What is love?

Don't worry, I will not try to explain love to you in this post. Not that I could. I mean... I know how love feels like. Love for friends. For family. For a person. Love for hobbies, activities. Love for art. But more eloquent people than I am have written whole books about the topic.

I would like to tell you today, why I love my city and most importantly - why I know it loves me back.

The picture above shows you my city in the best possible light. The hills, lush with the spring green. Light falling from the sky that looks like angels are coming down to settle on the 58 churches (yes, 58 churches... in a town of 130.000). Old buildings and stores. Places, inviting you to spend an afternoon watching the passerbys. Stores that tell you they have been open for 351 years. Fortresses with engravings that tell you about the battles taking place 1500 years ago.

But it's not really all of these things that make me love my city. What makes me love it is the smell when it has rained on the marketplace in summer. The musicians that sit on the street and play. The crazy religious guy who shouts "Jesus is the saviour" in broken German. The sound of water under the old bridge when you cross the river. The lights that illuminate the buildings at night. The feeling to know the streets, but never know where a new shop has opened....

The question remains: How do I know that my city loves me back? The answer to this question is a bit difficult to frame, because it's a feeling. Have you ever loved someone and he didn't love you back? And have you ever loved someone and he loved you back? Until that moment, when you realize that he loves you back, you can't imagine what it would feel like and that it would make a difference... but it does. This feedback is something that I wouldn't have thought possible until roughly a year ago, but it is definitely there.

And when I look at the picture of my city, I know. I just know.

Lyrics of the day: Soon we'll be found by Sia

Come along it is the break of day

Surely now, you'll have some things to say

It's not the time for telling tales on me

So come along, it wont be long

'Til we return happy

Shut your eyes, there are no lies

In this world we call sleep

Let's desert this day of hurt

Tomorrow we'll be free

Let's not fight I'm tired can't we just sleep tonight

Don't Turn away it's just there's nothing left here to say

Turn around I know we're lost but soon we'll be found

Well it's been rough but we'll be just fine

Work it out yeah we'll survive

You mustn't let a few bad times dictate

So come along, it wont be long

'Til we return happy

Shut your eyes, there are no lies

In this world we call sleep

Let's desert this day of work

Tomorrow we'll be free

Let's not fight I'm tired can't we just sleep tonight

Don't turn away it's just there's nothing left here to say

Turn around I know we're lost but soon we'll be found