The Proposal

All good New Years start with a lie in and Sarah and I having failed to have seen in the New Year thought we better not fail on the obligatory lie in. We were both quietly stoked not to be waking up with a thumping head due to our early night and lack of alcoholic consumption the previous day. So we arose feeling rather chipper at around half 10 and decided that the Louvre would be our destination for the day. Once we had our gear on and I once again made sure that my pocket contained a certain small box having carried it around all of the previous day we wandered out into the New Year.

We headed in to the Louvre via the Metro and entered the shopping mall below the great museum. Here we seized on the photo opportunity by the inverted glass pyramid that corresponds with Ming Pei's grand entrance to the museum. Those Dan Brown fans will also recognise this spot where the inverted pyramid meets a small marble pyramid as the place Professor Langdon believes the Holy Grail to lie in the bestselling book The Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately the museum was closed for the day so we decided to grab a bite to eat at Starbucks as we were craving something a little more familiar. It was during this moment of respite that Sarah thought that she was experiencing an earthquake as the metro rumbled by below us. After refueling we reemerged above ground and decided to walk down to Notre Dame and take a look inside. It was at this moment that I thought I would ensure that the route we took down to Notre Dame would pass a lovely little park right at the tip of Ile de la Cité. We proceeded to walk along the right bank to Pont Neuf the oldest bridge to cross the Seine and which provided access to the aforementioned Vert Galant park. To access the park you have to descend a set of stairs behind the statue of King Henry IV at the centre of the bridge. It took a little bit of encouragement to coax Sarah down the stairs to the park but this first stage was negotiated with reasonable ease.

Stage two saw us venturing to the tip of the island to take in the city from river level. Unfortunately we were joined at the tip of the island by a couple who proceeded to engage in a rather passionate embrace. This became a little awkward and we retired to a bench just behind the point of the island. We chatted for a while here on the seat and I wondered if this was the spot to pop the question. However at the same time I was willing the couple to get off the tip so I could take Sarah back out there to do the job properly. Not long after the couple moved on and it was all in front of me. I suggested to Sarah that we head back out for a smooch. Fortunately she was keen on the idea and when we got out there she gave me the perfect pop pass of a question which I steamed onto, "What are you thinking at the moment?" My response was...

"Just how much I love you and how I want to spend the rest of my life with you..." At this point I reached into my jacket pocket and grabbed the ring and said "How about we make it official." I dropped to a knee, "Sarah Annabel Louise White will you marry me?!" Amidst tears and laughter Sarah responded in the affirmative. Happy New Year!!