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