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Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Ahhh, love. It's a funny thing this "love". When I was a boy, a friend and I were out camping with a group of kids at Lake Powell. Both of us were giddy as young boys often are about a couple girls, and having never dabbled in such affairs before, we asked one of the chaparones we both looked up to that ever elusive question: What is love? The wise man smiled and replied, "All I can say is you will know when you find it..."

And then some 15 years later it sneaks up right behind you and pulls the rug out from under you. Every one of us has had "that" moment. Maybe it was in a grocery store. Maybe walking down the road. Maybe with a friend. OR maybe on a subway in some distant land when you glance across the way to make contact with those eyes that just happen to be glancing at the exact moment you are. And in a moment, in a split second something happens. Your heart jumps. Your mind blanks and a minute or two later you realize you are still holding your breath. It's the moment songs are written about, the reason novels are penned and the inspiration that has forced brush to canvas since the beginning of time... It's the moment that forever touched me days ago.

Funny you wait your whole life for 'it' then BAM it happens when you shake the pot a little bit and decide to take a trip around the world. It's strange how you can get 100 different looks and not think twice, but when that 'one' happens, it's different. For me, it happened my first day in mainland Europe. And this time I decided I was going to do something about it. "Hi, I'm Derek... (heh, sigh) And you are..." Paris. Her name is Paris and the rest is history. It's safe to say |am in love. But I'm not the only one. No actually everyone looks in love. In fact, it's hard not to be in (and with) Paris. The place has got romance and inspiration flowing through its streets for all to drink.

The first tip I can give to anyone visiting Paris is to befriends the locals. You remember that elephant trek in Thailand, the one with 9 girls and 1 other guy? Well it just so happens the other guy and one of the nine were this couple from Paris. Somehow by the end of that trek we had all become friends enough to exchange email addresses. So we did. Then they made the mistake of saying "Call if you come to Paris." So I did.

My first night in Paris, I met my Thailand friend Xavier who took me to his spot. There I sat, espresso in hand, with 6 or 8 of his friends at some streetside cafe on some quaint Parisian street. As they had their drinks, spoke their French, smoked their cigarettes and listened to street performers do work their magic I just sat back with a smile like a sponge in lake. The next day Xavier and Camille were moving to a different apartment and if there's one thing I've learned in my travels it's sights are sights but people are where life happens. So most of the day I helped move boxes into their new apartment and (bless their hearts) what happened to be my house for the next 4 nights.

The days following I got lost in the arms of my new love, wandering her romantic streets, armed with nothing more than a baguette, some cheese and my camera. The Eiffle tower, Arc de Triumphe, Europe's largest museum, even had a visit to Amele's cafe'. The city is rich. In money probably, but in life definately. It's easy to taste and breathe the same inspiration that moved people like say, um, Picasso, Monet, and on and on and on.

After the longest time I've spent in any one spot on my entire trip, I had the hardest time saying goodbye. Yes, I know, distance makes the heart grow fonder. And even though I'm in the land of tapas and flamenco, it doesn't make it any easier. But just between you and me I pulled the oldest trick in the book. The ol' "Woops I left my jacket" trick. Guess I'm gonna have to return.

That's just the way it is with love. Trust me, you'll know when it happens.

posted by Travelin' D @ 10:11 AM