Top 5 Most Romantic Cities

MAKE UP on a ride on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar. Delicate glances from far ends of the car shunting through a delicate landscape full of lavender-and pistachio-colored houses, the dapplings of palm trees. Ease your way closer at every stop. Hold hands without looking at one another.

CELEBRATE THE RECONCILIATION with a drink at the Ponchartrain Hotel or, if you’re inclined to hipness, at Loa, the bar at International House, a cool new hotel. Then have a slab of red meat at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the one that started it all.

TRULY RECONCILE at the Soniat House or Hotel Maison de Ville. If you’re illicitly involved, or just crave true luxe, these are the places. Tiny, plush, antiques-laden, romantic, and, above all, discreet. Very nice, very pricey, worth it.

RECOVER at Commander’s Palace in the Garden District with the jazz brunch and turtle soup with a shot of sherry in it. Wear your dark glasses, revel, relax, enjoy the guy setting fire to your bananas tableside. Have an eye-opener and start all over.

San Francisco by Kristine Kern