...well sometimes there is no light behind the windows because cheap lamps you've had for three years just HAPPEN to blow out when your American friend turns them on and sparks shoot out of the lamp and then the electricity in the whole apartment goes *b-e-e-e-e-o-o-o-o-o-p* and blows out and the centuries-old wiring and breaker system in the building is so complex and zany and confusing that even you, a guy that has lived in Paris his whole life can't figure it out and neither can your nice neighbors who have a yapping poodle and so the two of you set off into the night to find a new breaker and ...oh yea, everything in Paris is closed after 7pm so you go from hotel to hotel in the neighborhood asking the all-night desk clerks if they have a certain kind of breaker that you can "borrow" and they are all very helpful but the electric system in Paris is older than the catacombs (it seems) and there are like 1,000,000,001 different kinds of breakers and not the ones you need so the both of you go back to the apartment and have red wine by candle light  and open windows and distant night sounds and talk all night and it's really, really romantic.
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