon, scrubbed with crushed grape seeds or indulged in a Pulp Friction massage. The fruit of the vine has long been a French secret of youth and passion, and it turns out that grape seed extract has 10,000 times the anti-oxidant power of Vitamin E. A votre santé! L’amour toujours!

Web sites

www.parisinfo.com

www.plaza-athenee-paris.com

www.hotelmeurice.com

www.oneandonlyoceanclub.com