Focus on Paris (7 nights)

We'll see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and the Impressionist paintings at the Musee d'Orsay. Perhaps we'll sip a champagne cocktail at the bar in the Hotel Ritz that Hemingway frequented. We'll walk the cobblestone lanes of the beautiful cemetery where Edith Piaf, Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison are buried. We'll sit at a café overlooking the dramatic glass pyramid of the Louvre. We'll stroll the Promenade Plantée, an elevated garden walkway that follows an old railway viaduct. We'll shop for clothing and gifts in small boutiques along the winding streets of the Marais. Perhaps you might want to get a world-class haircut from a stylist in a Right Bank salon.

We can take a day trip to Monet's home and gardens in Giverny, or a trip to visit the celebrated wine cellars of Champagne. We can visit the magnificent chateau and gardens at Versailles.

Our dining options are endless - each evening we can choose from casual neighborhood bistros to Michelin-starred restaurants. And after dinner we might want to listen to live jazz at a Left Bank club.

Paris & Provence (10 nights)

In Paris we'll have a few days to hit the high spots: we'll visit the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, walk across the Pont des Arts, perhaps take a cruise on the Seine, walk the streets of St-Germain-des-Prés looking in the tantalizing shop windows, stop at a sidewalk café for an aperitif or a chocolate chaud, stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens.

We'll travel first-class on the TGV fast train to Avignon, the gateway to Provence, where we can explore the small villages and back roads, visit outdoor markets, and stop by a vineyard for a taste of a Cotes-du-Rhone wine.

We'll drive up to the village of Gordes, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley. We'll walk through the ruins of the Roman city of Glanum, see the red and ochre cliffs at Roussillon, and visit the vibrant weekly market at St-Remy.

After each day of touring villages and the countryside, we'll return to our hotel in time for a swim and perhaps a nap before dinner.

In the evening we'll dine on an outdoor terrace, sip a glass of champagne, talk about the beautiful things we saw that day, plan our next day's outing, and feel very lucky to be sitting there under the stars.

Paris, Brittany and Normandy (7 nights)

After spending three days in Paris, we'll take the train to Normandy, where we'll stay in the flower-filled port of Honfleur. We'll visit the D-day beaches, the American Cemetery, and several small and fascinating museums that illuminate the history of the D-Day invasion. We'll visit St-Mere-Eglise, the first town the Allies liberated in France. We'll continue on to Mont-St-Michel and climb the winding lanes to the 12th century abbey at the top.

In Brittany we'll visit St-Malo and stroll the wide ramparts that surround this uniquely beautiful city on the coast. We'll also stop in nearby Cancale, where we'll sit in a café and watch the fascinating oyster-farming operation taking place in the bay right in front of us.

Discovering the Dordogne (10 nights)

We'll fly directly to Bordeaux, rent a car and drive to a beautiful home in the heart of the Dordogne region. This will be our base for a week of exploring this very beautiful and historic part of France.

We'll tour a prehistoric cave with paintings drawn 14,000 years ago. We'll take a day trip to the Bordeaux vineyards and visit several of the wine chateaus in this world-famous wine-growing region. We might take a boat trip down the Dordogne River, gazing up at the castles built during the Hundred Years War. We'll visit the medieval village of Sarlat and the museum of prehistory at Les Eyzies, where Cro-Magnon man was discovered.

We'll have a meal at a ferme-auberge, a farmhouse restaurant where we can enjoy some of the special foods for which the region is known - foie gras, truffles, walnuts and strawberries.

At the end of each day we'll have time time for a swim in the private pool at our villa. Then we'll sip a glass of the local wine on the terrace before dinner, which can be prepared for us at the house by a local cook if we choose not to eat out.

At the end of a week, we'll take the TGV to Paris, where we'll spend the final three days enjoying all that the city has to offer.