Paris, the city of love.

People say Paris is the city of love. A friend once said she wanted to get lost, meet a man, and fall in love, in Paris. I am here now, in Paris, the city of love. Having arrived just a night before, I already felt love was in the air. Not because I was with my lover, nor found a man and felt in love, I was just lucky enough to be and met with bunch of people who showed me love.

The first was my best friend who took a train the night before from Geneva just to meet me. Our friendship has been since our university time. She described us as “… very bad at having regular phone/skype conversation but when we meet up, it seems like we continue the last half of the sentence from a year ago … and then… we just never stop talking… ” And, that was what we did, talked all night. She picked me up at CDG airport, though she’s explain a to z on how to get to the apartment by email, but knowing this is my first time in Paris, she decided to pick me up. We met, she took me to Eiffel tower and strolled down Champ D’elysees. It did not matter how beautiful Eiffel and Champ D’elysees at night, because we were more interested about catching up and did stuffs we usually do if we meet. Having lived in so many country (she, not me), these last 10 years we only met once or twice a year, usually in my favorite spa to have massage or salon to have manicure-pedicure or color our hair. But this is Paris where those kind of things are expensive, but that did not stop us from having fun. So there we were nearly 3 am, coloring our hair. Some news she’s expecting and I would be the one with her, because her husband is currently working in Jakarta (funny they never work in the same country after getting married!). I was honored to be there when she finally got the good news. She was pregnant after 6 years of marriage. The joy was there when she called her husband and I couldn’t help tears rolling on my face. I already like being in Paris.

The next morning we met my friend's friend over brunch. He shared his cosmopolitan life with his wife (he’s Australian, she’s Korean, they live in Paris, what more cosmopolitan than this ?). How they managed to end up here and found a good job for both of them after trying to live in some country (now that shows how BIG their love is!). Now they both working and this allowed them to rent an apartment in 16 arrondissement (the say it’s the most expensive area in Paris), which has a vintage couch worth US 8,000 (that after his father in law came and google the couch). We giggled when he told us how he and his wife now being extra careful with the couch after knowing the price. That they’re more into taking care of it rather than enjoying it :D Then he told us the wedding they had, how he did not understand correctly the speech from the priest (of course it was in French and the priest taled fast!) and how approaching the ending a friend of him whisper “this is the time” so he can responded he “Yes, I do” in time. They’ve been married for almost 4 years and from his eyes, I can see love when he told us his story. I could not imagine a better brunch than this, in Paris, with a stranger I just met, listening to his story about his love, the struggle to be together and the lovely marriage he has.

Then in the afternoon we met another couple over coffee. A French guy who used to worked in Jakarta as journalist, with his pregnant wife, an African. Seeing them, I couldn’t help but had this warm feeling all over me. He translated some conversation to his wife, because she does not speak English well while I don’t speak French at all. All the time they held their hands, stare at each other’s eyes, even touched her bump together. She’s a muslim, he’s a christian. Her parents did not approve their marriage, but her sister and brother do. But it did not stop them from being together. I saw love, I witnessed the power of love. Things that I wish I will experience, sooner if not later.