h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I met Mona Lisa on 12th November 1989 (A Sunday, to save money) in a quiet Louvre. She impressed me more than I expected, but not perhaps as much as the Venus de Milo, though she was equally poorly lit.

My favourite image of her I have lost, but memory this morning suggests that it is in a book; possibly The Society of Mind (Marvin Minsky) or something I read contemporary with that. It represents her in black and white with very few details, just two or three regions of black on a white ground; used as an illustration of pattern recognition in humans.

Nice article. Nice DNA touches. Thanks.

Thanks for your thoughts, I hope you enjoyed your memories
I have never been to France, it's on my Bucket List. I'd love to visit The Louvre while I'm there.

You're very welcome, glad you enjoyed the entry

That binary image may have been on television, rather than in a book. I would expect to have been able to find it if it was printed. I have an intuition it may have been The Burke Special.

And thanks for writing the article. I've spent more than three months in France, but less than three days in Paris. I'd recommend most of it.

My daughter has been on a couple of Paris trips, she loves the place, and would go more were it not quite so expensive

Is the image you recall anything like the one in this entry: A623639

It wasn't ascii art (I think I've seen the ascii art version before), but it was just black and white, like a lino cut, but with very little detail.

I remember meeting ascii art in the form of a near full size lady, printed on 120 column fan-fold, maybe 1984.

I suspect that my 1989 impression of Paris was much informed by "The Dream Years" by Lisa Goldstein, which I had read fairly recently. Visiting via an airport since has not fully recaptured the romance of the moment.