Travel Notes – Paris 01, France

Thursday, June 23rd, 2005

Erwin and I have always been best buddies. He was my senior in Law School and later on became my colleague at my old working place. When he decided to leave Indonesia to pursue his master’s degree in the Netherlands, he promised he’d come back to Jakarta once he’s finished. Instead, he flew to Paris and has never come back ever since. We chat and exchange emails from time to time and on numerous occasions, he has asked me to come and visit him in France. I have always said “yes” but never really meant it wholeheartedly. It was not until I saw Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset that I really wanted to come to Paris again so I can visit the places featured in Before Sunset. Another obsession I had was to visit Cortona. This little town sits on a hill in Tuscany, not far from Florence. I fell in love with it after seeing this movie on my flight back from the US early last year.

So, after much thinking and considering, I finally decided to fulfill my dream to see the land of my favourite movies. After taking the kids and their dad to the airport on Friday evening, I packed my little bags and made my way to Changi exactly an hour after midnight on June 4, three weeks ago. My flight to Paris was due to leave at 3.25am.

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