The film: An Affair to remember

Last updated at 12:50 12 February 2001


The place:

New York's Empire State Building

The love story: Leo McCarey's 1957 film with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr has earned a weepy cult status, placing it alongside the likes of Brief Encounter and Sleepless In Seattle (which shamelessly borrowed from the McCarey movie) for people who enjoy a good sniffle. Wealthy socialite Cary Grant meets ex-nightclub singer Deborah Kerr on a transatlantic liner. Both are already engaged so, of course, they immediately fall in love. As the liner enters New York they vow to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time and marry (the wait will test the mettle of their passion). The path of true love, of course, doesn't run smooth.

Passionate place: 'It's the nearest thing to heaven we have in New York,' says Deborah Kerr as she contemplates the Empire State Building, then the tallest building in the world, at 1,250ft. In America, at least, it has since been eclipsed by the World Trade Center and the Sears Building in Chicago, but in terms of style and elegance (and an unmatched view), the Empire State Building - socalled because New York is the Empire State - still offers a piece of paradise in the heart of Manhattan. At dusk, as the sun goes down and the city lights go on, there can be no more romantic place on earth. On Valentine's Day, dozens of couples will be married there on the observatory terrace (as well as possible nuptial bliss, the happy couple earn a free observatory terrace ticket for every future Valentine's Day). Now, if you were to send the object of your affections an invitation to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time attached to an airline ticket, who in their right mind could refuse? A sure-fire romantic gambit.

America as you like it (020 8742 8299) offers tailor-made packages to New York. Prices start at £399 for three nights' accommodation and return flights from London. Packages from Manchester cost from £422 and from Glasgow £449.

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