Paris

Paris & Versailles, France (1998 & 2007)

These pictures are scanned from an album from the pre-digital days. My dad paid for me to go to Europe to attend the International AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was presenting. Carmel and I took advantage of this opportunity to go around Europe. This was the first major trip that Carmel and I took together, and this was during the summer after our Freshmen years at university (we had been together just over a year). We did the whole Eurorail thing bopping around Europe as fast as we Americanly could.

Nine years later in 2007 with my mom and sister we went to Paris again. We had a simple mission: to re-create every photo taken in 1998. Exact same spot, angle and pose. We even made an attempt to get the clothing right.

First I’ll start with the old 1998 pictures, then show the 2007 pictures with the comparison photos interspersed. If you’re patient enough to let everything load, then you’ll be in for a treat of some morphs.

1998

2007

We first went to a recommended restaurant near our apartment. Here is the line to get in.

My mom waits with eager anticipation.

Claralyse and I go crazy with anticipation.

The menu today: steak with frites and salad.

Carmel eats her frites the proper French way—with a fork and knife.

Unable to decide on which dessert to get, we got 4.

Our final verdict: they were all good.

The next morning we loaded up on croissants, baguettes, and other yummy pastries.

The Pont Alexandre bridge.

Triumphant arcs in 1998 (left) and 2007 (right).

Luvin’ the Louvre lift.

The power of a woman’s smile.

Winged Victory 1998 (left) and 2007 (right).

Cupid and Psyche.

Goofy immature handshake with armless statue doesn’t get old.

Outside the Louvre.

Cheesiness gets better with age :)

We still got it!

We replaced Carmel’s sister with mine. Talia was 11 in the picture on the left and Claralyse is 11 in the one on the right.

Back of Notre Dame, same stylin’ facial expression.

Next up was this amazing falafel place in the Jewish quarter.

This was actually the best meal we had in all of Paris. Yum.

Outside of the falafel place. I like this photo because it looks like everyone is posed.

A quick stop at the Picasso museum.

Picasso saw the world through a broken TV.

Picasso sculptures.

Next up was the Pompidou!

In those crazy tunnel escalators.

Views of St. Chapelle and Notre Dame.

A view of the Pompidou fountain from above.

Not much has changed.

A couple by Kandinsky.

One of my favorite artists.

A Matisse motif.

Wall of Matisse.

Another Picasso.

I have no idea who took this photo.

Red chair(?)

Black square.

White squares!

They locked this statue outside so I couldn’t get the same shot!

Crepes that smelled good, but unfortunately were just okay.

Climbing the hill to Montmartre.

Sacre Coeur from a distance.

Sacre Coeur close up.

La Maison du Chocolat, supposedly the best chocolate in all of Europe.

We did a taste test of course with Belgian chocolate (we already ruled Swiss chocolate out of the running). Our final conclusion was that Belgian chocolate had better texture and a first bite, and French chocolate had a longer flavor and better aftertaste. All agreed that further testing is needed.