We found it.

There is a bistro we went to last year that we absolutely loved. The atmosphere was fantastic, the food was delicious, and the guy who served us was so funny and charming, we instantly dubbed him the French version of a dear friend of ours from home. He found out we were newly engaged and brought us a bottle of wine and sat down next to Matthew, told him his life would change forever, and was he sure? With a wink in my direction, he pressed Matthew about his plans and his intentions. He told us that his wife was expecting their second baby and he couldn't be happier about it. We spent a couple really fun hours with him and we wanted to find that place again to see if we could say hello. It's really touching when a stranger makes an impact on you, even if you only spend fleeting moments together. This guy made an indelible impression on us.

We didn't know the name of the place and couldn't really remember where the bistro was. We stumbled upon it last year only after having walked for quite awhile in search of a place to have dinner that looked like a local hangout and wouldn't cost us a bazillion euros. We had little hope of finding it again this year.

Well, Matthew had a sudden brain hiccup and remembered the street it was on. Brilliant. After a short walk we found it! We took an excited deep breath and walked in. A man we didn't see last time sat us at a table next to a large group of locals. We thought perhaps our guy didn't work there any longer, or perhaps he was off that night. Disappointing, but we were still glad we found the bistro at all.

After perusing the menu for a few minutes and deciding to eat pretty much the same meal as last year we looked up to see the French version of our friend striding by with 3 bottles of wine in one hand and a tray of glasses in the other for the table of locals next to us.

We had another lovely dinner, another touching conversation with our guy, and another night of perfect memories of our second favorite city. As we were leaving, we were told, "Last year, not married. This year, married. Next year, baby! You come and show me."

We'll see, friend, we'll see.