Here is an old picture found during recent pre-spring cleaning.
I am in Paris, probably at the Arch de Triumphe, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Probably during the 1998 trip, although it is also possible that this was taken during the 2000 honeymoon with my then wife.
My God, it's crazy how much we've all changed in those 20 years. I was actually looking at the reflection on the lenses of your sunglasses to determine if I was the one who took that picture, before it quickly dawned on me that even someone with 20/20 vision probably wouldn't be able to do that, let alone yours truly. As for the location, I Googled "The Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe", and the results were somewhat puzzling: some of them seem to indicate that it appears roughly that size when seen from there, while other results to the contrary showed it looking substantially farther away.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my eyes are no longer that good, either. I thought I saw a sliver of pink in the sunglasses. But I am pretty sure that this was indeed taken atop the Arch de Triomphe, with obviously a look towards the Eiffel Tower in the background. Not sure where else I could have been to have gotten a view over the city like this, other than Montmarte, and that is too far away. If there was somewhere else where I would have gotten this kind of an aerial view, I think I would remember it, but I cannot remember anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteNo, you're right, it's definitely not a picture taken in Montmartre, since as you say the Eiffel Tower would be much smaller than that, plus it wouldn't be directly behind you. I believe it was indeed taken from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Man, even the nineties are starting to feel like a distant memory to me now.
ReplyDeleteWell, the nineties were mostly two full decades ago. By the end of this year, even the most recent part of that decade will have been more than fully 20 years ago, so it is not exactly like it just happened. Yet, those memories feel recent. That '98 trip sometimes feels like just a couple of years ago, not a couple of decades. The calendar does not lie, though.
ReplyDeleteThat it doesn't. I remember as a kid how I couldn't relate when people would talk to me about things that transpired before I was born, even if it was only a few short years prior to that. Now, the shoe is increasingly on the other foot. When I see today's high school or even college kids, I can't help thinking that they weren't even gleams in their fathers' eyes when I was attending school.
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