Man, I just stumbled across these scanned photos I never put online.

So, after I left Jupiter and before I started at Vindigo (Aug 2000), I took a week off and caught a flight to Paris to meet up with Mike.d. I'm writing all this with a year's hindsight in the way, so forgive me for the hazy details.

I met Mike at the airport, we spend a day just lounging in Paris before checking out the Paris discotheque scene late night (actuaully, read this email for a good recap). The following morning, we set off to go biking in Chamonix in the French Alps, planning on making a pit stop in Grenoble on the way.

So, three days into the trip, here we are at Grenoble - about 3 hours outside of Paris by train and another 3 hours from Chamonix. Grenoble is a college town and here we are in the middle of the summer, Let's Go Paris pages highlighting Grenoble ripped out and stashed in our pockets. So, ready for the story?


Oh wait a second... before we get started, here's Mike and I chilling in our rented room. Who took the photo? Actually, we propped the camera on some books, each snapped a photo of each other at the window, and I used my handy friend PhotoShop to stich them together. We're slick like that.

Okay, so we find a hotel room, we take our stupid photos and then finally consult Let's Go (sssh) on where to go. We're wandering around, blowing our cover as tourists and finally decide to just grab a drink at the next outdoor place we can find. Easy enough. Three steins later (not pints, steins) we're all loopy and looking for the next place to go. We break out the ripped out Let's Go pages again only to realize the hottest place in Grenoble is right around the corner. (well, hottest place when school is in session, I guess). So we grab our bags and walk on over...


So, this is the bar. 'Hottest place in Grenoble' they say. It must be the all the grafitti on the walls (see?). So, no sooner do we get there than do we realize that they have this beer on tap called "Jupiter". My thought process: "Jupiter beer!?! I worked at Jupiter! I must drink all the Jupiter beer I can!"

So Mike.d and I are ordering pint after pint, and Mike is up at the bar telling people in his broken French (see that email I was referring to) that "My friend used to work for a company called Jupiter". Anyway, I think the translation actually came out as "My friend works at the Jupiter beer company" because soon thereafter we're getting free pints from the bartender and meeting all these crazy French kids (including these two girls here who apparently just love people who work for the Jupiter brewery). (btw, look at all those empty pint glasses)


I have no idea how long we were at this bar for, but I do remember meeting this whole crew of Australian kids. Thank God for the English speaking folks - we quickly explain to them our fondness for Jupiter beer as I used to work for a company called Jupiter back in New York, blah blah blah.


So, we're all getting along and drinking pints, as we're finishing, I'm stuffing souvenir Jupiter mugs in my giant jacket pockets...


... and then I'm standing on a chair wearing some girl's glasses and dancing and writing on the ceiling with some magic marker... (note Jupiter beer sign in the background)


... and then we leave (this is all super hazy, especially in hindsight) and end up at some random discotheque with all the Australian kids. Here's me and D on some pedestal in the club dance, dance, dancing it up.


And of course, Mike.d doing his own special dance.

Okay, now you may think that's the end of the story, but it gets better. I remember wandering the streets for the better part of an hour looking for our hotel. Mike and I wake up early the next morning more hung over than we've ever been before. I get up, grab some aspirin and wash it down with a (stolen) Jupiter mug full of water. A sobering look at the glass reveals that the name of the beer is not Jupiter, but rather "Jupiler" (scroll back up and check out that sign). Who knew?!

So, that's the one night in Grenoble story. We left that morning, grabbed some baguettes and some coke and jumped on a train to Chamonix. The pics from Chamonix are great, problem is, no scanner. Someday my friends, someday.