Note: During our entire relationship and afterwards, my ex told me repeatedly to tell our story. But I was too lazy. He also encouraged me to achieve my dreams and after our formal break-up told me to go to South Korea because he knew I would have done that had I not met him in Paris. I did and we spoke everyday. I wrote this in 2014. I think. I showed it to him. We met back in 2010.
Mont Saint Michel
I recall that late Autumn day. It was cold and grey with rain pitter pattering to the ground. I saw him as I gazed up from underneath my umbrella standing in front of Fontaine Saint Michel. Our eyes met. The first thing that I noticed were his big blue eyes; an intense blue that could take you to faraway places.
We sat at Le Petit Pont opposite the Notre Dame. No awkward moments, our conversation flowed like wine, as though we already knew each other. Several hours passed.
It transitioned to midnight walks along the Seine, listening to the water rippling in the dark and watching the twinkling lights of the stars reflected in the river. Under incandescent moonlight, we passed monuments that have inspired awe in people for centuries hand in hand and laughing. Passing the Eiffel Tower. There was no one and nothing but silence. These moments made us feel as though we are the only ones in the entire city. Paris was à nous. We spent hours walking. Discovering each other at the same time as discovering the city.
Kisses in doorways; it was a game as we walked the cobblestone streets and through the grounds of the Louvre. There is a doorway; another; another. He always walked me to my apartment and bid me bonne nuit as he cycled off back to his home on the other side of the city taking the ve’lib. Always walking hand in hand feeling so lucky to have met and being thankful for each day together. Neither had been looking to have a romance.
I returned home to Australia; to the house that I had grown up in. I took many walks to Ricketts Point beach, where I stood watching the sun slowly fall asleep beyond the horizon. The sand warm and soft beneath my toes. Such a contrast to the city I now considered to be my second home. The distance was lessened with love letters received in the letterbox from Paris. The most beautiful words that I have had the opportunity to read. He joined me in Australia three months later.
After a couple more years together, we parted. I remain happy for the time we shared as not many are lucky enough to experience anything like it. What we had was real. With him, I grew up and learnt so much. I am who I am today because of that period together and I had the opportunity to learn to love someone else as much as I did.
Many people dream about finding romance in a foreign land. But there is so much more to it. Being torn between different sides of the world and cultures. At least one needs to leave their family and friends.
We will always look back fondly of our days in Paris together. Beautiful memories that are precious and no one else can ever understand or experience. Times that were so perfect but you cannot get back. It is a special place to both of us. We simply joined centuries’ worth of people who already held significance and love for Paris.
As I have learned, reality can in fact be better than the dreams you have. And when you realise this, you can live life to the fullest. Paris stays with you. The roots delve into the deepest depths of the soul. Paris is something that the locals have always said wherever in the world I have met them: Paris is in here. Dans le coeur. In your heart. No matter what you do or where you go, it is part of you.
As Hemingway said:
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast"
- "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway,
also known in French as "Paris est une fete"
Photo credit: someone
My fingers were too small to fit certain things
He is somewhere here