The Good Life

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the art of romance has dwindled in recent years. To put a little heat back in the hearth, why not spend Valentine's Day--and night--with a luxury getaway, period-drama style? Escape to Jane Austen's England at the George in the quaint town of Rye. A coaching inn since 1575, it has hosted three King Georges (I, II and IV); it reopened last year after exquisite renovation by set dresser Katie Clarke and her husband, Alex. Clarke has exploited her contacts to the max: the Georgian ballroom boasts hand-painted chinoiserie by 18th-century specialists De Gournay, who papered Keira Knightley's bedroom in "Pride and Prejudice" (from €334 per night for the Valentine's package; thegeorgeinrye.com ).

Want something wilder? Re-create Heathcliff and Cathy's windswept "Wuthering Heights" liaisons on the rugged Yorkshire moors by visiting the real Penistone Crag in Ponden Kirk. Return to a roaring fire at the Devonshire Arms, where the Brontë sisters used to meet for tea. It's now an exclusive hotel complete with four-poster beds and a Michelin-starred restaurant (€842 per night; thedevonshirearms.co.uk ).

For a more temperate getaway, request the Room With a View at the Hotel San Anselmo in Rome, with baroque Italian décor reminiscent of the classic Merchant-Ivory movie (from €720 for the four-night Valentine's package; aventinohotels.com ).

Those eager to exercise their inner knights and damsels should visit the Three Sisters in Tallinn, Estonia, with its oak-beamed ceilings and secret stairways. The three adjoining 14th-century merchants' houses merge the simple lines of medieval design with chrome and marble bathrooms and flat-screen satellite TVs (€926 for the Lovers' Escape weekend; threesistershotel.com ). You might even live happily ever after.

Visitors to this standout Japanese restaurant should not be put off by its location: a non-descript strip mall in a quiet residential neighborhood. Behind the purple neon sign in the window promising JAPANESE TAPAS stands Hiro, a chef whose creative talent would not be misplaced in a five-star hotel or trendy downtown restaurant.

Ambience: The room has high ceilings, brick walls and a long blond-wood bar with two TVs, one for sports and one for news.

Food: Sashimi is on the menu, but NO SUSHI! as a handwritten sign announced one recent evening. Instead, Hiro suggested jellyfish salad, fried pork belly and a tofu-and-eel omelet.

Desserts: Try the Volcano, a mountain of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream covered with red-bean sauce--resembling lava--which is poured at the table.

Drinks: A fully stocked sake bar offers a wide range of high-quality rice wines, available by the bottle or in "flights."

Clientele: A favorite of clubbers and Asian restaurant workers who pack the place around midnight when their shifts end, Hiro's serves until 3 a.m., seven days a week. Apart from the late-nighters, the crowd is made up mostly of neighborhood regulars ($35-$50 per person).

Known as the northernmost "Italian" city, this Rhineland metropolis makes up in charm and exuberance what it lacks in modern architectural beauty.

DANCE in the historic downtown at one of the biggest folk festivals in the world, the Cologne Carnival (Feb. 15-20), a weeklong festival leading up to the Lent season.

SEE the Cologne Cathedral, the second tallest Gothic structure in the world, across from the main railway station. Climb the 509 steps for a spectacular view of the city.

DRINK a Kölsch , the local beer and the only one "officially" served in Cologne pubs--including the Päffgen Brauhaus (64-66 Friesen Street), a local favorite.

EXPLORE the Cologne Zoo, which boasts one of Europe's largest and most modern elephant parks. For a special treat, hop a ride on the Rhine cable car to the relaxing Claudius Therme spa (claudius-therme.de).

-- David Patrician

For many red-wine lovers, fine Bordeaux remains the standard by which all others are measured. THE GOOD LIFE needed no prodding to attend a recent degustation presented by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux in New York, where many labels lived up to their reputation. Among our favorites:

Château Troplong Mondot, St-Emilion Grand Cru Classé. Sumptuously sophisticated ($50-$60).

Château Léoville Poyferré, St-Julien. Very smooth and elegant ($50-$60).

Château Phélan Ségur St-Estèphe. Luxurious and nuanced ($35-$40).

Château Chasse-Spleen, Moulis-en-Médoc. A delightful bottle known for its "blues-chasing" capabilities and a great bargain ($30-$35).

And our favorite of the wines we tasted: Château Figeac, Premier Grand Cru St-Emilion. Exquisitely balanced; superb! ($80-$90).

The 2004 vintage is drinkable now. According to Château de Chantegrive's general manager, Marie-Hélène Lévêque, the qualitygenerally falls between the good to excellent 2003 and the "perfect" 2005 harvests. Salut!

-- Bruce Jaffe

There's no faster way to a Valentine's heart than with superfancy chocolates. Parisian chocolatier Richart sells the Burlwood Vault, a seven-tiered box of dark-chocolate pieces filled with flavors ranging from raspberry and hazelnut to basil and fennel ganache ($825; richart.com ). Knipschildt Chocolatier's pricey madeleine truffle contains fresh cream infused with vanilla pods and pure Italian truffle oil and comes wrapped in a silver box with a personal note ($250 per piece; knipschildt.com ). Treat your lover to the indulgences of a French queen with Debauve & Gallais's Pistoles de Marie Antoinette, chocolate coins first used to cover her distaste of medicine ($200 for a .8-kilo box; debauveand gallais.com ). And there's even chocolate adorned with edible 24-karat gold: DeLafée International makes Celebration, a box of eight chocolate pralines covered in gold flakes ($96; delafee .com ). Who could say no to that? -- Lauren Mack

If it sings to you, buy it. That's the advice that diamond merchants like to give to Valentine's Day shoppers. But it's so much more complicated than that. If you're looking for a half carat or larger, make sure your jeweler offers you a grading report from a reputable laboratory. But first learn your four C's (cut, clarity, color and carat weight), so you can understand the report card ( gia.edu ). Scientists are also selling lab-built diamonds that are so genuine, the GIA is grading them--and so good-looking, many jewelers can't tell them from mined stones. Chatham ( chatham.com ) and Gemesis ( gemesis.com ) specialize in colored diamonds and Apollo Diamond ( apollodiamond.com ) specializes in colorless ones. Where to buy? Web jewelers like Union Diamond ( uniondiamond.com ) and Blue Nile ( bluenile.com ) sell diamonds for about 80 percent less than jewel-ry stores, says price-list publisher Martin Rapaport. Now that really sings.