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.
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| "their hope is full of immortality" |
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| there are 100 divisions in the cemetery. it's huge |
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| maps. came in handy several times (every 2 minutes) |
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| jim morrison |
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| the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom |
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| tributes to jim morrison covering a tree next to his grave |
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| won't you tell me your name? |
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| we went boot shopping |
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| minimilist grave?? |
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| proust |
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| crematorium |
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| oscar wilde |
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| keep looking at the stars |
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| my kiss |
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| edith piaf |
