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A couple gets engaged on the Eiffel Tower, and the Internet is asked, who are they?

Technically Incorrect: A California woman photographs a twosome at an intensely happy moment, then asks the Facebook world to find them -- because, well, love. Then come the second thoughts.

Chris Matyszczyk
3 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


Paris is for lovers, they say. You might just see them on the Eiffel Tower. Pierre Suu/Getty Images

I believe in love.

Yes, it's the surest way to misery, penury and then usury.

But you just can't help thinking that, even for a few moments, it creates an uplift of the heart and a downgrade of mundane concerns.

This was Jen Hurd Bohn's experience when she espied two young lovers atop the Eiffel Tower, who seemed to feel they were on top of the world.

The boy proposed. The girl said yes. They hugged and kissed, while Bohn photographed it all.

The only thing is that she didn't know who they were. Which meant the Internet didn't either. As KFSN-TV reported, Bohn asked Facebook and the Internet in general to find these people. So that we could venerate them for a day, of course.

Bohn posted her images on Facebook, so that everyone could get an Eiffel. She wrote: "Saw this guy propose to this girl on the Eiffel Tower Sunday 6/21/15. Wanted to send them the pics but was stuck in line. Help me find them."

Because love, people. Because love.

By midday today, almost 200,000 people had already liked these pictures, and eventually Bohn seemed to have a lead on the couple. As well as a case of second thoughts.

She initially suspected the two might be from the US, but she told me: "There is a couple in Germany that I believe is probably the one in the pictures. I have not heard from them directly but understand that they are shy people and do not want their information shared, so I have taken the pictures down from the public platform and will respect their wishes."

So if you hadn't yet peeped at Bohn's Facebook page to see the pictures, you have missed the moment. (One thing did astound me. Facebook didn't use its copious facial recognition technologies to immediately put the Internet out of its misery.)

The skeptic who lives in my house (me) had wondered whether it was all some sort of marketing ploy.

But Bohn, who sounds utterly genuine and decent, set me straight. She said: "This is not a publicity stunt and I'm not even a photographer. I'm just a girl who went on vacation with her husband and took some pictures with my phone. Where I live, people are open and share these kinds of things, especially when it is done in a public place."

She added: "I was unable to to get to the couple that night but did search for them for a bit. I just was doing what I would have wanted done for me. I am a mother of four kids and have a busy and full life. I am not looking for fame or notoriety here." It all sprang from a good place, she said: " Just one regular old mom trying to do a kind deed, it's truly that simple."

We can accept then that the young couple's travels incited a heightening of emotions for them. Europe can do that to you, especially Paris. You go there, and suddenly everything seems to have more meaning. And this despite their wine being lower in alcohol than its American counterpart.

And it is the summer, a time that fills us with strange hopes, ones that we'd even like to share with strangers.

Update, 12:42 p.m. PT: Added comments from Bohn, and changed the headline and photograph to reflect those comments.