Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, man.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Bark louder, little dog.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Consistently wrong since 2002

The revolution will be supervised.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

“Squeaker” McCarthy

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road After Dark – BigJimSlade – Paris, 1989

On The Road After Dark – BigJimSlade – Paris, 1989

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We are taking a trip in the wayback machine tonight!  I feel certain that BigJimSlade doesn’t look a day older than he did in 1989, wouldn’t you agree?  I have to say, the statue with the guy holding his own head wasn’t quite as charming as the kings from Omnes last night, but it does make a statement! For some reason, I feel like I should post a link to a Jim Morrison song, though I don’t know which one.  ~WaterGirl

BigJimSlade

After 4 years of college, I was one class shy of graduating. Most of my friends were on the 5 year plan, so I decided to take the fall semester off and go to Europe (and graduate at the same time as my friends), sporting a 110 Vivitar pocket camera. At least I think that’s what it was.

I was just thinking back to what I ate… I had a pear from a market while walking from a train station to the youth hostel – it as the best pear ever! Breakfast was some bread, jam and cheese at the hostel, plus a quick stop at a market for a yogurt and some chocolate, which I used as the spoon for the yogurt, or maybe a pain au chocolat. Lunch was what ever I could find while out in the city. Dinner was bread, sardines, cheese and a bottle of wine back at the hostel. I was on a $25/day budget (though I probably spent $5 – 10 more a day in Paris), so no bistros for me in 1989.

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Paris

I accidentally timed my trip with the centennial of the Eiffel Tower! (“100 ans” on the side of the tower translates to 100 years)

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Roof of Notre Dame, Paris

Even before Instagram there were famous shots that you had to take, if you can believe it!

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Roof of Notre Dame, Paris

In college, everyone’s your buddy, even, or especially, gargoyles and the like. I didn’t shave the entire trip (this is about 4 weeks into a 6 week trip). It was one less thing to pack and one less thing to do in the morning before you go out and see the sights. Since then I’ve stuck with shaving.

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Notre Dame, Paris

This guy holding his head, a martyr, I assume, caught my eye in one of the doorways of the Notre Dame.

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Notre Dame, Paris

Inside I was trying to capture the light and the colors – it’s hard! Especially with a point-and-shoot from the 80s. Anyway, the Notre Dame may be my favorite building in the world. Really, really, rully, hope they can restore it properly.

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Ste. Chapelle, Paris

Google for beautiful pictures of this little jewel’s inside. This is the far end of it.

On The Road - BigJimSlade - Paris, 1989
Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Hey, I was in college and I wasn’t too far from Jim Morrison’s grave…

Reader Interactions

20Comments

  1. 1.

    Lapassionara

    These are wonderful, and since they were taken before the digital era, I am especially impressed that you were able to send them to WG for us to see. Thank you.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This guy holding his head, a martyr, I assume, caught my eye in one of the doorways of the Notre Dame.

    St Denis, I believe the first of the half dozen or so patron saints of the city. They lopped his head off on Montmartre (Mount of the Martyr), and he picked it up and started walking, preaching the good news from that head until he fell down a couple miles north.

  5. 5.

    Lapassionara

    I’m thinking the saint with the head in his hands is St Denys, one of the patron saints of Paris. For some reason, I think Ste. Genevieve is also one of the patron saints of Paris. So maybe there are two, one male and one female. An appropriate outcome.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Lapassionara:

    Saint Denis, the patron saint of France, has a very colorful and interesting history and story. There’s the cathedral that bears his name. We first visited the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis a number of years ago, that wonderful Gothic construction where many of France’s royalty were crowned and buried.

    As most visitors to Paris probably know, on the front of the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, to the left of the main door, stands the statue of a man holding his own severed head. It is Saint Denis. Why is the saint usually portrayed decapitated and what is the link to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis?

    The story goes that Saint Denis was decapitated, then walked 4 miles holding his head, which delivered a sermon, before finally collapsing and dying. Evidence is flimsy but there are enough details to the story to suggest it is based on some sort of facts.

  14. 14.

    randy khan

    My first trip to Paris was 1990.  But I haven’t the slightest idea where the photos are.  This made me think back on how wondrous it was.  (I do at least remember one photo I took – when I went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa (my then-girlfriend, now-wife abstaining from that particular room because she didn’t need to see it again) I took a photo of the crowd around it instead of the painting itself.)

  16. 16.

    There go two miscreants

    @WaterGirl: Evidence is flimsy…

    LOL

    Tangentially: My brain consistently refuses to process dates such as “1989” as being so ancient, but the reference to the 110 film camera did the trick!

  19. 19.

    BigJimSlade

    @J R in WV: Thanks, it was a lot of fun going over them and remembering, um, most of it. I found some pictures of people and thought, hmm, vaguely familiar, but don’t really remember what we may have talked about – what the interaction was like.

  20. 20.

    BigJimSlade

    @WaterGirl: When I saw the doorway picture (of the kings) from Omnes the night before, I thought, wait until you see tomorrow’s!

    Regarding my aging looks, I’ve aged at least several months (cough, cough), but I must have Dorian Gray’s knees, or something, because they’ve aged a century

    And thanks again for all the work you do for On The Road!!!

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