cimetière du père lachaise

with the au pair kids off to the grandparent's house in the south of france, i'm on holidays for a couple of weeks. two weeks with a free house in paris. life could be worse.

some friends from back home, anna & kate, had just arrived in paris after doing volunteer work in ghana & cambodia. it was so great to see them both & swap stories of our travels so far in 2011 ...and being on holidays meant that i could spend more time with them. fabuleux!

we decided to pay a visit to the cimetière du père lachaise. it's probably the most well-known of paris's cemeteries. it still seems strange to me that a cemetery is akin to a tourist attraction these days...but strangeness aside, it's a very peaceful place to wander around. the père lachaise cemetery is in belleville, the east of paris, and is so huge that you can pick up a map at the entrance, with street names, divisions & "prominent people's graves" all marked on it.

we visited the doors' jim morrison - resting-in-peace with flowers, photos, candles, letters & other things left by adoring fans. next to his grave is a big tree - covered from top to toe in the doors' lyrics & loving messages to jim, as well as dates, names and countries of all the people who have come to this place. i actually found this tree more interesting than the grave...aaah oops.

we also found marcel proust, edith piaf "la môme", chopin & a whole section of the cemetery dedicated to the victims of the holocaust. this last part was the saddest of the entire visit, with detailed plaques & really strong messages. it really gave a scope for how many concentration camps there actually were during the war...

our last visit was to oscar wilde's grave. i wanted to see it after watched this scene from the film "paris je t'aime". being a poet, his grave is covered in his own words, as well as in red lipstick. kate & i  figured we couldn't leave without adding an extra two pairs of red kisses. i wonder how long they will last..

we easily whiled away a good 3 hours here, without realising. i definitely recommend a trip to père lachaise if you're in paris. it's not a sad place, but a peaceful one...full of fancy engraved stone and intricate ironwork graves. 

bisous,

S.

"their hope is full of immortality"

there are 100 divisions in the cemetery. it's huge

maps. came in handy several times (every 2 minutes)

jim morrison

the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom

tributes to jim morrison covering a tree next to his grave

won't you tell me your name?

we went boot shopping

minimilist grave??

proust

crematorium

oscar wilde

keep looking at the stars

my kiss

edith piaf

fête de la musique

in europe, the beginning of summer is celebrated on the 21st of june every year. in france, this day is celebrated with a nation-wide music festival, called la fête de la musique. paris came to life with live, free music events. there was a concert under the eiffel tower, opera at the opéra garnier, folk music in le marais, live music spilling out of café's and bars in montmartre...and this. 

susi, lotta & i were soaking up the festivities in montmartre, and we happened upon this group of singers in place du tertre. maybe they were an organised choral group...maybe they were a group of friends singing for the hell of it, or maybe they were just a collection of random people joining together to sing a few songs - any of the above could be possible. 

such a memorable evening, i'm so happy i was here in paris to experience it! yes, i realise it was a good month and a half ago...but i've only just rediscovered this video. the group is singing serge gainsbourg's "couleur café". i especially love the woman closest to the camera - she gets really into it. enjoy! 

couleur, café. qu'il aime ma couleur....café...

S.

shakespeare and co.

a little book shop facing notre dame, shakespeare & company is a magical place to go to pick up second-hand/new books, or even just sit down and flick through the pages of old, yellowing books.
stepping inside this little bookshop is like stepping into a different era. it's an old 18th century building with uneven floors and sagging ceilings with big wooden beams. there are books everywhere, with couches around the place so you can sit down and read. there's even an old piano up there that you can sit down and play...

there's a little curtained alcove upstairs that has every inch of it covered in notes & messages left by visitors. apparently there's some romantic connection to the old book shop, as lots of people leave love letters to people. notes are left on whatever the person had on them at the time - paper, receipts, maps, metro tickets, tissues, photographs (there were lots of people who left copies of their little passport photos), and are written in more languages than i could count on both hands.

with tables & chairs out the front, i get the impression that it's a common meeting place for english speakers in paris - seeing as the majority (if not 100%) of the books that the shop sells are in english. it's tucked in between shops on either side, and if you're not keeping an eye out you can easily walk straight by it.

with a trip to spain in a few days, i came to shakespeare & co. to land my hands on a couple of books to take with me. i can't begin to explain what a luxury it is to be able to lose yourself in a book written in your mother tongue. managed to find several great ones for just 2€ each. mmmm and they have that old book smell. mm!
will definitely be back here several times during my time in paris...there's this undescribable peacefulness within its walls that i haven't found anywhere else here in the french capital...

with anna & kate spending a few nights with me in my apartment, we decided to splurge on a delicious dinner in one of the many restaurants lining the streets of montmartre. yum, salmon pasta!


bisous, bisous,




S.

a little alcove upstairs with notes left by visitors

another great place for buying second-hand english books is here, in saint michel

definitely a promising, quality read...or not

wandering the streets of saint michel

delicious pasta by candlelight