The air is crisp, the nights are dim but not dark, the parks are cool and breezy. Squirrels play on the grass like they were trained to frolic picturesquely. The coffee warms you nicely but you don't break a sweat, and you can bundle down into your coat, but it's still warm enough to hold hands. Streetlights glint off polished cobbles in a way that would make a movie lighting technician ache with longing while a warm voice sings a song by the Beatles and strums a guitar. The moonlight mixes with the reflection of the London eye in the Thames and in the middle of Embankment Bridge the traffic noise dies away and is replaced by the steady sound of rushing water sloshing around the base of the pillars until a saxophonist starts busking mellow jazz.

Paris may get all the publicity, but don't forget: London can be romantic.