This torrid, passionate, on-again, off-again love affair is one for the ages – and no, we're not talking about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, or even Kermit and Miss Piggy. We're referring to a famous couple that's been making a splash in papers all around the world for the past two years: Petra the swan, and her beloved boat.

The relationship began in spring 2006, when a black swan named Petra landed on a lake in Munster, Germany. She soon became besotted with a wooden pedal boat shaped like a white swan, and refused to leave the boat's side. She became so attached, in fact, that when winter came and the boat had to be removed from the lake, Petra went with it: The happy couple were brought to a pond in Munster Zoo, where they spent the winter together.

Scientists thought that once Petra was returned to the lake after the weather warmed up, she would ditch her boat companion for a real-life swan, but she stuck by its side for nearly two years.

Last week, it seemed that the love affair might finally be dying, when Petra began showing interest in a fellow swan. But just days into the new relationship, her fickle beau flew off in search of another mate, leaving poor Petra heartbroken.

Luckily, she could return to her loving boat for comfort: "What the swan wants, she gets," the boat's owner, Peter Overschmidt, told Spiegel.

The unlikely pair are back together, and it sounds like Petra's planning to stick around for good. (Unless she decides to trade up to a yacht next winter, that is.)